Biological Basis Of Schizophrenia Essay

During my Junior year of high school I took an AP Psychology course; every day of class I anticipated the moment we would learn about the various mental disorders. Out of all 200 classified forms of mental illness, Schizophrenia intrigued me the most. Approximately 51 million people around the world suffer from some form of Schizophrenia, which can be defined as a long-term mental disorder that distorts reality from one's thoughts and is sometimes referred to as the “cancer of mental illness”. This makes it a very difficult mental disorder to live with because most do not realize they are affected by it. Some effects of Schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, and social withdrawal. All of these effects are detrimental to the mental health of a diagnosed individual. Even though the disease it treatable, it is not curable. Living a normal life is hardly obtainable unless the diagnosed individual continuously takes medication, which can be a strenuous task. The main reason why I would love to research the biological basis of Schizophrenia during my undergraduate years at George Mason is to make the lives of those affected easier. Researching the basis for this mental disorder can give those affected a chance at

With George Mason being a top research institution I can expand on other scientists’ theories such as Larry Stein’s dopamine beta hydroxylase model. My goal is to expand upon the creation of the dopamine beta hydroxylase model and the dopamine hypothesis. The Dopamine hypothesis shows a strong correlation between the disorder and the neurotransmitter dopamine. Since correlation does not necessarily mean causation there is still much to be uncovered about the biological basis. Expanding upon existing theories will give me the opportunity to not only learn more about the disease but to also create and test my own ideas based off of the prior