Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia- Essay Plan

1. Describe in some detail the genetic factors- family studies- Gottesman

found that schizophrenia is more common among biological relatives of a
person with schizophrenia and also that the closer the degree of genetic
relatedness, the greater the risk. For instance, children with 2
schizophrenic parents have a concordance rate of 46%, children of one
schizophrenic parent 13% and siblings 9%. Although this could be due to
common rearing patterns or other factors not relating to heredity. Twin
studies- Joseph calculated concordance rates of 40.4% for MZ twins and
7.4% for DZ twins. Adoption studies- Tienari- 164 adoptees- bio mothers
diagnosed as schizophrenic found that 6.7% also got same diagnosis, as
opposed to 2% of the 197 controls, conclude that the genetic liability to
schizophrenia had been decisively confirmed.
2. Describe in some detail the dopamine hypothesis- messages from neurons
that transmit dopamine fire too easily or too often which leads to the
characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenics seem to have
abnormally high levels of D2 receptors on receiving neurons which results
in more dopamine binding and so more neurons firing.
3. Evidence for Dopamine hypothesis- Amphetamines- dopamine agoniststimulates the nerve cells causing the synapse to be flooded with the
dopamine; large doses of this drug give similar effects of a schizophrenic
episode. Antipsychotic drugs- block activity of dopamine in the brain, done
by reducing stimulation of the dopamine system, eliminate symptoms like
hallucinations and delusions, therefore this provides strong evidence for
dopamine being a significant contributory factor for this disorder.
Parkinsons disease- low levels of dopamine activity are found in
Parkinsons disease sufferers- Grilly found some people who were taking
the drug L-dopa to raise their levels of dopamine were developing
schizophrenic type symptoms.
4. Enlarged ventricles- Torrey found that on average the ventricles of a
schizophrenic are about 15% bigger than normal people.
5. Critical Point 1: There is a methodological flaw with the majority of the
studies carried out on MZ and DZ twins. Joseph points out that it is widely
accepted that MZ twins are treated more similarly, encounter more similar
environments and experience more identity confusion than DZ twins.
Consequently, there is a question of whether the differences in
concordance rates between MZ and DZ twins is down to nothing more
than the environmental differences that distinguish the two types of twin.
6. Critical Point 2: There is evidence to suggest that schizophrenia is an
ancient disorder. Torrey found schizophrenics in Australian Aborigines who
lived about 60,000 years ago. The evolutionary adaptive explanation for
schizophrenia is that schizoid personalities have acted in the past to
perform the valuable function of dividing tribal communities when they
become too large so it helped to maintain dwindling food resources.
Stevens and Price suggest that maintaining schizoid symptoms would lead
to the splitting of communities and the formation of new ones. This is due
to the fact that schizoid symptoms like mood changes, bizarre beliefs,
hallucinations and delusions of grandeur would induce discontented group

members to leave. This supports biological explanations for schizophrenia

as an evolutionary explanation is considered a biological explanation
especially as it implies an adaptation that would be beneficial to humans.
7. Critical Point 3: There is a flaw with one of the key pieces of evidence to
support the dopamine hypothesis. The drugs used to treat schizophrenia
by blocking the dopamine receptors can actually increases it as neurons
struggle to compensate for the sudden deficiency. Haracz, in a review of
post-mortem studies of schizophrenics, found that most of those studied
who showed elevated dopamine levels had received antipsychotic drugs
shortly before death, unlike post-mortem of schizophrenics who hadnt
received medication these results showed that these individuals had
normal levels of dopamine. Therefore, this evidence weakens the support
for the dopamine hypothesis.
8. Critical Point 4: The dopamine hypothesis has a flaw. Copolov and Crook
failed to find convincing evidence of altered dopamine activity in the
brains of individuals with schizophrenia. As a result of this, this seems to
disprove the dopamine hypothesis further as this was one of the key
features for the explanation.
9. Critical Point 5: There is conflicting evidence for the view that enlarged
ventricles lead to schizophrenia. Copolov and Crook conducted a Meta
analysis of over 90 CT scans and found a substantial overlap between
schizophrenic and control groups in terms of ventricle size. Consequently,
this theory is flawed as consistent evidence has not been found yet.
10.Critical Point 6: There is evidence to suggest the enlarged ventricles are
actually due to the antipsychotic drugs. Lyon found that as the dose of
medication increased, the density of brain tissue decreased which lead to
enlarged ventricles. Therefore, this research seems to suggest that one of
the biological treatments of schizophrenia could actually be making the
patients symptoms, especially negative symptoms of schizophrenia,
worse.