[Newtons_Cat]

In 1997 a group of 10 psychologists working for a UN agency, who had access to psychiatric data from all over the world, said:

'The biological theories of the causation of mental illness are international psychiatric myths having no foundation in fact'

In 2001 this same agency called upon the governments of the developed world to stand up to the aggressive tactics of the drug companies. They said there was a danger that psychiatric drugs would be used to control those with social and psychological problems.

So - what causes schizophrenia?

Statistical evidence indicates that if the mother experiences physical or mental distress in the 5-6th month of pregnancy AND as a result the mother in some way blames the child and adopts a negative attitude towards it during its second year then there is a likelihood that the child will develop schizophrenia in adult life. Laing's concept of 'psychoschizogenic' mothers has a basis in reality. French researchers have come up with the theory that some mothers are genetically predisposed to subject one or more of their offspring to schizophrenia inducing psychological abuse. The idea that schizophrenia (at least, some types of schizophrenia) is caused by the mother is still being researched - but such is the influence of the drug companies one seldom reads about it.

[TheOrganicAngel]

Hello,

I've heard from several of my psychology professors and have read in several books that it may have something to do with chemical imbalances in the brain, particularly within the thalamus and hypothalamus area (two relatively small areas that control sensory information and the regulation of emotions and motives, respectively). I understand that in some schizophrenic cases the axon terminals (branching fibers in the brain that release neurotransmitters) and dendrites (neuron fibers that receive incoming messages) are sometimes parallel to each other, causing messaging disruption and thus, distorted thinking. This is not to be confused with organic psychosis--which is psychosis that is the result of brain injury or disease--but rather, an apparent case of genetics. Sad to say, there doesn't seem to be any "one" cause for schizophrenia, and until science can discover indisputable evidence of such, I suppose we can only theorize.

~Alexiel

[cat_eye]

In one of my psych courses, I thought it was a chemical imbalance (I can't remember which chemical at the moment) and genetics.