Some 'presumed' causes of Schizophrenia and/or Psychosis

During the course of my wanderings over the past few years I have come across a number of presumed causes of schizophrenia and/or psychosis. I thought it would be informative to compile a list of all presumed causes.

Should you be aware of a "cause" that's not yet been included, do feel free to chime in. If possible, I suggest you link to an article that backs the claim of the cause.

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Music of the Hour:

Cause: Cat Poop

Pet Theory: Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia?

"I THINK CATS ARE GREAT," says E. Fuller Torrey. His office decor would seem to confirm this statement: A cat poster hangs on one wall; a cat calendar sits on his desk; and a framed picture of a friend's cat leans against the windowsill. He even admits to having a "cat library" at home. But Torrey's interest in felines is a bit different from that of your typical cat lover. That's because Torrey, a psychiatry professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Science and the enfant terrible of mental health research, believes that Felis domestica may carry infectious diseases that could cause schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "My wife thinks I'm going to be assassinated by cat owners," says Torrey with a sigh. "In fact, I like cats. Unfortunately, if we are correct that they transmit infections..." Here his voice trails off, and he pensively fingers his closely cropped beard.

Torrey often speaks in a self-deprecating manner of his "delusional" notions, but he's dead serious about the cat connection. He thinks "typhoid tabbies" are passing along Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes brain lesions and, if Torrey is right, schizophrenia. Torrey first made the argument nearly thirty years ago. "It was considered psychotic," he admits. But since then, his ideas, though still outside the mainstream, have attracted converts, most notably the Johns Hopkins virologist Robert Yolken, with whom he now collaborates. Together, they're trying to prove that toxoplasmosis is but one of several infectious diseases that cause most cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It helps their case that previous explanations -- bad mothering, bad genes -- have proven deficient to varying degrees. But Torrey and Yolken have also uncovered some hard evidence to support their claims, and they are about to put their theory to the test with clinical trials of drugs that are new to the psychopharmacological arsenal: antibiotics and antivirals similar to those used by AIDS patients. If the duo finds that such drugs alter the course of schizophrenia, Yolken observes, their results "would represent a major advance in the treatment of this devastating disease as well as in understanding its basic etiology."

[...]

As he tells it, the formative event for him came between his second and third years at Princeton. His sister, who was due to start college that fall, began hallucinating and yelling, "The British are coming!" The diagnosis was acute schizophrenia. "My mother was told that it was because my father had died," Torrey says with disgust. "I thought, 'This is absurd -- a lot of people's fathers die and they don't develop schizophrenia.' There was this disconnect between what I was looking at and what I was being told."

[...]

Torrey first postulated that toxoplasmosis might cause schizophrenia in the 1970s, when he read several articles attributing an outbreak of multiple sclerosis in the Faeroe Islands to the introduction of dogs there during World War II. Could indoor pets like cats, which had become widely popular only in the nineteenth century, also be reservoirs of infectious agents? Torrey, who had recently completed a book manuscript arguing that in the late nineteenth century schizophrenia and bipolar disorder went from being rare diseases to relatively common ones, became convinced that cats were central to that story. "The cat craze began with the cat shows in the late nineteenth century," he explains. "And when I went back and looked at what we know about cats as pets, it corresponded almost perfectly to what we know about the rise of psychosis."

Read the full article here: Pet Theory - Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia

Cause: Milk

Got Schizophrenia?

University of Florida researchers reported in the March 1999 issue of the journal Autism findings from two novel animal studies indicating autism and schizophrenia may be linked to an individual's inability to properly break down a protein found in milk.

The digestive problem might actually lead to the disorders' symptoms, whose basis has long been debated, said UF physiologist Dr. J. Robert Cade. Further research is needed before scientists have a definitive answer. When not broken down, the milk protein produces exorphins, morphine-like compounds that are then taken up by areas of the brain known to be involved in autism and schizophrenia, where they cause cells to dysfunction.

The animal findings suggest an intestinal flaw, such as a malfunctioning enzyme, is to blame, says Cade, whose team also is putting the theory to the test in humans. Preliminary findings from that study - which showed 95 percent of 81 autistic and schizophrenic children studied had 100 times the normal levels of the milk protein in their blood and urine - have been presented at two international meetings in the past year but have not yet been published.

When these children were put on a milk-free diet, at least eight out of 10 no longer had symptoms of autism or schizophrenia, says Cade, a professor of medicine and physiology at UF's College of Medicine and inventor of the Gatorade sports drink. His research team includes research scientist Dr. Zhongjie Sun and research associate R. Malcolm Privette.

"We now have proof positive that these proteins are getting into the blood and proof positive they're getting into areas of the brain involved with the symptoms of autism and schizophrenia," Cade said.

Read the full article here: Milk, Autism &amp; Schizophrenia

Cause: Demon Possession:

Can people be possessed by evil spirits?

Channel 4 seems to think so, and next week plans to broadcast "as live" the exorcism of a young man who says he is possessed by evil.

Scientists intend to monitor the man's brain with electrodes to see whether the procedure has any measurable effect.

Even within the Church of England, the idea of possession raises eyebrows. "The number of metaphysical assumptions it makes is quite incredible. It means there are such things as non-human evil spirits that can take possession of a human being and require to be told to go somewhere else by a greater power," says Canon Michael Perry, who holds a doctorate in deliverance and edits the Christian Parapsychologist.

"Some Christians believe it happens frequently - they see demons under every rug and will perform exorcisms at the drop of a hat. My view is possession is very rare."

Look back over case histories of supposed possessions and it's often easy to identify a real psychiatric condition, says Christopher French, who heads the anomalistic psychology research unit at Goldsmith's College in London.

"Epilepsy, Tourette's syndrome and some forms of schizophrenia have all been labelled as possessions in the past," he adds.

Read the full article here: <a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1415683,00.html>The Guardian</a>

Cause: Trauma

The psychiatric establishment is about to experience an earthquake that will shake its intellectual foundations. When it has absorbed the juddering contents of the latest edition of one of its leading journals, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, it will have to rethink many of its most cherished assumptions. Not since the publication of RD Laing's book Sanity, Madness and the Family, in 1964, has there been such a significant challenge to their contention that genes are the main cause of schizophrenia and that drugs should be the automatic treatment of choice.

With his colleagues, guest editor John Read (whose name I shall use as a generic term for this body of evidence), a leading New Zealand psychologist, slays these sacred biological cows. The fact that some two-thirds of people diagnosed as schizophrenic have suffered physical or sexual abuse is shown to be a major, if not the major, cause of the illness. Proving the connection between the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia, Read shows that many schizophrenic symptoms are directly caused by trauma.

The cornerstone of Read's tectonic plate-shifting evidence is the 40 studies that reveal childhood or adulthood sexual or physical abuse in the history of the majority of psychiatric patients (see, also, Read's book, Models of Madness). A review of 13 studies of schizophrenics found rates varying from 51% at the lowest to 97% at the highest.

Read the full article here: The Guardian

Cause: Lack of Sunlight/Vitamin D

Studies have indicated that children who born during certain times of the year (winter and early spring) have a higher than normal incidence of schizophrenia.

According to an article in the New Scientist magazine, research suggests people who develop schizophrenia in Europe and North America are more likely to be born in the winter and early spring (February and March in the Northern Hemisphere) In other words, the subjects who were born during these months had a slightly higher than average rate of schizophrenia, while subjects born in August and September had a slightly lower than average rate. There seems to be about a 10% difference in risk of schizophrenia between the high (Winter and Spring) and low risk months of birth.

One possible reason for the association between winter/spring births and schizophrenia may be related to sunlight exposure. A lack of sunlight (for example, during the shorter days of winter) can lead to vitamin D deficiency, which scientists believe could alter the development of a child's brain in the mother's womb and after birth.

Read the full article here: Low Sunlight Exposure/Vitamin D deficiency is associated with higher risk of schizophrenia

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spiritual_emergency said:
Cause: Trauma


The cornerstone of Read's tectonic plate-shifting evidence is the 40 studies that reveal childhood or adulthood sexual or physical abuse in the history of the majority of psychiatric patients (see, also, Read's book, Models of Madness).[/b]


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Do you know how long it took for the theory of plate tectonics in geophysics to get accepted? It was ridiculed and mostly ignored for a long time.

> E. Fuller Torrey

Oh boy. The bane of the consumer/survivor movement. And think of all the awards and recognition he gets.

Or has his reputation suffered in recent years?

Here is stuff on E. Fuller Torrey and his TAC; excerpts from Wikipedia:

'The Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) is a United States nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by schizophrenia researcher E. Fuller Torrey and was originally part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). TAC's focus is on promoting laws allowing Assisted Outpatient Commitment (AOC) "for individuals who, due to the symptoms of untreated severe mental illness, become either dangerous or in need of treatment and incapable of making rational medical decisions." [1] According to their website, TAC advocates "elimination of legal and clinical barriers to timely and humane treatment for Americans diagnosed with severe psychiatric disorders who refuse care." TAC seeks to expedite involuntary treatment for people with severe mental disorders who refuse treatment.'

'Torrey says, "Until we find the causes and definitive treatments for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, we have an obligation to those who are suffering to try to improve their lives. Except for biological chance, any one of us might today be there, living on the streets or in jail. TAC is the only organization willing to take on this fight, and I am very proud to be part of it."' (My comment: "it's for their own good.")

'"People care about public safety," TAC publicist D.J. Jaffee told attendees at a 1999 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) conference. "Once you understand that, it means that you have to take the debate out of the mental health arena and put it in the criminal justice/public safety arena." Jaffe went on to point out that efforts by NAMI to enact 'assisted' treatment laws as a way to provide better care for the mentally ill had failed because the public doesn't care about the seriously ill.'

'At a psychiatrist's meeting in Baltimore, Maryland in 1993, Torrey expressed his concern that "the public stereotype that links mental illness to violence is based on reality and not merely on stigma."'

'The Treatment Advocacy Center has critics due to the human rights implications of coerced treatment...'

'Critics believe that TAC uses fear tactics to win support for assisted outpatient treatment.'

Can you tell that this subject bugs me?

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Cause: Cat Poop

Pet Theory: Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia?

Read the full article here: Pet Theory - Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia

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I’m almost going to dismiss this one as I am more then certain that we can find multiply cases where there were no cats to be found.

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Cause: Milk


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Produces exorphins, morphine-like compounds

I have highlighted the area of interest. Well ask yourself. What does this do? This is basically a stimulant.. Correct? Well if there are added stimulants to the brain, what does that do? Creates tension.. Correct? Now if there is tension during the fundamental developing stages, then that would indicate that there is increased brain activity... Correct? Well if there is increased brain activity then it breaks down the natural defenses of the unconscious leading to schizophrenic symptoms.

The only link that I can possible think of between autism and schizophrenia is the fact that stimulants are passed on to the child in the womb. Now both seem to have this enzyme deficiency, well if both have the deficiency then we have to relate what is happening to the state of the body. Well if the body basically decides to not accept any more stimulants which would be the case since it is stimulants causing the dysfunction. It doesn’t process them. Well if they don’t process them then the enzymes would hang around in the blood stream. I dont know if this is plausable though as the explanation below is better suited.

The only thing that I don’t really understand is schizophrenia appears later on in life. Which autism appears during the first few yrs. Ether these people are drinking tons of milk for this experiment or something else is a miss because people usually don’t have the same eating habits.

There is another thing that comes to mind as well. After the age of 2 people we lose the proper enzymes to digest milk. We are the only mammal on the face of this planet that drinks milk after we are supposed too and the only mammal that drinks another animal’s milk. Milk is for growth to get the nutrients we need. There is no other purpose and could be the cause of the build up. This would also explain why both groups have the deficiency.

We could also compare schizophrenia stats from other countries that don’t drink milk and see if they go up or down, that would disprove this theory right then and there.

Another way to find out if the data is correct would be to test the normal population as well and see how much of the enzyme turns up there as well.

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Cause: Demon Possession:


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I don’t think soo. But if it were it would be the perception of demons in the persons mind working up the brain into a frenzy. The mind rebounds by releasing the ideas.

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Cause: Trauma


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Trauma creates bad memories; memories create cyclical activity as the mind tries to conquer the situation. Defenses break down as the mind releases the ideas creating the activity. Conscious thought is broken in the process leading to schizophrenia.

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Cause: Lack of Sunlight/Vitamin D


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Winter to spring. Which means they were conceived 9 months earlier… hmmmm When is that? I would say about jan – march, well what happens in this time? Partying from the new yr by somewhat dysfunction teens and adults a like, and spring time. When the pheromones are produced and animals mate. I wonder if we can correlate if there is an increase of birthrate among this time automatically bringing up the schizophrenic cases as well.

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Cause: Marijuana


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If anything marijuana brings feelings to the surface, but I doubt this as marijuana is used everywhere by people.

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Cause: Niacin Deficiency


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Ever notice that all these theories revolve around stimulants? Well if you already have a weak mind from the context of every day living. These stimulants are only going to arouse it further. I still think my idea that the mind works on a basis of equilibrium and enters schizophrenic states is the proper one.

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Cause: Stress



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Most definitely. Stress works up the mind. And the mind responds to restore the equilibrium bringing out the symptoms.

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Cause: Caffeine


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More stimulants. Speaks for itself. Leading to an active mind.

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Cause: Dopamine Dysfunction


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I covered much of this in my theory.

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Cause: Neuroleptics


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The brain is dynamic machine. If you are shoving drugs down somebody’s throat to block the release that the unconscious is trying to fulfill. Then you are going to get shrinkage. Evolution works on the basis of stimulation and when something is stimulated it responds to growth, and when it doesn't it shrinks, Darwin's laws in full effect. This is one of the reasons why I am against drugs. They provide an artificial negative response that not only ages the cells used to fight against it naturally, but also screw with our ability to recover as we become dependant on them. And the symptoms get worse with time.

This is why it is so important to study other areas that relate to psychology as it offers answers in unexpected places. I came to this conclusion on my own just by observing the way things work.

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Cause: Lack of Polyunsaturated fatty acid


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Of course, no metabolism, no function. Brain shrivels and loses its ability to coup when stress is endured. Mass cell psychology is shared, just the way the body works.

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Cause: Genetics


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I don’t know. I tend to question this, is it really a genetic factor or just bad family traits passed on down from family member to family member. I covered some of this in my write up.

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Cause: Social Environment


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Huge indicator, social environment draws on all kinds of criticism leading to mental breakdown.

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Cause: Shamanic Calling


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I highly doubt this. But ok

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Read the full article here: The Inner Apocalypse


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I really believe in this, if schizophrenia is indeed induced by erratic emotion, then that is negative stimulus being applied. Well you would have to apply positive stimulus to counter it. Just makes sense and is really how I came to my conclusion on the subject. It’s self induced by the level of activity the brain is enduring and is just trying to get back to a state of equilibrium.

More coming when I get the chance..... I’m also going to edit the milk one.