By: Sheryl Acuna, Neil de
Guzman, Joyce Hu, Andy Kim,
Austin Harcarik
A. Genes and environment
a. According to experts, schizophrenia is caused by many factors.
b. Schizophrenia runs in families.
c. Illness is present in one percent of the general population. People who
have first and second-degree relatives with schizophrenia are more
likely to develop the disorder then the general population.
d. Scientists suppose that numerous genes are related to a greater risk
of schizophrenia. No gene, however, causes the disease by itself.
e. Contemporary studies propose that schizophrenia may occur in part
when a certain gene that is important to producing significant brain
chemicals malfunctions.
f. Interactions between genes and the environment are essential for
schizophrenia to develop.
g. Environmental factors that can be involved include exposure to
viruses or malnutrition before birth, problems before birth, and other
unknown psychosocial factors.
B. Different brain chemistry and structure
a. An imbalance in the chemical reactions of the brain
involving the neurotransmitters dopamine and
glutamate, and potentially others, plays a role in
schizophrenia.
b. The appearance of the brain for those who have
schizophrenia differ from those without the
disorder. For example, people with schizophrenia have
larger ventricles.
This is a comparison of an MRI scan of 28-year old male identical twins. The
image on the left is the twin without schizophrenia, and the image on the right
is the twin with schizophrenia. As you can see, the twin with schizophrenia has
enlarged brain ventricles. Identical twin studies on schizophrenia have made it
apparent that there are a lot more factors than genetics that are involved.
Paranoid Schizophrenia
Symptoms:
•Auditory hallucinations (Visual hallucinations are rare)
•Delusions (Example: Having belief that someone is
plotting to kill them)
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Detachement
• Aggression and violence; Quarrels
• Condescension.
• Suicidal thoughts and behavior
Causes
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Genetics
Viral infection - if the fetus is exposed to a viral infection
Fetal malnutrition - if the fetus suffers from
malnutrition during the mother's pregnancy
Stress during early life - experts say that severe stress early
on in life may be a contributory factor towards the
development of schizophrenia.
Childhood abuse or trauma
Parental age when baby is born - older parents have a higher
risk of having children who subsequently develop
schizophrenia, compared to younger parents.
Drugs
Experts think that an imbalance of dopamine, serotonin, or
other neurotransmitters. They also believe that this imbalance
is most probably caused by your genes making you
susceptible to the illness.
Treatment
• Drugs (Medication- antipsychotic drugs,
antidepressant, an anti-anxiety drug, or a
mood-stabilizing medication)
• Psychotherapy
• Hospitalization
• Electroconvulsive Therapy
• Vocational Skills Training
Disorganized Schizophrenia
• An extreme expression of the disorganization
syndrome that is a part of the three-factor
model of schizophrenia
• Characterized by prominent disorganized
behavior and speech, as well as inappropriate
emotion
Symptoms
• Unlike most types of schizophrenia, delusions
and hallucinations are not the most prominent
feature in disorganized schizophrenia, but
they can still be present
• Inappropriate show of emotion (laughing in a
situation not intended to be comical), or a
complete lack of emotion
• Speech/behavioral dysfunction
Presentation
Disorganized speech:
– Slipping from one topic to the next, even in
midsentence
– Irrelevant responses to questions
– Gibberish words
– Stopping in the middle of sentences
Caused by abnormal/illogical thought processes
Presentation
Disorganized Behavior:
– inability to initiate a goal-oriented task
– in severe cases, inability to perform basic tasks
like fixing a meal or showering
– may dress bizarrely, such as wearing layers of
clothes on a hot day
– may neglect personal hygiene and have a strange
appearance
Residual Schizophrenia
• experiences delusions, hearing voices, and/or
showing some signs of disorganized speech, but
the intensity has decreased significantly. The
symptoms are no longer as severe as they were
when he or she was acutely ill, but indicators of
the disorder are still shown
• may have strange beliefs
• if hallucinations or delusions occur, he or she
does not have strong emotions associated with it
• the rarest among the five different types of
schizophrenia
Residual Schizophrenia (continued)
• diagnosed when a person had a period of at least 1 month
but not more than six months during which the intensity
and frequency of florid symptoms such as delusions and
hallucinations have been minimal or reduced significantly
• diagnosed when a person shows prominent "negative
symptoms" such as underactivity and poor eye contact and
voice modulation
• absence of dementia or other organic brain disease or
disorder that explains the negative impairments
• positive symptoms include talking in made-up language and
disorganized thoughts and behaviors
• negative symptoms include lack of interest in daily life and
withdrawing from others
• When a person has symptoms of schizophrenia that are
not adequately formed or distinct enough to allow
classification of the illness into one of the other subtypes,
that person is diagnosed with the undifferentiated
subtype.
• The symptoms of a person can change at individual points
in time, leading to uncertainty as to the correct subtype
classification.
• Because undifferentiated schizophrenia relies on forming
the slowly progressive development of the characteristic
“negative” symptoms of schizophrenia, it is a difficult
diagnosis to make with any certainty.
• The symptoms for undifferentiated schizophrenia meet
Criterion A, but they do not meet for the Paranoid,
Disorganized, or Catatonic Type.
Fin