Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that brings impairment in personal and professional life. Treatment of which depends on the intensity and duration of the symptoms experienced.

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

There are two categories of symptoms in schizophrenia, positive and negative. Negative symptoms show up before the positive symptoms and include flat affect, social withdrawal, and isolation called the absence of normal behavior. And positive symptoms include the presence of unusual behavior like disorganized thought, hallucinations, and delusions.

History

Until 19th-century schizophrenia was considered as a functional disorder. At the end of the 20th century, researchers made progress to discover a connection between schizophrenia- limbic system and basal ganglia deformity and dysfunction.

Parts of the brain affected in Schizophrenia are as follow:

1) Cerebral ventricles: Computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with schizophrenia consistently show lateral and third ventricular enlargement and reduction in cortical volume as compared to normal individuals. Ventricles carry cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which protects the brain from shocks, helps remove waste and provides chemical stability in the brain. Enlarged ventricles indicate the shrinking of the brain leading to the build-up of excess CSF in the ventricles. It is however not clear whether the abnormalities detected on the CT scans are progressive or remain static.

Enlarged cerebral and lateral ventricles and shrinkage of the thalamus. Pic source: https://pin.it/3bBjCzg

2) Thalamus: Some studies involving thalamus show evidence of volume reduction or neuronal loss in a specific part of the thalamus. This result is not attributed to the use of antipsychotic drugs.

3) Reduced symmetry of the brain lobes: Reduced symmetry is attributed to originate during fetal life. There is reduced symmetry in the frontal, occipital and temporal lobe in the brain of schizophrenic patients.

4) Limbic system deformity/dysfunction: Studies of postmortem brain samples of schizophrenic patients show a reduced size of the amygdala, hippocampus, and the parahippocampal gyrus. The hippocampus is not only small in size but also functionally abnormal.

Pic source

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/Abdo_452/schizophrenia-25734577

5) Prefrontal cortex: There is evidence from the postmortem brain inspections that point towards anatomical abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. Functional deficits in the prefrontal brain imaging regions have also be determined.

6) Basal ganglia and Cerebellum: Many patients with schizophrenia show strange movements, without the consumption of any medication that might induce movement. Basal ganglia and Cerebellum are involved in the control of movement, a disorder in these areas of the brain is attributed to schizophrenia. Studies on basal ganglia have provided inconclusive evidence about cell loss. And an abnormal increase in dopamine (neurotransmitter) activity on various synapses has been widely supported as a major cause of schizophrenia.

Loss of brain volume in schizophrenia is attributed to reduced density of axons, dendrites, and synapses that mediate associative functions of the brain.

Conclusion

The evolution of Psychology and allied fields over the years has made the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia possible. The detection of abnormalities within the brain wouldn’t have been possible without the aid of ever improved imaging techniques that we have today. Observable behaviors that schizophrenics display are often fearful. But the damage to the structure and function of certain parts of their brain explains why those weird behaviors are exhibited by them. It is extremely important for us to know what a person suffering from schizophrenia might be going through. This would help us understand them better and treat them right.

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