pachyderm: It occurs to me that perhaps there is no one thing that is schizophrenia (not a new idea). Maybe things lie along a spectrum, or more than one spectrum. As they do with autism, for instance. (I have felt for a long time an affinity with autistic people.) Maybe there are multiple causes, not one, and the disorder shows similarities, because there is a common effect that gets displayed by the human brain, whatever stresses are the causes.

Yes, schizophrenia is basically an umbrella term for a cluster of symptoms that has always been difficult to categorize. For this reason, some people emphasize that Blueler's original term was "the schizophrenias" in acknowledgment of these multiple causes and manifestations.

As for the biological/biochemical response, I found myself pondering yesterday... What is the neurological portrait of PTSD, anxiety and depression? These same states often make up part of the negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. I've also often wondered, in terms of my own experience, what was the effect on my "mind" of my body pumping out high stress chemicals for 10 months? I'm sure that contributed in some fashion although I don't know to what extent. Calm and supportive environments do seem to play an important role in recovery, perhaps because it also helps calm the body and mind and thus, reduce or inhibit that biochemical response to threat.

~ Namaste