Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with severe and often debilitating symptoms. People who suffer from schizophrenia lose touch with reality, experiencing hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior.
According to the World Health Organization, schizophrenia affects over 21 million people across the globe. While the cause of this serious mental health disorder is not completely clear, research overwhelmingly infers that schizophrenia is a biological disease of the brain. Studying the brains of people diagnosed with schizophrenia can help researchers come closer to identifying triggers, risk factors, and ultimately, more effective treatments.
Schizophrenia Linked to Less Grey Matter in the Brain
The human brain is composed of two types of tissue: the nerve fibers of white matter, and the cell bodies of grey matter. Grey matter is largely contained on the surface of the brain, and controls many different functions, such as muscular activity, sensory perception, memory, emotions, and self-control.
Brain scans of patients with schizophrenia revealed a significant lack of grey matter when compared with brain scans of healthy people. Whether this reduced volume is a cause or a symptom of schizophrenia is still unknown, but patients with the least grey matter also experienced the most severe symptoms.
Schizophrenia and The Prefrontal Cortex
Another area of the brain associated with schizophrenia is the prefrontal cortex. Located directly behind the forehead, the prefrontal cortex oversees many aspects of our cognition, behavior, and personality. Everything from our social interactions to our ability to make decisions relies on the proper functioning of this part of the brain.
However, studies have shown significant dysfunction in the prefrontal cortexes of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. According to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, non-medicated patients in the early stages of the disease demonstrated increased connectivity in the prefrontal cortex, while those with long-standing schizophrenia exhibited decreased activity in the same region. These abnormalities are thought to be related to elevated dopamine levels in the brain.
The Role of Brain Chemistry in Schizophrenia
Information travels between neurons in the brain via chemicals called neurotransmitters. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that influences our ability to think, plan, focus, and feel pleasure. While low levels of dopamine are implicated in many cases of drug abuse and addiction, high levels of dopamine have been found to play a role in schizophrenia.
“The dopamine hypothesis” posits that the hallucinations and delusions experienced in schizophrenia are caused by either too much dopamine being released or an extreme dopamine sensitivity in the brain. This is why antipsychotic medications are generally effective in treating schizophrenia – they work by blocking dopamine receptors.
Treatment for Schizophrenia
Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic illness requiring lifelong treatment. While there is no cure, symptoms can often be controlled with medication, but it can take a while to find the proper drug and dosage that works for each person.
Antipsychotics are the most commonly prescribed drugs for schizophrenia. However, many of them can cause unwanted, and even potentially dangerous, side effects – from significant weight gain to irreversible movement disorders.
New medications are being developed every day to help improve the symptoms of schizophrenia while minimizing side effects. Clinical trials allow patients to gain access to these cutting-edge drugs before they’re available to the general public.
Schizophrenia Clinical Trials at Synergy Research Centers
If you are living with schizophrenia, you may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial at Synergy Research Centers in San Diego. Our goal is to help find new and better treatment options, so people with schizophrenia can get symptoms under control and live a healthy, fulfilling life.
For more information on our schizophrenia clinical research studies, call us at (888) 539-0282.