Running Head: Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia
Neuroscience and Behavior
Brooke Grundy
Salt Lake Community College
May 1, 2015

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Schizophrenia
Neuroscience and Behavior

On April 15, 2013 I was celebrating my birthday when two bombs went off at the Boston
marathon. I though to myself how could anyone plot something so malicious and follow through
with the crime. Devastations like Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, Aurora Theater Shooting, or the
Boston bombing conspired by the Tsarnaev brothers are happening more often then not with little to
no warning. Then we deem those people evil due to the nature of their crime. Incidentally, my friend
Jennifer Taylor was the woman killed in a wrong way crash on April 13, 2015. Highway patrol
trooper Rich Nielson stated (2015), alcohol and prescription drugs were possible factors in the
incident based on evidence found at the scene. Like others watching the news that day I thought,
what a selfish woman! she almost killed someone. However, I came to realize mental disease has a
huge impact on our actions and acknowledging the disorders as a disease can alter our perception.
Jennifer was a good woman and its unfortunate the public sees her accident for what it is and not
the underlying reasons that led up to it. In conclusion, mental illness can make some of the best
people commit the worst of crimes. I will research the underlying reasons of schizophrenia and
groups at risk, regions of the brain associated with the mental illness, environmental-biological
influences, and methods of treatment.
Symptoms
Schizophrenia is a mental illness explained by the authors in our textbook (Schacter, Gilbert,
Wegner & Nock, 2014, Pg. 607) as a profound disruption of basic psychological process; a
distorted perception of reality; altered or blunted emotion; and distance in thought, motivation, and
behavior. The American Psychiatric Association developed the DSM-5

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Schizophrenic symptoms are described as Positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. (David
Kupfer, MD, Darrel Regier, MD, 2013). First, Positive symptoms are thoughts and behaviors
present in schizophrenia but not seen in those without the disorder, such as, delusions and
hallucinations (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Nock, 2014, Pg. 608). For example, Andrea Yates
thought by killing her children shed defeat the battle with Satan due to the fact she had seen their
purity as a free ticket to heaven (Resnick, 2006). Dr. Phillip Resnick (2006) stated, "In other words,
she had knowledge that John would grow up to be a serial killer, she had knowledge that Paul would
be a deaf, mute, homosexual prostitute." Second, negative symptoms are deficits or disruptions to
normal emotions and behaviors (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Nock, 2014, Pg. 609). For instance
James Homes emotionless attitude and bright orange hair during trial for the Aurora Theater
shooting. Third, cognitive symptoms are deficits in cognitive abilities, specifically executive
functioning, attention, and working memory (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Nock, 2014, Pg. 609).
Before a positive diagnosis can be made two of the three symptoms have to be develop within a
month without inconsistencies and continue for six months. The discovery of a tool that provides
consistency is critical for progression, and is also a challenge when the foundation of Psychology is
not concrete. With that said the DSM-5 has provided medical personal with a scale to recognize
mental illness and provide awareness to those who are at risk.
Who Is At Risk For Schizophrenia
According to the authors in our text book (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner & Nock, 2014, Pg. 609)
Schizophrenia occurs in 1% of the population and is slightly more common in men than in
womanDespite its relatively low frequency, schizophrenia is the primary diagnosis for nearly 40%
of all admissions to state and county mental hospitals. The risk of onset Schizophrenia is

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primarily in young adults by reason of hardships and traumatic experiences; however, high school
poses a concern on the minds of vulnerable teenagers today. Due to the fact it can be great for those
who fit into the social scene and reside within a clique whereas others experience demoralization
through those impressionable years. Brian Smith (2013) stated, Factors such as prenatal difficulties
like intrauterine starvation or viral infections, perinatal complications, and various nonspecific
stressors, seem to influence the development of schizophrenia. Researchers dont have a concrete
answer as to whos at risk but data provides which groups are most vulnerable. Eventually, those
diagnosed with schizophrenia will grow out of the disease due to declining chemical production
within the body after the age of 40.
The Schizophrenic Brain
With advanced technology today psychologists now have the privilege of adopting MRI and
FMRI scans to conduct studies on brain activity; providing evidence of irregular brain activity
between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for our emotions,
right vs. wrong, suppressing urges and also processes the weight of our reactions; whereas, the
amygdala is responsible for anxiety, fear, pleasure and aggression (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, &
Nock, 2014). Having that said Miles O Brian (2014) stated, One of those circuits connects the
prefrontal cortex, responsible for higher level thinking, to the amygdala, an emotion center, which
goes into overdrive whenever a threat is perceived. If the threat is not real, the prefrontal cortex will
send a message to the amygdala to calm down, but if the wiring is faulty, that calming message may
not get through. Meaning people with schizophrenia dont recognize their actions to be wrong nor
do they feel empathy or compassion.

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Environmental
One belief of this default goes back to infancy and the relationship between mother and child.
Harvard scientists (Buckholtz, OBrian, 2014) believe that children who were nurtured by their
parents are more likely to have a healthy Nero connection where children who self-soothed are more
inclined to have a faulty Nero connection between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. The strange
situation in conjunction to schizophrenic children who werent comforted ever developed a healthy
neurological connection. Similarly, The rat experiment conducted by Michael Meaney (2008)
resulted in an analysis of less aggression by those rats that were nurtured and more aggression by
those rats that were neglected. In addition, Dr. John Grohol (2013) conducted a study and found
New research from Harvard Medical School, in a comparison between families with a history of
schizophrenia and those without, finds little support for marijuana use as a cause of schizophrenia.
Based from the research found there are several studies being conducted on the environmental
influences that trigger schizophrenia symptoms.

Biological
Concordance rates increase dramatically with biological relatedness. The rates are estimates
and vary considerably from study to study, but almost every study finds the average concordance
rates higher for identical twins (48%) then for fraternal twins (17%), which suggest a genetic
component for the disorder (Torrey et al., 1994). Further emphasizing the importance of a womens
health during pregnancy and mindfulness to the chemicals being inhaled. On the other hand the
human body produces chemicals and those chemicals serve specific purposes. People with
Schizophrenia are thought to have an excess of dopamine that disrupts neurotransmitters.

Schizophrenia

But according to the authors in our text, (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014) the precise roll
of neurotransmitters in schizophrenia has yet to be determined. Tracy Pederson stated, (2013) Not
only did researchers observe abnormal neurotransmitter secretion in schizophrenia neurons, but they
also found that more neurons were producing tyrosine hydroxylase, the first enzyme in the creation
of dopamine, from which both norepinephrine and epinephrine are made. The biological influence
of schizophrenia is evident but to what degree may never be discovered.
Treatment
Treating Schizophrenia is difficult just like any other mental illness considering there are
several factors thatll determine the success of recovery. People who suffer the characteristics of this
mental illness dont make friends well due to their social skills are subpar. In addition to the fact they
commonly have bad hygiene and dont cook for themselves. According to John Grohol (2013)
psychosocial, support therapies. While the medication helps control the psychosis associated with
schizophrenia Group therapy, combined with drugs, produces somewhat better results than drug
treatment alone In high-stress families, schizophrenic patients given standard aftercare relapse
50-60% of the time in the first year out of hospital. Supportive family therapy can reduce this relapse
rate to below 10 percent. (Grohol, 2013)(Grohol, 2013) The support of friends, family and peers is
key to a healthy state of mind. Although medications are readably available Dr. John Grohol (2013)
stated, After the first year of treatment, most people will discontinue their use of medications,
especially ones where the side effects are difficult to tolerate. Seroquel, Risperdal, Zyprexa and
clozapine are the common pharmaceutical drugs

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administered, but scientists still havent discovered a drug that reacts perfectly to this disorder.
(Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014, p. 610)
Conclusion
All in all Ive discovered Schizophrenia is more complex then whats readily available to
read. Being diagnosed doesnt mean youll drown your children or take fire on innocent people in a
movie theater but it does require medical attention and support. Its evident that there are chemical
levels in the brain that keep our neurological system healthy and those levels are disrupted by taking
hallucinogenic compounds or for the unfortunate that are diagnosed with schizophrenia because of
biological or environmental influences. The discovered variation in Schizophrenic brain activity in
comparison to a healthy brain provided by FMRI scans, has given reassurance and credibility to
those diagnosed.

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References
Schacter, Daniel L., Gilbert, Daniel T., Wegner, Daniel M., Nock, Matthew K. (2014)
Psychology Third Edition, 607- 613
Andrea Yates case: Expert: Mom believed she was battling Satan (2007)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/11/court.archive.yates7/index.html?_s=PM:US
David Kupfer, MD, Darrel Regier, MD American Psyciatric Association (2013) DSM-5
Development http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspxDorfman HM, Meyer-Lindenberg
A, Buckholtz JW (2014). Neurobiological Mechanisms for
Impulsive-Aggression: The Role of MAOA. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2014. From
http://scholar.harvard.edu/buckholtz/publications/neurobiological-mechanisms-impulsiveaggression-role-maoa
Psych Central. (2013). What Causes Schizophrenia?. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 20, 2015,
From http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-causes-schizophrenia/000715
Pedersen, T. (2014). Study Finds New Insights Into Chemical Imbalance in Schizophrenia. Psych
Central. Retrieved on April 21, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/09/13/studyfinds-new-insights-into-chemical-imbalance-in-schizophrenia/74819.html