Biochemical Causes of Schizophrenia

Biochemical Causes of schizophrenia –More and more researchers now agree that schizophrenia could be caused due to chemical imbalance in the brain. Perhaps the most exciting early study was made by Heath etal in which they found that schizophrenia might be caused because of metabolic defect which is perhaps inherited and activated by severe stress.

The recent findings have thrown up the Dopamine Hypothesis based on the observation that all the anti – schizophrenic drugs had the common property of blocking Dopamine mediated neural transmission. According to this hypothesis, schizophrenia is the product of excess dopamine activity in certain synaptic sites.

Neurophysiological Causes –

Much of recent research has focused on neurophysiological processes and inappropriate autonomic arousal. Such disordered physiology would disrupt normal attention information processing capacities. These seem to be a growing consensus that disturbances of this type underline cognitive and perceptual distortions characteristics/ causes of schizophrenia.

Also Read: Genetic or Biological Causes of Schizophrenia

Neuroanatomical Evidence –

Researchers on structural properties of the brain have revealed that in most cases of schizophrenia there is abnormal enlargement of the brain’s ventricles.

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