Cause Of Schizophrenia Essay

1702 Words7 Pages

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, and/or defective signs of emotion and socialization, (Kalat, 2013). It is believed that problems in early brain development lead to the disease later in life, (Fatemi & Folsom, 2009). It is unknown exactly what causes schizophrenia to develop. It is most widely believed that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the manifestation of the disease, but the extent to which each contributes to its occurrence is unknown. It is important to determine what factors increase the risk of schizophrenia to know how it can be prevented. If the disease is genetic it will be harder to prevent, but some …show more content…

1995). The risk of general population of developing schizophrenia in their lifetime is about 1%, (McGuffin et al. 1995). This percentage increases for individuals who have family members with the disorder. The percentage is higher for individuals with siblings that developed schizophrenia in comparison to individuals with parents with the disorder, (McGuffin et al. 1995). This could be because people who develop schizophrenia early in life are less likely to have offspring. Only those who have the genes but never express them or those who developed schizophrenia later in life are likely to reproduce. The risk increases to about 16% for individuals who have siblings and a parent with the disorder, and it increases to 46% for individuals with both parents that have the disorder, (McGuffin et al. 1995). The risk reaches its highest of 48% for individuals with monozygotic twins that have the disease, (Kalat, 2013). Overall, research suggests that the closer the relationship the higher the incidences of schizophrenia, (Heston, 1966). However, even though there is a clear genetic factor and the disease can be seen repeatedly in some families, nearly 60% of schizophrenia patients have no clear family history of the disease, (McGuffin et al. 1995). This indicates that there are probably other factors that affect the