Scientists open the ‘black box’ of schizophrenia with dramatic genetic discovery
Armchair hypothesis: This aggressive pruning may not have any affect on normal brain functioning in some cases. For example, it might prune a whole sub network off the normal day to day network, leaving a "dark" dysfunctional subnet disconnected from the regular day to day brain's network.<p>Then, if someone chooses to be under the influence of a drug that enables new pathways to form (pot, psychedelics etc), this "dark" network can potentially be reconnected. The emotional response to this connection (good or bad) strengthens this "bridge" connection, leaving it connected when the influence of the drug wears off. Now the person has a faulty pruned network as part of their normal day to day network. Crap.<p>The trick from here is to reinforce the normal network and ignore signals from the faulty network until the bridge path's significance subsides enough to not enter day to day functioning.