Alison's Story Schizophrenia

Alison did not know she was schizophrenic until she was nineteen years old. She was depressed as a teenager but did not experience any psychotic tendencies until later. Alison began to live in her own fantasy world. She began sleeping all the time and skipping classes. Eventually a friend suggested she go and speak with a psychiatrist; he did not diagnose her. Her life continued to progress negatively as she became discouraged and suicidal. When she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, the medicines that she was prescribed only worked a short time before the symptoms returned. It was difficult to pinpoint the cause of why Alison had developed schizophrenia (“Alison’s Story”). Schizophrenia is a mental disease that interferes with brain function.
It was stated that, “The lifetime morbid risk (MR) of schizophrenia is about 1% in the general population, but approximately 10 times that in the siblings or offspring of patients with schizophrenia” (Kendler and Eaves 96). This shows that the chances of one developing schizophrenia are greatly increased when one of his or her first-degree family members has the illness. Even those with more distant relatives, such as an aunt or uncle, suffering from schizophrenia tend to be more likely to develop it. While the chances of contracting schizophrenia are higher when a family member has it and the genetic relationships are great, it does not mean that if one family member has schizophrenia that any other person in the family will develop
Through testings, it has been found that people with schizophrenia have a high number of gene mutations (“Schizophrenia,” National Institute of Mental Health). Each of these mutations is caused by deletions or duplications of genes. According to researchers, “Microdeletions and microduplications have been found to be three times more common in individuals with schizophrenia, compared to controls” (“Schizophrenia,” National Center for Biotechnology Information). The majority of the gene mutations occur in over expressed pathways that are involved in the development of the brain. The inheritance of these genes may be one factor that leads to the development of schizophrenia. There was a study conducted that compared the genomes of people with schizophrenia to people without it. From this study it was found that one hundred and eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms are related to schizophrenia (“Schizophrenia,” National Center for Biotechnology