Signs and Causes of Paranoid Schizophrenia

The initial signs and causes of paranoid schizophrenia can be difficult to ascertain. At first, the individual may feel confused, nervous, angry, argumentative and indecisive. He or she may change eating, sleeping and hygiene habits. Next, the negative delusions or hallucinations may begin. The paranoid schizophrenic often feels that people are plotting against him or her. They believed that people are always watching, taping the person or out to sabotage. Ultimately, life with paranoid schizophrenia results in the need for medication or hospitalization.

While genetics undoubtedly play a part in the signs and causes of paranoid schizophrenia, researchers believe that there are a myriad of factors to explain why some family members may have a paranoid personality, while others do not. This year, an international team of scientists from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the University of Edinburgh found that 4% of bipolar patients and 2% of schizophrenics showed a break in their DNA -- the ABCA-13 gene, specifically. This gene, located in the hippocampus memory center and cortex of the brain, could be part of the puzzle when it comes to unraveling a disorder that may be caused by hundreds of thousands of genes.

Chemical imbalances in neurotransmitters, proteins and amino acids all play a role too, but it's unknown what causes the brain to turn on itself. The causes and signs of paranoid schizophrenia have been traced back to dopamine and glutamate. Researchers believe that dopamine floods the mesolimbic pathway of the brain, causing psychotic symptoms, although it's not known what triggers the release. Scientists have also proposed that what causes schizophrenia is an activation of D2 receptors. Many of the new antipsychotic medications affect both the dopamine and the seratonin functioning in the brain. The brains of schizophrenics often show reduced function of the NMDA glutamate receptor.

The problem in understanding the signs and causes of paranoid schizophrenia is that there is no clear-cut, universal cause. The brain scans, neurochemical makeup, environmental factors and genetic code of people who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia vary greatly from person to person. Down the road and sometime in the future, researchers hope to figure out the causes of schizophrenia so they can screen for the disorder, propose early intervention strategies and gain a better understanding of what causes this debilitating disorder.

Related topics about signs and causes of paranoid schizophrenia
Making a Schizophrenia Diagnosis
Unfortunately, obtaining a schizophrenia diagnosis is not as easy as running a quick blood test or pushing the patient through a brain scanner. While researchers are running clinical trials on tests like that, the current reality is that they are only able to define paranoid schizophrenia through its signs and symptoms. The causes of this debilitating disorder that affects 1% of the American population, are poorly understood but given proper medication and psychiatric therapy, an individual can live independently and successfully.

Understanding Paranoid Type Schizophrenia
Paranoid type schizophrenia is the most common schizophrenia subtype, affecting about 80% of all schizophrenics. Individuals with this type of brain disorder often come across as intelligent or competent when they're not having a psychotic episode. Catatonic symptoms, speech disturbances, inappropriate emotional responses, poor memory and difficulty making decisions are not prominent symptoms of this type.

Five Types of Schizophrenia Disorder
Most types of schizophrenia (75% of all schizophrenics) experience illogical delusions in their acute phase of the disorder. Hallucinations are another type of acute "positive" symptom. Patients often report feeling as though bugs are crawling all over them, hearing voices and believing that there are sinister controlling forces out to get them.