Mental Disorders: The Cause Of Schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder affecting the nervous system.
The exact cause of Schizophrenia is unclear, however the dopamine hypothesis has dominated the theories regarding the cause of schizophrenia for fifty years, with the neurotransmitter dopamine believed to cause an abnormal amount of or the abnormal action of dopamine in the brain (Elder, Enans & Nizette, 2005). Dopamine (a catecholaminergic neurotransmitter) is found in high concentrations in the striatum and caudate nucleus and particularly in the basal ganglia and extrapyramidal tracts of the brain (Beaulieu & Gainetdinov, 2011). There are various dopamine receptors in the brain, particularly in the basal ganglia and limbic areas, however D1 and D2 receptors are …show more content…
It is believed that dopamine neurons in the mesolimbic region of the brain are overactive in people with Schizophrenia, whilst dopamine neurons in the mesocortical region of the brain are underactive in people with this disease (Seeman, et al, 2005). Hyperactivity in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (in the striatum) results in the increased release of subcortical dopamine and increased D2 receptor activation. This hyperactivity increases dopamine levels and causes the positive symptoms of Schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions as a result of the excessive dopamine release into the brain (Birsch et al, 2014). Hypoactivity in the mesocortical dopamine pathway, as the result of reduced D1 receptor activation in the prefrontal cortex, causes the negative, cognitive and affect symptoms of Schizophrenia such as a lack of motivation, poverty of speech and an inability to experience pleasure (anhedonia), as D1 receptors do not function adequately to uptake the increased levels of dopamine that have entered the brain due to D2 receptors (Gao, 2011). Ordinarily the effect of dopamine activity is damped down by means of a negative feedback process in which the neuronal system attempts to prevent overload by
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