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[2] [20] Males are more often affected and on average have an earlier onset than females. [2] The causes of schizophrenia may include genetic and environmental factors. [7] Genetic factors include a variety of common and rare genetic variants. [21]
Research has shown that schizophrenia is a polygenic disorder and that genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia is highly multifactorial, caused by the interactions of several genes with environmental risk factors. [2] Twin studies have shown that an identical twin has ~50% risk of also developing the disorder. [14]
Most psychiatric disorders are highly heritable; the estimated heritability for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism (80% or higher) is much higher than that of diseases like breast cancer and Parkinson disease. [1] Having a close family member affected by a mental illness is the largest known risk factor, to date. [6]
All four of the sisters developed schizophrenia by the age of 24. [2] There was a history of mental illness in Mr. Genain's family that might have been an example of genetics being linked with mental illness or it may have just been a dysfunctional and abusive family free from a specific genetic component.
Schizophrenia is a debilitating and often misunderstood disorder that affects up to 1% of the world's population. [1] Although schizophrenia is a heavily studied disorder, it has remained largely impervious to scientific understanding; epigenetics offers a new avenue for research, understanding, and treatment.
Cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia involve disturbances in executive functions, working memory impairment, and inability to sustain attention. [1] Given the high numbers of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (nearly 1% of modern-day populations), it is unlikely that the disorder has arisen solely from random mutations. [2]
Risk factors for mental illness include psychological trauma, adverse childhood experiences, genetic predisposition, and personality traits. [7] [8] Correlations between mental disorders and substance use are also found to have a two way relationship, in that substance use can lead to the development of mental disorders and having mental disorders can lead to substance use/abuse.
The causes of schizophrenia that underlie the development of schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder, are complex and not clearly understood.A number of hypotheses including the dopamine hypothesis, and the glutamate hypothesis have been put forward in an attempt to explain the link between altered brain function and the symptoms and development of schizophrenia.