tao- u should jump in when u like- I do it! throw my daftness into the orthodox camp, watch them all bristle, its great fun...
there is a lot of debate in psychiatry as to the causes of specific mental illnesses... in schizophrenia it is found that, post mortem, there is a lot of neurological differences between the schizophrenic and the normal brain-
there is some hypo- and hypertrophy of the amydgalae, which effects emotionality, yet its also a region of the brain which is also found atrophied in those who as children suffer from a lot of stress- apparently high levels of cortisol effect the amygdalae's development, and also causes what they call dendritic pruning- the fibres from the neurons become spindly, fewer...
...there is sulcal widening, where the sulcii, the gaps between the brain, appear to widen,
... and "the most common abnormality is enlarged ventricles, implying a loss of subcortical brain cells, which has been demonstrated both in postmortem studies (Dwork, 1997) and in PET scans (Nopoulos, Flaum and Andreasen, 1997). This enlargement is often striking enough that discordant twins can be discriminated by comparing the sizes of the ventricles in PET studies (Suddath et al, 1990). Furthermore, the enlargement is usually more marked in the part of the ventricular system that lies within the temporal lobe and particularly on the left side of the brain. (Crow et al, 1989)."
..."The prefrontal cortex (PFC), known to play a role in behaviours such as speech, decision-making and willed action, which are often disrupted in schizophrenia, has also been implicated in the disorder. MRI studies have found a reduction in grey matter in the PFC (Buchanan et al, 1998), and glucose metabolism imaging has shown that patients with schizophrenia have lower metabolic rates in this area (Buchsbaum et al, 1984). It has also been demonstrated that while performing neuropsychological tests of PFC functioning, such as the Wisconsin Card Sort Test, patients with schizophrenia do worse on the tests and fail to show normal activation in the prefrontal region (Fletcher et al, 1998)".
yet- all of these neurological changes which we discover post mortem may in fact be the result of the medication and not implicated in the disorder at all...
there is also a proposed genetic link in schizophrenia, yet again, we do not know if this is a true hereditable condition or it appears that people inherit it because they grow up around schizophrenics or are born into families with schizotypal traits...
and then we have the dopamine hypothesis, which states that in schizophrenia there is a lack of dopamine within the limbic system, or the D2 receptors become over-sensitive, which causes the hallucinations, etc...
..."There are, however, serious problems with dopamine dysfunction as a main cause of schizophrenia. It takes several weeks for antipsychotics to have an effect on symptoms, although they block the dopamine receptors straight away, which suggests that other neurotransmitters, perhaps serotonin or glutamate are also involved in schizophrenia".
... "Also, the dopamine theory predicts that lowering the level of dopamine in the brain to normal would alleviate symptoms, but in reality they have to be lowered to the levels found in Parkinson's disease in order to have any effect. Dopamine alone can, therefore, only play a small role in the aetiology of schizophrenia, and we must look to other causes to explain the disorder more completely".
"Current theories are, therefore, attempting to interlink these diverse aetiologies, and it is likely that a genetically determined neurodevelopmental cause underlies both the observed brain abnormalities and the dysfunctional dopamine systems so characteristic of schizophrenia".
please see the link for references listed above-
GOOD BRAIN - they're mental
so, in truth, we don't really know what causes schizophrenia... there's a few theories, but no real facts... it's too expensive to give everyone who might have a mental illness an MRI or a PET scan, so instead we rely on rating scales and medication...
of course, earl, sometimes ppl need more than a therapeutic community- and sometimes medication seems like the only path to take, yet I feel it should only be used when ppl are in an acute phase, and that once the positive symptoms have abated and ppl are stabilized they should have the medication reduced, tapered to a minimum dose, and hopefully, eventually, be weaned off this, rather than be prescribed it indefinately...
...but look at it the other way... if you told me that you were taking me to a mental health facility, and I didn't want to go, it would take six ppl to drag me there, too... if someone was going to lock you up, deprive you of your civil liberties, stick you in a dangerous, high stress enviroment, patronise and belittle you, and then forcibly strap you down and medicate you to the extent you dribbled like a baby, couldn't walk ten metres without falling over or gave you drugs that meant you had no bladder control, would you happily submit?
...yet we look at our young man, and we say- hey, he's violent and maybe dangerous! he's non-compliant! he won't do as he's told! he must be sick!
and slap the handcuffs on him, when maybe his behaviour is actually quite healthy...
muslimwoman- "Do u believe in G-d because u have a mental illness?"- no! u have Islam-itis! its a different kettle of fish!
dauer- you'll have to explain what tehillim and niggums are....
