Schizophrenia Research Paper
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects how a person behaves, thinks and feels. People that suffer from schizophrenia seem as if they are out of touch with reality as they have a hard time distinguishing between what is actual reality and what is imaginary. Schizophrenia is a complex disorder to study and treat as its symptoms are diverse and change during the course of the progression of the disorder as well as overlap with other psychiatric disorder symptoms (Pinel, 448). Symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into two categories to better understand the different complexities; positive symptoms and negative symptoms.
Positive symptoms include symptoms that represent an abundance of normal functioning, some of these symptoms …show more content…
Many factors can contribute to the onset of schizophrenia such as environmental factors, altered brain structure / chemistry and genetic inheritance. Despite not having one central cause for development most research evidence supports the link between genes and the onset of schizophrenia. Many genes have been linked to the development of schizophrenia but not one gene can cause the disorder without influence from other genes present in the genotype. As stated by Pinel, concordance rates for schizophrenia are higher in identical twins (45%) than in fraternal twins (10%) as identical twins share the same genotype from their biological parents (449). This demonstrates the correlation between the effects of gene inheritance and the development of schizophrenia. Additionally, even though only 1% of the population suffers from schizophrenia, the probability of a close biological relative of a schizophrenic patient is about 10% even if the relative was adopted by a healthy family shortly after birth (Pinel, 448). As we can see genetic inheritance is a huge influence on the development of schizophrenia as even environmental factors may not be able to subside the progression of the …show more content…
As a matter of fact, a study done by Greenwood, Light, Swerdlow, Radant and Braff investigates the interaction between 94 candidate genes and the development of schizophrenia. The researchers used a 1,536-SNP array to interrogate 94 functionally candidate genes for schizophrenia and to evaluate the association with both the qualitative diagnosis of schizophrenia and quantitative phenotypes for schizophrenia. Subjects included 219 schizophrenia patients of European descent and 76 schizophrenia patients of African descent. Schizophrenia patients showed significant deficits on ten of the endophenotypic measures, replicating prior studies and making genetic analyses more accessible on these phenotypes. A total of 38 genes were found to be associated with at least one endophenotypic measure of schizophrenia. Many of these genes have been shown to interact on a molecular level, and eleven genes displayed evidence for pleiotropy, revealing associations with three or more endophenotypic measures. Among these genes were ERBB4 and NRG1, providing further support for a role of these genes in schizophrenia susceptibility (Greenwood et al.,
Positive symptoms include symptoms that represent an abundance of normal functioning, some of these symptoms …show more content…
Many factors can contribute to the onset of schizophrenia such as environmental factors, altered brain structure / chemistry and genetic inheritance. Despite not having one central cause for development most research evidence supports the link between genes and the onset of schizophrenia. Many genes have been linked to the development of schizophrenia but not one gene can cause the disorder without influence from other genes present in the genotype. As stated by Pinel, concordance rates for schizophrenia are higher in identical twins (45%) than in fraternal twins (10%) as identical twins share the same genotype from their biological parents (449). This demonstrates the correlation between the effects of gene inheritance and the development of schizophrenia. Additionally, even though only 1% of the population suffers from schizophrenia, the probability of a close biological relative of a schizophrenic patient is about 10% even if the relative was adopted by a healthy family shortly after birth (Pinel, 448). As we can see genetic inheritance is a huge influence on the development of schizophrenia as even environmental factors may not be able to subside the progression of the …show more content…
As a matter of fact, a study done by Greenwood, Light, Swerdlow, Radant and Braff investigates the interaction between 94 candidate genes and the development of schizophrenia. The researchers used a 1,536-SNP array to interrogate 94 functionally candidate genes for schizophrenia and to evaluate the association with both the qualitative diagnosis of schizophrenia and quantitative phenotypes for schizophrenia. Subjects included 219 schizophrenia patients of European descent and 76 schizophrenia patients of African descent. Schizophrenia patients showed significant deficits on ten of the endophenotypic measures, replicating prior studies and making genetic analyses more accessible on these phenotypes. A total of 38 genes were found to be associated with at least one endophenotypic measure of schizophrenia. Many of these genes have been shown to interact on a molecular level, and eleven genes displayed evidence for pleiotropy, revealing associations with three or more endophenotypic measures. Among these genes were ERBB4 and NRG1, providing further support for a role of these genes in schizophrenia susceptibility (Greenwood et al.,