Different Causes of Psychosis
Cultural Factors
Genetic Influences
Neurological Influences
Psychological and Social Influences
High activity in the thalamus
Over activity in the fear processing amygdala
Extra receptors for dopamine (a neurotransmitter involved in emotion regulation and the brain's pleasure and reward centers) can create hallucinations.
Diathesis-Stress model- combination of biological and genetic vulnerabilities and enviornmental stressors
Structural damage to the brain caused by a prenatal viral infection or birth injury
The stressors associated with significant political, social, and economic problems that are prevalent in many areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia may contribute to poorer outcomes for people with schizophrenia in these countries
More African Americans receive the diagnosis of schizophrenia than Caucasians
People from devalued ethnic minority groups may be victims of bias and stereotyping and may be more likely to receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia than members of a dominant group.
Although the outcomes of schizophrenia appear similar across these groups, blacks were more likely to be detained against their will, brought to the hospital by police, and given emergency injections
Misdiagnosis
Levels of stress associated with factors such as stigma and isolation
Genes are responsible for making some individuals vulnerable to schizophrenia
Thousands of gene variances combine to produce vulnerability
Families that have a member with schizophrenia are at risk not just for schizophrenia alone or for all psychological disorders; instead, there appears to be some familial risk for a spectrum of psychotic disorders related to schizophrenia
The risk of having schizophrenia varies according to how many genes an individual shares with someone who has the disorder.
Even siblings who are close in every aspect of their lives can still have considerably different experiences physically and socially as they grow up, which may result in vastly different outcomes
Even when raised away from their biological parents, children of parents with schizophrenia have a much higher chance of having the disorder themselves.
Stress
some studies now show that particular gene variances may predict which individuals with schizophrenia will be more likely to react negatively with increased stress
Stressful life events tend to lead people to be vulnerable to psychosis, but it is hard to perform studies and make a general statement because it really depends on the person and the situation.
Families and Relapse
Schizophrenogenic mother was used for a time to describe a mother whose cold, dominant, and rejecting nature was thought to cause schizophrenia in her children
Double bind communication was used to portray a communication style that produced confl icting messages, which, in turn, caused schizophrenia to develop
Former patients who had limited contact with their relatives did better than the patients who spent longer periods with their families
Ratings of high expressed emotion in a family are a good predictor of relapse among people with chronic schizophrenia
Critical and hostile environments clearly provide additional stressors that can, in turn, lead to more relapses.
If the levels of criticism, hostility, and emotional overinvolvement expressed by the families were high, patients tended to relapse