Changes in the Brain Due to Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a debilitating and often dangerous mental illness characterized by severe psychosis (detachment from reality). While no one is sure of the exact cause, according to Schizophrenia.com most scientists agree that it is the result of a combination of biological, physiological, neurological and psychological elements. On the physiological side, there is tremendous, mounting evidence of actual physical changes that take place in the brains of schizophrenics.

Loss of Gray Matter

• According to Schizophrenia.com, neuroscientists have discovered up to a 25 percent loss of gray matter, particularly in the temporal and frontal lobes, in the brains of schizophrenics. It was revealed that patients with the most tissue loss experience the worst symptoms.

Enlarged Ventricles

• According to a study conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of Milan, people with schizophrenia typically have enlarged ventricles (cavities through which cerebro-spinal fluid circulates) of the brain.

Neurological Abnormalities

• People with schizophrenia, according to a 1989 Harvard Medical School study, have more structural and functional abnormalities in their brains than healthy people.

Impaired Cognitive Function

• Schizophrenia.com states that the cognitive functions of schizophrenics, like verbal memory and information processing, are compromised by an inordinate amount of neuropsychological abnormalities.

Decreased Prefrontal Brain Function

• The Department of Biological and Medical Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway (2004), among others, observed a decrease in activity in the prefrontal brain, which is used in planning for and thinking about yourself, in people with schizophrenia.