Schizophrenia Symptoms Linked With Faulty 'Switch' In Brain, Study Finds

In a study published in the journal Neuron, researchers found the severity of symptoms such as hearing voices and delusions was due to a disconnection between two key regions of the brain - the insula and the lateral frontal cortex.

The finding, they said, could in future lead to the development of better, more targeted treatments for schizophrenia, with fewer side effects.

"In our daily life, we constantly switch between our inner, private world and the outer, objective world," said Lena Palaniyappan, of Nottingham University's psychiatry department, who co-led the study.

"This switching action is enabled by the connections between the insula and frontal cortex. (But) this switch process appears to be disrupted in patients with schizophrenia."

Schizophrenia is one of the most common serious psychiatric disorders affecting around 1 in 100 people worldwide. Scientists are not yet clear what causes it, but believe it could be a combination of a genetic predisposition to the condition combined with environmental factors.

Drug use is known to be a key trigger - people who use cannabis, or stimulant drugs, are three to four times more likely to go on to develop recurrent psychotic symptoms.

Researchers also think underdevelopment of the brain in the womb and in early childhood could play a role in schizophrenia.

Interesting. I used to work in psych. My wife still does as a nurse. The town I live in has quite a few mentally ill folks, and my business is next door to an MHMR outpatient center. So i have seen, and continue to see a lot of mentally ill people.

One of the things about schizophrenia is its onset between 18 and 25 years old. I find this to be of particular interest, because of me having children of my own. Having a child become schizophrenic can be devastating. You lose your child, although they are still alive and breathing.

So these findings....i think it is of critical importance to determine what causes the malfunction to begin with. Is there an environmental factor? Dietary? Genetic?

RE: the search....i tried Springer's method of putting the article in quotes. Nada.

ETA: Link

Riding the public bus I have ran across many schizophrenics. It really does appear that they can't "switch" between their internal mind and the external world. I've had some of the most ... "interesting" conversations with these people. Many of them are paranoid, and it seems they magnify their own fears and outwardly project them.

They can get a little scary at times, I had one lady grab me and tell me that she knew about our plans.

I have since stopped riding the bus.

Faulty switch? Schitzo means that you don't restrain yourself from saying things that go against the consensus of society. What sort of switch is it that is malfunctioning, an ignore switch or a don't fight city hall button? Maybe it is a mute button.

Schizophrenia can also come from mercury poisioning
As in Amalgam fillings

Originally posted by rickymouse
Faulty switch?

Schitzo means that you don't restrain yourself from saying things that go against the consensus of society. What sort of switch is it that is malfunctioning, an ignore switch or a don't fight city hall button? Maybe it is a mute button.

edit on 23-8-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

That is not schizophrenia. Schizophrenia involved auditory/visual hallucinations, dementia, paucity of thought, loose associations, delusions of various types....it is the definition of "insane".

Originally posted by Lil Drummerboy
Schizophrenia can also come from mercury poisioning
As in Amalgam fillings

Link, please.

Mercury poisoning causes delusions and hallucinations. But that isn't schizophrenia. Schizophrenia comes on around the age of 18 to 25, and lasts forever. Mercury poisoning passes once you rid the system of mercury (barring side effects caused by the poisoning).

Another interesting piece in the schizophrenia puzzle. Of course with how complex the disorder is there's never going to be a singular cause. For example this doesn't explain any of the symptoms in catatonic schizophrenics.

Originally posted by Xcalibur254
Another interesting piece in the schizophrenia puzzle. Of course with how complex the disorder is there's never going to be a singular cause. For example this doesn't explain any of the symptoms in catatonic schizophrenics.

I think catatonia is just a manifestation of symptoms. I have seen catatonia vary from day to day, or manifest in a patient not displaying it before.

Often, however, I saw it related to medications more than illness

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Plus the mercury hypothesis doesn't explain the strong genetic component. The occurrence rate in the general population is around 1%. However if an identical twin has schizophrenia the other twin has around a 50% chance of also suffering from schizophrenia.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Faulty switch?

Schitzo means that you don't restrain yourself from saying things that go against the consensus of society. What sort of switch is it that is malfunctioning, an ignore switch or a don't fight city hall button? Maybe it is a mute button.

edit on 23-8-2013 by rickymouse because: (no reason given)

I find this OP and this thread fascinating because it seems to actually pinpoint a neural-chemical explanation for schizophrenia.

However, as soon as I started reading the OP, I thought: why are the "switching actions" between people who don't eperience these things considered "normal" (even if because they are normal)) and what makes these "faulty switches" "abnormal" (if only because they aren't in the majority)?

I suppose I could answer my own question by saying the ability to independently function, but at what point does to "faulty switch" diagnosis come to play to people who don't "play ball" and conform to how society deems, such as with the changing of the DSM and the government push to label certain beliefs as disorders? 1984 comes to mind. So does "re-wiring" the brains of people who are troublesome in their beliefs.

Will they soon find a "faulty switch" there (as they did and are trying to do with ODD: oppositional defiance disorder).

I say again: I find this OP and new information fascinating because it seems to find a true neurological reason for schizophrenia, which has the potential to help a lot of people. I also find the implications troubling for TPTB and their potential uses.

Originally posted by Xcalibur254
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Plus the mercury hypothesis doesn't explain the strong genetic component. The occurrence rate in the general population is around 1%. However if an identical twin has schizophrenia the other twin has around a 50% chance of also suffering from schizophrenia.

I have always wondered if "genetic link" couldn't instead be related to families tending to be exposed to the same stuff. I mean, if both my sons have the same diet, same house, etc.....

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


The thing is though we see significantly lower occurrence rates between normal siblings or even fraternal twins. And while a lot rarer, we do have studies that use identical twins that were raised in different families. That's the gold standard for any heritability study. Considering how rare identical twins are though and then how even more rare it would be for identical twins to be adopted by different families early on these kinds of studies are very hard to do.

reply to post by Liquesence


To be fair it has long been known that the cause for schizophrenia is biological in nature. For example there are certain areas in the schizophrenic brain that are larger than the average brain. Dopamine also seems to play a pivotal role. For this reason, long term coc aine users can develop schizophrenic like symptoms due to the build up of dopamine in their brain. On the flip side patients on antipsychotics usually end up developing symptoms similar to Parkinson's which is caused by a dopamine deficiency.

I have known several delusional schizophrenics, believing they were Satan or Jesus or even God. One web site using initials 'cough', I was told by one such friend had 47 Jesus's. I care for these friends, they are not harmful, but getting them to take medications is impossible. The meds have horrible side effects and who wants to be an ordinary Joe, when you can be God. I hope they find the answers to this problem soon, as these people are unable to function in society. Not to long ago I read they were looking into amino acids. I am doubtful they have really found an answer yet. Still it gives me hope they are trying.

reply to post by Iamschist


I have a lot of questions relating to this study.....but the results of the study seem very promising.

I am still curious how this relates to the age specific onset required for a true schizophrenia diagnosis (if it happens too early/late, it is diagnosed as something like Delusional Disorder NOS [not otherwise specified])

THis is.....true schizophrenia actually only occurs during this age specific timeframe. It isn't like the Mental Retardation diagnosis, which requires diagnosis by 18 (regardless of if the person had access to a doctor to be diagnosed by that point). In that case, I have seen multiple account of MR's who just were diagnosed by the age 18, so were diagnosed with something else.

Originally posted by Xcalibur254
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

The thing is though we see significantly lower occurrence rates between normal siblings or even fraternal twins. And while a lot rarer, we do have studies that use identical twins that were raised in different families. That's the gold standard for any heritability study. Considering how rare identical twins are though and then how even more rare it would be for identical twins to be adopted by different families early on these kinds of studies are very hard to do.

I would expect that twins raised separately would be quite rare. Do you have an information on those studies? You have me intrigued.

The dominant theory is too much dopamine. I have had a psychosis. But I'm not diagnosed with schizophrenia. I'm diagnosed with psychosis, nothing less, nothing more.

Luckily people understand here that schizophrenia isn't about having several personalities. However, some people got the assumption that people who are vulnerable to psychosis are always psychotic. Well no. Some schizophrenics however are always in a psychotic state.

Psychosis can be triggered by stress. That it's triggered by drugs makes sense, because with drugs you alter your hormone receptors, for example the dopamine.

I'm interested in the Imprinted brain theory and other theories, because the one in hundred makes it as if it has a evolutionary basis. It means psychosis is somehow involved with reproduction otherwise it would have been weeded out. I can't explain it very well, but I'm not making that up evolutionary psychologists say so. See:

Given the high numbers of individuals afflicted with schizophrenia (nearly 1% of modern-day populations), it is unlikely that the disorder has arisen solely from random mutations.

I think psychosis can be self-induced if you are capable of it. In fact I think I did this. I listened to Ali Muhammad and repeated it before sleeping to get more confident. One day I felt very confident and felt highly euphoric.

I wouldn't be surprised if certain warriors, like the Germanic bersekers, had rituals and maybe used certain chemicals to induce (some sort of) psychotic state.

What's also interesting is that psychosis triggers around a certain age.

My psychosis, it fascinates me, because before it I wanted to achieve certain things and the psychosis was the perfect way to achieve this. It was the perfect plan in a way. Sounds crazy? It is.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan





...perhaps the unnatural way of people being forced to think within 'science's vieuw onto the world' causes the increasing schizophrenia, BFT..

regards

having schizophrenia means you are never alone the doctors will give you tablets for the rest of your life if you let them their must be a answer in nature to this rather than a chemical kosh

I think the majority of posters on here need to actually learn what schizophrenia is as there's a lot of ignorance being written.
It's a dreadful and debilitating disease indeed.

Going back to the OP though there's an awful lot of research using something called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for treatment of schiz and in some ways the success of it ties in with the initial premise.

DBS is essentially a brain pacemaker which can modify various neural receptors.
Sounds drastic I know but it's certainly an alternative to meds which can have some nasty side effects. DBS can also be constantly modified to follow the changes they go through whereas meds usually can't.

www.google.co.uk... TF-8