What Causes Schizophrenia» Essay Paper

Schizophrenia is a chronic, extreme, and physical incapacitating mental disease that has caused problems to diverse generation of human kind. Around the globe, approximately 1 % suffers from the illness (Slowik, 2009). From its devastating effects, schizophrenia can cause the victims to hear sounds that to other normal people are imaginary, and they have the belief that other people are actually in control their thoughts with bad intention on the victims (Pearce, 2002, p. 135). Such a situation can cause extreme fear to people concerning the disorder that can make the people separate from others. In addition, the disease can make its victims lack sense in their conversations and they can remain normal until the time they expose their thoughts and feelings. More over, its effects are adverse such that victims end up being depended on others. Apart from the individual levels, family and society can also suffer from the disorder accounting for approximately 40 % of extended hospitalizations where its treatment can help mitigate the several symptoms. However, to many victims, they end up effectively dealing with the illness in their entire lives (Pearce, 2002, p. 135). Despite their suffering, they can end up living a successful life, both private and public. From the current efforts underway in the research industry on the disease, new developments are in progress to help establish an effective treatment as well as properly understanding its main cause of schizophrenia (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). Therefore, from its complications and inadequate treatments, it is important to understand what causes schizophrenia as this helps to perceive the disorder in such a way that eventually leads to its proper management.What Causes Schizophrenia» Essay Paper

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As a complex disease, scientists are yet to establish its actual cause. The disease is a disorder that has fifty-fifty chances of contracting and can happen to any one. However, there are theories that can help to understand the cause of schizophrenia. First, heredity factors are some of the causes, genetic susceptibility (Foster, 2003, p. 25). From the fact that schizophrenia affects certain families, heredity is a strong cause, which has basis on the genetic history of a family; some people inherit the disorder from their parents with some having a high probability of suffering the disease than others. This contributes to a rate of 10 % of cases to which the victim has immediate member of his/her family suffering from the disease and a 40 % either in the event where parents or on absolute alike twins suffer the disease. On contrary, from the total cases recorded, 60 % of the cases are from those without any hereditary connection (Slowik, 2009). More over, a study carried on twins that were identical showed that in an instance where one of the two develops schizophrenia, the other twin has approximately 40 to 50 % probability of catching the disease. The risk for fraternal twins after one suffers the disease is high (Levine & Levine, 2008, p. 13).What Causes Schizophrenia» Essay Paper

Secondly, brain chemistry is another vital factor. From the already done researches, scholars suppose that individuals who suffer from schizophrenia experience high sensitivity caused by a chemical found in their brains called dopamine or the levels of this chemical component is produced in large amounts. This chemical component, dopamine, helps in sending of messages between different nerve cells in the brain of the victim (Slowik, 2009). Therefore, in an instance where there occurs an imbalance of the amounts of dopamine in the brain, then, the brain suffers in the manner in which it perceives stimuli leading to schizophrenia conditions.What Causes Schizophrenia» Essay Paper