Question: To what degree is schizophrenia caused by problems with genes?

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My Answers:
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric illness that affects us with 1% risk of
developing the disorder in our lifetime. It is a mental disorder that caused
abnormalities in the perception of reality. Although it is known that about
80% of the risk of developing the illness is caused by genes, there are
other factors such as prenatal, social (urban environment), and
psychological and drugs influence. The cause of Schizophrenia is a
balanced between natural and the environmental causes. So, to what
degree is schizophrenia caused by genes?
Twin, family and adoption studies (Rajiv Tandon, Matcheri S.Keshavan
and Henry A. Nasrallah 2008) suggest that as many as 83%
Schizophrenia are inheritable and influenced by genes. There are several
genes that interact with each other to generate the risk of having
Schizophrenia and there is no major gene that could justify a substantial
portion of the heritability and the exposure of a huge number of people.
One of the key genes that cause Schizophrenia is catechol-O-methyl
transferase (COMT). COMT is found in the chromosome of 22q11. Patients
with velo-cardio-facial syndrome have this gene missing and this causes
Schizophrenia.
Although, genes may play a huge role in causing an affected individual to
develop other psychotic problems such as bipolar disorder, it has not yet
been proven to be the dominant cause of Schizophrenia. One of the
causes of Schizophrenia is the complications at birth and during pre-natal
period. It has been suggested that hypoxic/ ischaemic neuronal injury is
caused by prematurity, prolonged labour, hypoxia and foetal distress.
Those who are born in winter or spring in the northern hemisphere are
more likely to be diagnosed with Schizophrenia. The risk of developing
Schizophrenia also increases in later part of life to those who had prenatal
exposure to infections
There are a couple of evidences (Lydia Krabbendam and Jim van Os 2005)
that point out that one-third of Schizophrenia is caused by the impact of
urban environment on the developing brain. Social disadvantages such as
poverty, and migration causing social adversity, racial discrimination,
family dysfunction, unemployment and poor housing condition is found to
be a risk factor for Schizophrenia.
Children who have experienced childhood abuse and/or trauma and
people who have experienced have a high risk of developing
Schizophrenia in later part of their lives. There are recent studies that

show the impact of the urban environment on pre-existing indictors of

genetic risk for Schizophrenia.
However these studies also show that only a small minority of these
people will develop Schizophrenia solely in conditioning due to the trigger
from urban conditions. In fact urban exposure is one of the several known
causes that switch on the gene that causes Schizophrenia.
There are studies (Sophia Frangou 2008) that have shown that drugs
such as Cannabis, Cocaine and Amphetamine cause Schizophrenia.
Recent studies show that use of Cannabis increases the risk of
Schizophrenia in adolescents who has a family history of Schizophrenia.
This drug increases dopamine levels indirectly by removing the inhibitory
control of -aminobutyric.
In conclusion, even though Schizophrenia is largely influenced by genetic
factors, but environmental influences such as consumption of drugs,
human life experiences, neurodevelopment at prenatal stage are also
important factors. Environmental causes are responsible of turning on the
needed genes to cause Schizophrenia.
References:
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Sophia Frangou, August 2008, Schizophrenia, Medicine, 36(8), 405

409, from ScienceDirect
Rajiv Tandon, Matcheri S.Keshavan and Henry A. Nasrallah, July
2008, Schizophrenia, Just the Facts What we know in 2008.
2.Epidemiology and etiology, Schizophrenia Research, 102(1 3) ,1
18, from ScienceDirect
Neeltje E. Van Haren, Steven C. Bakker and Ren S. Kahn, 2008,
Genes and structural brain imaging in schizophrenia, Current
Opinion in Psychiatry, 21, 161-167, from PsyInfo
Lydia Krabbendam and Jim van Os, 8th September 2005,
Schizophrenia and Urbanicity: A Major Environmental Influence
Conditional on Genetic Risk, Schizophrenia Bulletin, 31(4), 795
799, from PsyInfo
Steven M Kosslyn and Robin S. Rosenberg, Psychology in
Context(3rd Edition), 659 666
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia , from Wikipedia