• Question: How does schizophrenia affect the brain? How is it diagnosed? and how is it treated? Lynden (ps thank you for answering my questions earlier!)

    Asked by lynden to William, Joanna, Fiona on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by betterthaneinsteinhawkinsnnewtonputtogether.
    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hi Lynden! Schizophrenia is a mental disorder where patients get hallucinations, delusions (they often imagine bad things are going to happen) and also sometimes find it hard to bring the correct thoughts or sentences together. Schizophrenia is diagnosed based on the behaviour of the patient, and through assessments with doctors and psychiatrists. There has been lots of research looking into the common causes of schizophrenia and there is a genetic link that shows it can be passed through families. In the brains of schizophrenic patients there are low levels of the excitatory receptor called the glutamate receptor that carries messages from one neuron to another (and excites the next cell in the network). There is also too much of a chemical called dopamine (which there is too little of in Parkinson’s). Some illegal drugs like ketamine block the glutamate receptor and mimic schizophrenia which is really scary, as noone should be messing around with their brain chemistry with things like that! There are some treatments for schizophrenia already available that can help patients to maintain a normal life. Hopefully in the future with more research there will be even better medications. And it is a pleasure to answer your questions… it is nice to see you all have so many interesting questions about the brain. It is a fascinating subject! 🙂

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hello again! Schizophrenia means that people see, hear, or feel things that do not really exist – in other words they have hallucinations or delusions. Schizophrenia mainly affects the brain by increasing a neurotransmitter (a messenger) called ‘dopamine’. Dopamine passes on important messages about sleep, movement, attention, memory, and emotion. So if dopamine is increased in the brain then there will be lots and lots of confusing messages being sent and this is part of what causes people with schizophrenia to see, hear or feel things that do not really exist.

      (BTW no problem, I really like answering your questions!)

    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Schizophrenia is a so-called psychotic disorder, which means that epople with the disorder suffer from hallucinations (either visual, such as seeing images that aren’t really there, or auditory, like hearing voices). Schizophrenic patients also often have problems with various cognitive processes such as attention. It is often diagnosed by the person going to their doctors (or a worried close family member taking them) with the hallucinations. The main treatment are a type of drugs known as antipsychotics such as haloperidol which affect the brain chemistry, but these can have several unpleasant side-effects (such as loss of motivation and effects on appetite), so lots of patients don’t like taking them. The cause of schizophrenia is still unclear, but we are just beginning to identify the genes which may be involved, and to understand which brain systems go wrong in the disorder.

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