Biological Explanations For Schizophrenia Essay

“As with many mental disorders, the causes of schizophrenia are poorly understood. Friends and family commonly are shocked, afraid or angry when they learn of the diagnosis. People often imagine a person with schizophrenia as being more violent or out-of-control than a person who has another kind of serious mental illness. But these kinds of prejudices and misperceptions can be readily corrected (Physical Central, 2013)”. These are just some of the common misconceptions about this tragic disease. One of the best ways to describe this disease is as a “split mind” where literally the person feels as if they are in an unrealistic world that is real to them like a hallucination. “Family, twin, and adoption studies support the role of genetic influences in schizophrenia. Immediate biological relatives of people with schizophrenia have about 10 times greater risk than that of the general population. Given prevalence estimates, this translates into a 5 to 10 percent lifetime risk for first-degree relatives (including children and

The biological explanation of schizophrenia also claims that the disorder can be inherited. The more common the disorder is among the biological relatives and the closer the degree of genetic relatedness increases the risk of the child developing schizophrenia. Gottesman’s research (1991) found a genetic link with schizophrenia when looking at children and their relatives. The research discovered that children with two schizophrenic parents have a concordance rate of 46% compared to children who just have one schizophrenic parent to children who have a concordance rate of 13% and siblings just 9%. The genetic theory of schizophrenia also suggests that monozygotic twins (twins who a genetically identical) should have a higher concordance rate of schizophrenia than dizygotic twins (twins who are not genetically identical) because they have a closer degree of genetic relatedness.

In support of this Kendler et al found that first degree relatives of those with schizophrenia are at 18 times more risk than the general population. Research has also found that schizophrenia symptoms may have a genetic component. This was suggested by Malaspina, who found that patients who have schizophrenia in their family histories are more likely to develop negative symptoms than those families who are schizophrenia free. In evaluation of family studies it may be concluded that they are not very reliable as they are retrospective. The studies for family studies where taken place when diagnosis was under a more liberal use of the term schizophrenia. Twin studies have also shown a genetic pre-disposition. Gottesman found 48% risk of schizophrenia in MZ twins compared to only 17% in DZ twins. Similar to the Gottesman study two other studies showed higher concordance rates for MZ twins and lower in DZ twins however each had slightly different results. McGuffin et al argues this is because of the use of different diagnostic criteria, which may affect the validity of the results. On the other hand the researchers used blind techniques to obtain the results eliminating any researcher bias.

.(3) Schizophrenia is often present in familial clusters. Monozygotic twins have an even slightly higher concordance rate. It has been found through studies that adoptive parents do not have any effect upon children in relation to developing the disease, which is also another strong biological marker. The risk factor of children with parents suffering from the disease rises from one percent to twelve percent . Another finding that backs up the biological basis claim is that lower levels of platelet monomania oxidase B are found in people suffering from chronic schizophrenia. Higher levels in the cerebral spinal fluid of these monoamine metabolites, HVA, and 5HIAA are found in people with a family history of schizophrenia as opposed to people without the genetic predisposition afflicted with the disease. .(4) These varying levels result in varying biochemical changes that are predetermined and passed through families.

Adoption studies have also been used to determine whether home environment or genetic disposition are more influential in the causation of schizophrenia, as usually in twin studies twins are both genetically related and experience the same environment. Kety (1994) found high rates of schizophrenia in individuals whose biological parents were schizophrenic but were adopted by psychologically healthy parents. The most methodologically sound of adoption studies, though, was carried out by Tienari et al (2000) in Finland. In the study 164 adoptees whose biological mothers were schizophrenic were compared to 197 adoptees whose mothers were psychologically healthy. It was found that 6.7 per cent of the experimental group (those with schizophrenic mothers) developed

The risk is even greater for those relatives who are genetically similar to the schizophrenic. This theory poses important debates however. If schizophrenia is caused by simple genetics, identical twins should both be affected by schizophrenia if one twin has been diagnosed. It is rare to find a majority of identical twins affected. Studies have found there to be a weak genetic link to schizophrenia. A recent study of high-risk children found there to be little proof of a genetic link.

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,

Two Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia There are many biological explanations of schizophrenia. In this essay I will concentrate on the genetic explanation and biochemical explanation of the disorder. There are many studies that look in to genetics and the link to schizophrenia. This is dues to an original finding that schizophrenia runs in families and therefore suggests that genes are responsible for the disorder.

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.

Schizophrenia can be passed down thru generations even though there is not a specific gene associated with the disorder. It is considered to be a combination of genes that make a person susceptible to becoming schizophrenic. This information is found mainly thought the study of twins. By having the same genes it can be viewed why genes contribute to the potential of schizophrenia. Even though genetics is a viable factor in the analysis of the cause of schizophrenia there are more supporting factors found in neurotransmitters.

1978 shields discussed 11 studies of the identical and non-identical co-twins of over 1300 schizophrenics from seven countries and then of these comparisons showed a higher concordance rate among identical twins. (A, C, Smith 1982 p.g 93) Research is still going on today to find out more about how genes and life events influence who gets schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a very serious, long-term disorder that affects about 1% of the world’s population. It affects people anywhere from twenty years old, to forty-five years old. It is known to be one of the most disabling diseases in this age group. Schizophrenia can break down a person’s behaviors, emotions, and thoughts. People who suffer from schizophrenia usually show very inappropriate displays of their actions and feelings. Sufferers have been known to hear voices, even when there is nobody around them. They have problems controlling their thoughts, and sometimes blurt out things that are very inappropriate. This paper will outline the biological, social, and psychological

(Kalat, 2012). Bleuler used the term as a means of representing a major psychotic illness

Aim: The aim of this experiment was to explore the synergistic effects of heritability and environment in the cases of two brothers with schizophrenia.

Within twins, monozygotic twins have a 48% probability if their twin is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and with dizygotic twins it is a 17% probability (Kalat, 2015). This shows that there is a genetic bases for schizophrenia, it also highlights that other non-genetic factors must play a role in the development of the disorder. These results have been backed by many research carried out on adoption studies. An adoption study in Finland carried out aimed to test the hypostasis that family rearing plays a factor in the development of schizophrenia (Tienari et al, 2004).Their research found that adoptees at high genetic risk (biological mother had schizophrenia) were more sensitive to problems in the adoptive family environment. Adoptees with high risk and a severally dysfunctional family rearing were significantly coordinated with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (Tienari et al, 2004). In support of the diathesis model neither high risk nor dysfunctional rearing were significantly linked with a diagnosis (Tienari et al, 2004). The research found that a ‘healthy’ adoptive family, acted as a ‘protective effect’ for the adoptees with