Question: How is schizophrenia actually caused?

Scientists think that schizophrenia is caused by a persons genes but also the environment they grow up in. We know that in identical twins, if one twin has schizophrenia, the other twin is more than twice as likely to have schizophrenia too. They have identical genes so this tells us that genes are important. BUT….. the other twin won’t always develop schizophrenia so there’s something else we’re missing: the environment they grow up in! Some factors that scientists have found that increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia are: stress, smoking cannabis (or pot), being born in winter, having an older father, the mother having an infection while the baby is in the womb and living in the city. We still can’t find one gene or even one environment that can cause schizophrenia so we are looking at modelling these genes and environments in mice and watching what happens.

We use mice that have schizophrenia-like genes and look for problems with memory, attention and if our mice are hyperactive, all symptoms of schizophrenia. We can sometimes see an improvement when we give our mice drugs that work in people who have schizophrenia, or when we raise them in stimulating and enriched environments with toys, ladders, ropes and running wheels. I hope we can find out what is happening in their brains so we can understand more about schizophrenia in people. Its an awful mental illness to have and I’d very much like to help.