Bio Explanations

• Genetic explanations for schizophrenia 


  there are two main arguments when it comes to the genetic explanation of schizophrenia these being that sufferers have inherited a predisposition from their parents or that specific genes cause the illness
• Inheritance 


  Evidence in favour for the genetic link comes from family studies which indicate the the closer the genetic relationship to someone with schizophrenia, the greater the chance of developing the disorder
• Twin studies


  It is reasonable to assume that if monozygotic twins have higher concordance rates than dizygotic twins, this then indicates a degree of heritability
• Specific genes 


  Due to a number of genes being implicated in schizophrenia, it looks like it is polygenic (may be caused by many genes)
• Dopamine Hypothesis 


  The original dopamine hypothesis stated that schizophrenia was caused by excessive activity of dopamine. This causes the neuron's that respond to dopamine to fire too often and transmit too many messages. This message overload may produce many symptoms of schizophrenia
• neural correlates 


  this approach believes that schizophrenia has developed due to structural and functional brain abnormalities. Originally evidence was limited to post-mortems conducted on the brains of dead schizophrenics however they now use fMRI scans as it is non invasive. This explanation proposes that schizophrenia is caused by enlarged ventricles. These are the fluid filled gaps between the brain areas. Enlarged ventricles are especially associated with damage to central brain areas and the prefrontal cortex. Such damage is often associated with negative symptoms