Genetic and nongenetic studies of schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia, the ‘heartland of psychiatry’, has been studied extensively especially what might be its aetiology. However the causes of schizophrenia are still mostly unknown and the extent of the role of the genetic and non genetic factors in this aetiology has yet to be established. Not only is the extent of these factors yet unknown, but there are still ongoing studies to establish what exactly are these genes and non genetic factors. There are several approaches of how to study these possible aetiological factors of schizophrenia. One of the approaches as the regards the genetic factors is by means of family studies. Epidemiological studies, assessing the association between schizophrenia and presumed causal factors, are another way of studying the non genetic factors. Both approaches of study have been used in the studies for this Phd dissertation. The family studies have focused on structural brain abnormalities and neuropsychological deficits, as possible endophenotypic markers. The epidemiological studies were on the possible causal factors cannabis, prenatal exposure to influenza, urbanicity and socio-economic status.