There are three primary theories for schizophrenia that need to be considered:
The first theory being, the Genetic Theory. This theory proposes that schizophrenia is inherited and passed through genes. An initial study shows, one in eight children of a schizophrenic parental background develop this disorder, similarly another study concludes 75% of children will be mentally healthy. Research also states, the illness occurs in 10% of persons with a first degree relation to a family member with schizophrenia. Statistics are even high for an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia, with a probability of 40-65% of developing the disorder.
Next is the Environmental/ Interpersonal Theory. This theory proposes that schizophrenia and emotional disorders are directly correlated to a person’s young upbringing in the home and parental figures. It also proposes the idea that stress is a pivotal cause. A strong
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The initial indication of schizophrenia being a factor of dopamine was amphetamine consumers. Amphetamine causes several symptoms of schizophrenia including: delusions and hallucinations. In schizophrenics there is an unsteady, high amount of dopamine in the brain. Antipsychotic drugs work to lower the presence of dopamine on the brain by impeding dopamine receptors. There are two primary dopamine receptors, D1 and D2. In schizophrenic patients the latter is split into D2, D3 and D4 subtypes. Dopamine activators are found in the striatum, prefrontal cortex and limbic system of the brain. Clinical research has observed an increase of dopamine in the emotion controlling striatum through PET and SPECT brain scans. Unfortunately there is no one pinpointed cause of high dopamine levels. Many of these causes are: Agitation, anxiety, cognitive acuity, feeling of pleasure, hedonism, high energy, high libido, insomnia, paranoia and
Schizophrenia is a brain disorder revolves the way a person would think, act and the way they would see the world. They usually have a different view of the truth and this is frequently loss of contact with what going on. People that have the disorder could hear or see things that don’t exist and even speak strange, believe that others are trying to harm them, or sense they’re being watched. The biological explanation for schizophrenia, through biological faults, for instance viral infections and brain abnormalities Genetic Factors Certain psychologists predict schizophrenia can be passed down generations however this implies some people inherit the disorder from their parents. Identical twins have a higher risk of schizophrenia, meaning one of the twins can have the disorder and is a greater chance is they’re identical rather than non-identical. During my research I found that ‘Gottesman’ (1991) reviewed 40 studies and established ‘monozygotic twins have a concordance rate of 48%’, whereas dizygotic twins have a concordance rate of 17%. This demonstrates the correlation between genetics and the risk of developing schizophrenia. However if there was no genetic element there would be no difference of risk from first relatives. Yet there is 1% possibility of someone at random picked. Adopted studies is way more real way of splitting out the effects of environmental and genetic factors- adopted children later progress schizophrenia and care
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter known to be involved in regulating mood and behaviour, amongst other things. Schizophrenia is associated with an overactivity of dopamine in the brain, and this may be associated with the delusions and hallucinations that are a feature of this disease.
The major support and refutation of the dopamine hypothesis has come from the examination of dopamine receptors in these regions of the brain. There are two main types of dopamine receptors, D1 and D2. However, within the category of D2 receptors, there are three subtypes, D2, D3, and D4. (5) Through PET scan analysis of dopamine usage in the brain and post-mordum molecular analysis of brain tissue, researcher were able to determine relative levels of dopamine receptors in patients with schizophrenia compared to non-schizophrenics. Overall analysis of dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with attention. Schizophrenics seem to have an increased number of D2 dopamine receptors on receiving neurons. This theory is support by the fact that Phenothiazines bind with D2 receptors and reduce positive symptoms. Another piece of supporting evidence is that Parkinson’s disease drug L-dopa, increase the level of dopamine and causes schizophrenic like symptoms in some people. However excess dopamine can only explain some types of schizophrenia, usually positive rather than negative.
The main theory concerning dopamine is that too much it can result in schizophrenia. Antipsychotic medications that are used to treat schizophrenia block dopamine receptors. The purpose of these medications is to bind the dopamine receptors to the brain, and some of their effects have helped people cope with the symptoms. (healthcommunities.com) The regions of the brain that are affected by dopamine are known as the striatum and the thalamus. Schizophrenia results have shown that in these regions in the brain, there are altered levels of D2 binding potential. Patients that have schizophrenia who do not take antipsychotic medications will have a lower thalamic D2 binding potential. So, schizophrenia patients that go untreated have a higher number of D2 receptors in the striatum. (psychcentral.com)
This can also be accounted for distant relatives who are unlikely to share the same environment. We can therefore assume that to confirm a genetic base for schizophrenia, research must separate genetic influences from environmental influences. In order to do this, researchers must look at the evidence presented through twin studies. A set of MZ twins share the same genes, therefore if only one of the develops schizophrenia, it is more likely to be through environmental factors.
This paper defines schizophrenia from a biological and psychological perspective and also provides treatment to help combat symptoms of schizophrenia. This paper has three important contributions. First, by defining and expanding on schizophrenia from a biological perspective, I can identify the nature related predispositions. After expanding from a biological approach, secondly, I will analyze schizophrenia from a psychological aspect by determining if there is any environment or nurturing externals that can result to schizophrenia. Lastly, I will provide treatment details and also reveal early signs to schizophrenia. This paper is important because schizophrenia is an epic mental disease and it is crucially important to bring awareness to the public of how we can limit the illness. It is unclear whether schizophrenia have only a biological background or psychological background, but what was discovered is that both contribute to schizophrenia. Positive and negative treatment can be combatted undergoing pharmaceutical and psychotherapy,
The Dopamine Hypothesis theorizes that the symptoms portrayed in Schizophrenia is can be explained by abnormal function of dopamine in the brain. There have been three versions of the Dopamine Hypothesis. The first version of the hypothesis focuses on the dopamine receptors. Antipsychotic drugs that impact the metabolization and reabsorption of dopamine where found to be effective in treating the symptoms. It was theorized that if the symptoms of a Schizophrenic episode can be treated by the use of dopamine
Neuroscientists are not sure if the high levels of dopamine cause schizophrenia or the high levels are the result of schizophrenia. In addition, drugs used to treat schizophrenia are helpful only with positive symptoms but they have little or not at all effect on negative symptoms. This suggested that the causes of positive and negative symptoms are different. Generally, dopamine hypothesis is impressive and it helped developing new drugs such as clozapine, which is one of the most effective drugs and helps the patient’s life
Over the years, experiments have produced evidence to suggest that dopamine plays a role in the development of Schizophrenia (Howes, McCutcheon, & Stone, 2015). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is produced in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental regions of the brain. The belief that dopamine was involved in Schizophrenia arose after multiple studies performed with compounds produced an increase in extracellular concentrations of dopamine (Lieberman, Kane, & Alvir, 1987). The patients that were administered these compounds had similar symptoms to those observed from patients who were diagnosed with Schizophrenia (Lieberman et al., 1987).
The Dopamine Model (DM) has been around since the twentieth century (Preston, O’Neal and Talaga, 2017). The model believes that the cause of schizophrenia symptoms is from abnormal dopamine in the brain (Preston, et al., 2017). The premise is based off two observations. The first one is that antipsychotic drugs are able to bind and block the dopamine receptors (Preston, O’Neal, et al., 2017). The second observation is that the antipsychotic drugs increases dopamine which create paranoid schizophrenia symptoms (Preston, et al., 2017).
One out of ten children of a schizophrenic parent will develop schizophrenia. The risk of 10% is greater then frequency of schizophrenia in the general population which is about 1% which would mean that schizophrenia is more likely to develop is some families than others most children of schizophrenic parents are completely normal. The most interesting investigation that is still going on that remains a mystery of schizophrenia is that genes alone do not explain who gets ill. Example of this is twins as all there genes are in common but if one of the identical twins has schizophrenia the other twin has the highest risk of developing schizophrenia. About 40% of twins of a schizophrenic live completely normal lives without disease.
Because schizophrenia manifests itself as a blend of a thought disorder, a mood disorder, and an anxiety disorder, a mixture of antipsychotic, antidepressant, and antianxiety medication is used to treat it. One main type of antipsychotic medication is traditional, such as chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and fluphenazine. These medications have been present since the 1950 's, and they are most effective for treating positive symptoms because they block the dopamine receptors. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that aids in regulating mood and behavior. Schizophrenia is believed to be caused by an excess of dopamine related activity in the brain. By blocking the receptors, the disorder is controlled.
Conclusions / Results: Conclusions suggest that the nature vs nurture dichotomy may not be as relevant as looking at the interaction between these two forces. It was discovered that while one’s genetic heritage creates a predisposition towards schizophrenia, other factors such as the home environment, the parental environment, dietary factors and others may determine whether the disease is manifested.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that is diagnosed in 0.5%-1% of the population in their lifetime (van Os et al, 2010). Its literal translation is ‘split-brain’, though it does not refer to multiple personality disorder, but rather a split from reality characterized by its disturbed perceptions, disorganized thinking and inappropriate emotions (Myers, 2010). Much research has been carried out to gain a better understanding of the causes of this serious disorder. A popular theory is the diathesis-stress model. This theory of schizophrenia proposes that stress can elicit a pre-existing vulnerability to the disorder (Jones & Fernyhough, 2007). This model focuses on the interaction between genetic heritability of the disorder, and the environments interaction