Why do most researchers consider schizophrenia a brain disorder? What evidence suggests that schizophrenia could begin in the womb?
Data collected over the years has begun to show more and more evidence as to why researchers consider schizophrenia a brain disorder. First of all, schizophrenia is genetically inherited shares a lot of similarities with Alzheimer's and Bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia has also demonstrated severe structural difference when compared to a normal human brain and often shows severe gray tissue deterioration. The final reason researchers consider schizophrenia a brain disorder is due to the dopamine hypothesis. This hypothesis states that schizophrenia is caused due to high amounts of dopamine in the brain. Something
Expert’s reason that unevenness in the complicated interconnected chemical responses of the brain connecting the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate, and maybe others, performs a part in schizophrenia. Neurotransmitters are elements that permit brain cells to interconnect with each other. Experts are acquiring more about brain chemistry and its connection to schizophrenia. Similarly, in small methods the brains of people with schizophrenia appear diverse than those of healthful people. For instance, fluid-filled holes at the middle of the brain, called ventricles, are greater in certain people with schizophrenia. The brains of people with the disorder similarly manage to have less grey matter, and certain
Before watching the video, “The World of Abnormal Psychology” and reading the article “6 Schizophrenia Myths Debunked”, every time I heard Schizophrenia I assumed the individual with the illness was crazy, violent, out of his mind. However, schizophrenia is much more than that. It is a complicated severe mental illness that cripples the person suffering it. Some patients, as the video mentions, live in a different space of time controlled by the different voices operating their minds. Schizophrenia is a combination of hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and change in behavior. The illness has two different patterns, the chronic, which is developed over time and is long lasting and acute, which occurs spontaneously. Sadly, there hasn’t been
Due to the size and nature of the research. Although research in the biological explanation was scientifically based is was not laboratory based. As there was no manipulation of the IV or DV neither the biological or the psychological can make a firm cause and effect conclusion as to the causes or explanations of schizophrenia. For example we can no confirm that the enlarged brain ventricles are not the result of schizophrenia and not the cause.
Schizophrenia is a brain disease. Many studies have been conducted regarding the brain localization of schizophrenia. One study established that schizophrenia is characterized by significant loss in the grey matter of the brain. The loss was detected to be up to 25% in some areas and the damage was seen to begin at the parietal (outer) regions of the brain then spreading to the rest of the regions of the brain over a period of about five years ADDIN EN.CITE Rajagopalan1998923(Rajagopalan, MacBeth, & Varma, 1998)92392317Rajagopalan, MMacBeth, RVarma, SLXXY chromosome anomaly and schizophreniaAmerican Journal Medical GeneticsAmerican Journal Medical Genetics64-65811998( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_9" o "Rajagopalan, 1998 #923" Rajagopalan, MacBeth, & Varma, 1998). Another study showed that patients who had the worst loss of brain tissue also exhibited the worst symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations, psychotic and bizarre thoughts, hearing voices, depression and delusion ADDIN EN.CITE Conklin2002797(Conklin & Iacono, 2002)79779717Conklin, Heather M.Iacono, William G.Schizophrenia: A Neurodevelopmental PerspectiveCurrent Directions in Psychological ScienceCurrent Directions in Psychological Science33-371112002Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science09637214http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182759( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_2" o "Conklin, 2002 #797" Conklin & Iacono, 2002).
Biological theorists believe that individuals may have a genetic predisposition for the schizophrenia if a close family member has been diagnosed with the disorder. Stress during adolescent years seems to provoke the disorder among individuals who have a family history of the disorder. In addition, this theory suggests biochemical abnormalities related to the dopamine neurotransmitters may also contribute to the illness as the brains neurotransmission of the dopamine is too frequent in occurrence (Comer, 2005). CAT and MRI scans have also indicated that abnormal brain structuring may also play a role in the development of schizophrenia due to a common occurrence of enlarged ventricles within schizophrenia sufferers (Comer, 2005). Various parts of the brain may not develop for function properly which seems lead to Type II schizophrenia. Studies have also pointed towards the idea that exposure to certain viruses before birth may lead to the eventual development of schizophrenia (Comer, 2005).
Currently there are no cures for schizophrenia, but the symptoms are helped by taking antipsychotic medication. The symptoms experienced by those with schizophrenia are grouped in to three categories: negative symptoms, positive symptoms, and cognitive symptoms (Regier 1993, p.92). The positive symptoms include, hallucinations, delusions, unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking, agitated body movements. Negative symptoms include, flat affect, reduced pleasure in everyday life, difficulty sustaining tasks, and reduced speech. Cognitive symptoms include, disruption in executive functioning and working memory, as well as reduced ability to concentrate. The etiology of schizophrenia is still debated by psychologists and neuroscientists, but factors such as neuroanatomy, and environmental influences are believed to play a key role. A genetic predisposition to schizophrenia has been established by researchers, but it remains unclear what causes the phenotype to be expressed. The most agreed upon cause of schizophrenia refers to the diathesis-stress model, which explains schizophrenia as a response to an individual’s allostatic load becoming too much for the brain to cope with. Another popular explanation amongst neuroscientists is the dopamine
Schizophrenia can be a crippling disorder, and only in the last several decades have scientist labeled it as a brain disorder. Scientists have also been researching to try and determine if schizophrenia starts in the womb. There are several factors that give evidence that schizophrenia is a brain disorder, including: enlarged ventricles in the brain, increases in the size of sulci, and decreases in some different lobes of the brain. There is also some evidence that schizophrenia starts in the womb based on the increase of its likeness, the more similar different genomes are.
Schizophrenia is a neurological disorder that affects the cognitive functions of an individual. The cause of this illness is unknown, but there are several theories of how an individual may acquire schizophrenia. Because there are many symptoms of the disease and because the symptoms can vary quite dramatically among several individuals and even within the same individual over time, the diagnosis of schizophrenia can be quite difficult.
Experts think that schizophrenia is caused by many contributing factors according to the NIMH and Berstein. Although there is a lot about schizophrenia that experts may not know, they do know that it is a genetic disease hat runs in families. According to the NIMH, those affected individuals are highly likely to have a close relative such as a mother, father, sibling, or grandparent with the disorder. According to Tischauser, a person with one parent who has the disease is ten times more likely to develop schizophrenia than a member of the general public. Thirty-nine percent of people who have both parents afflicted with the disease also develop schizophrenia. Schizophrenia majorly affects a person’s brain. The disorder disrupts the way that the brain cells function and communicate with each other. In the affected persons’ brain, the neurotransmitters that carry signals from one cell in the brain to the other may be abnormal or the transmitter may be malfunctioning (Bernstein). It is believed that several genes are associated with an increased risk of having schizophrenia. No single gene causes schizophrenia by itself. In fact, the genetic differences may include up to hundreds of different genes and the disruption of brain development. Bernstein states that we do know that there is an affected gene that is key to making important chemicals for the brain. Also, experts say that the environment is a factor in people with schizophrenia. For example, some environmental factors may include exposure to viruses, malnutrition before birth, problems during birth and other not yet known psychological factors. According to Anushree Bose, other factors that contribute to having schizophrenia include an imbalance of brain chemistry and different structures of the brain (7). The NIMH also adds that a person’s brain who has schizophrenia will look similar to a healthy person’s brain, but only in small ways. They
Research by Johnstone in 1994, explained the biological approach of interventions, explanation and treating of schizophrenia patients (Hansell & Damour, 2005). In studies of Fisher in 2001, discoveries that the brain had more dopamine receptors know as B_2 receptors in a person suffering from schizophrenia, than a non-suffer (Hansell & Damour, 2005). Biological findings of schizophrenia suggest that a genetic factor was hereditary, but not conclusive because the element of environment does make a difference (Hansell & Damour, 2005).
Schizophrenia as a Biological Disorder As well as the biological approaches there are physiological, psychological and environmental explanations. New theories of schizophrenia are constantly being developed each having their own advantages and disadvantages. How do we know however, which one is correct? The biological explanation suggests that schizophrenia is produced by an unfortunate combination of genes or is due to physical problems in the brain.
Schizophrenia is a Psychological disorder that impacts the person 's ability to process thoughts, emotions and action. Schizophrenia symptoms are categorized as cognitive, positive and negative symptoms. There has yet to be a confirmed singular cause of schizophrenia. The dopamine hypothesis is a theory that attributes the cause of schizophrenia to an increase in dopamine levels. The antipsychotic medication mentioned in this theory is beneficial in the treatment of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Although the medication that treats increased dopamine levels it does not affect other
The debate of whether schizophrenia is a brain disorder has been a controversial issue for decades. Most researchers consider schizophrenia a brain disorder for numerous reasons. The evidence revolves around the symptoms that can impact a patient biologically, psychologically, and socially. Some speculations suggest that schizophrenia begins in the womb which also contributes to the evidence towards schizophrenia being a brain disorder.
Schizophrenia is a disabling mental disorder that affects one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a negative way. This mental disorder is so disabling because one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are what makes them essentially themselves. The exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown, but factors contribute to developing this mental disorder. Genetics, prenatal malnutrition, coming in contact with viruses, complications in childbirth, psychosocial underdevelopment, and chemical imbalances in the brain increase the risk of schizophrenia occurring.
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorders that affect the way people think, act, their emotions, their daily activities, and their personal tranquility. There is no cure for schizophrenia, but it can be managed with proper treatment. People with schizophrenia may hear voices or they might feel that someone wants to hurt them, they might also have hallucinations. Schizophrenia affects the brain, which alters cognition and contributes to other major problems for instance, the person might have paranoia, delusions, and poor emotional responsiveness. Brain volume, gray matter and withe matter volume in the brain of a person with this disease is reduced compared to healthy people. Scientist believes that schizophrenia runs in families with schizophrenia