Schizophrenia influences the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. It involves disordered thinking where ideas are not logically related, faulty perception and attention, lack of emotional expressiveness, and disturbances in movement or behavior. Widespread disruptions in life occur that range from maintaining jobs, living independently, an having close relationships. Schizophrenia is one of the most stigmatized psychological disorders and has high rates of substance use, suicide, and mortality rates. The lifetime prevalence is approximately 1% and affects men slightly more often than women. Schizophrenia is diagnosed more frequently in African and Latinx Americans and appears to reflect a bias among clinicians. The onset typically occurs in late adolescence/early adulthood however, men are diagnosed at a slightly earlier age. People often experience several acute episodes with less severe symptoms between episodes. The DSM-5 criteria for schizophrenia is two or more of symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized (catatonic) behavior, and negative symptoms such as diminished motivation or emotional expression for at least one month. One symptom should either be delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. Functioning in work, relationships, or self-care will have declined since onset and signs of disorder are present for at least 6 months. During a prodromal or residual phase, negative symptoms or two or more symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or disorganized (catatonic) behavior are in a less severe form.
Genetic influences have an extreme impact on schizophrenia. A fairly new and recent discovery was found about a genetic deletion will “boost the risks for schizophrenia by 30-fold (Goldman, 2020). In the past year, researchers have found that the constant firing of nerve cells plays a role in schizophrenia. The genetic deletion is named 22q11.2 which is what heightens the risk for an individual developing schizophrenia. It was discovered that an electrical property changes within cortical neurons which carry the 22q11DS can explain the appearance of hallucinations, cognitive decline, and delusions. Because this single gene which is a very small influencer of such a big disorder, the researchers claimed that the only method of treatment is “molecular psychiatry.” Their next step was to observe their electrical changes in within brain clusters which showed that the neurons from people with 22q11DS were more excitable than those who didn’t. Once the researchers discovered this, they got stuck as they can’t exactly observe hallucinations in a dish. Their future and current work is targeting another singular gene called DGCR8 which may also influence schizophrenia as well as the deletion of chromosomal DNA in people with 22q11DS
Goldman , B. (2020). Stanford scientists solve secret of nerve cells marking a form of schizophrenia. Stanford Medicine News Center.