March says her preliminary work shows that of Kaiser cohort members born in Oakland, Calif.,* those born into more densely populated neighborhoods are at twofold to threefold greater risk of schizophrenia than those born in less dense areas, irrespective of race. Residents of more run-down or overcrowded city neighborhoods could be more exposed to toxic chemicals and infections, she says, and may have less access to social capital that would blunt the effects of a predisposition to mental illness acquired early in life.
In an attractive synthesis, such neighborhood-level risk factors might impart lasting epigenetic changes—the chemical overwriting of the genome in response to environmental cues. If true, the roots of schizophrenia would lie where geography and genetics meet.
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Putting Madness in Its Place."
*Erratum (12/22/09): This sentence has been edited since posting to correct the location where the study subjects reside.
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18 Comments
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood genes...make better kids.
It's common for people with the same emotional problems to have children together.
What's environmental about that.
There is no Oakland County in California; the City of Oakland is in Alameda County.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShel Carroll, San Jose, CA
Look up this 2009 Harvard study entitled:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRelation of Schizophrenia Prevalence to Latitude, Climate, Fish Consumption, Infant
Mortality, and Skin Color: A Role for Prenatal Vitamin D Deficiency and Infections? by Kinney et al.
The reference to 'migrant status' is too oblique -- we are not talking about Swedes moving to Spain but rather people with darker skin moving further away from the equator.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in dark skinned immigrants to high latitude countries for the simple biological and non-racist reason that dark skins do not generate as much vitamin D per unit sunshine as light skin.
It is also well documented that urban populations tend to get less exposure to the sun than rural and tend to have a higher rate of vitamin D deficiency.
I was frankly surprised to find no mention of the vitamin D deficiency hypothesis as a contributor to schizophrenia in this article.
Is it possible that schizophrenia stems simply from inadequate pattern-matching capabilities? An incorrect match would thereby trigger a halucination, being simply the wrong sensoriel image being selected?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTalk about poorly formed questions. "What causes schizophrenia?" is on par with "What causes traffic accidents?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCongrats SciAm - no detail, poor grammar and a geographical error in one story.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes anyone proof-read or fact check?
The minor errors in the articles copy do not invalidate its contents. As a mental health worker for the past 46 years, I found the article to be interesting and informative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiseco-steve at 09:42 AM on 11/17/09
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs it possible that schizophrenia stems simply from inadequate pattern-matching capabilities? An incorrect match would thereby trigger a halucination, being simply the wrong sensoriel image being selected?
I think you got something there.
There is one old saying that comes to mind here. "If the brain was so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't." The introduction of the concept that the environment may be more important than we think is indeed valid. However, the genetic component is real as acknowledged.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis situation may prove to be most instructive. Genes are far more complex than anticipated. They work as a team and in a manner that eludes us to date. They respond to the environment - as they must. They take care of trillions of cells. With respect to the brain, genes and 'dysfunction', we are face to face with a remarkably sophisticated network that defies our attempt(s) to identify 'cause and effect'. I suggest that these efforts are (correctly) well intentioned but the brain is simply far beyond us at this point. We might get there - millions of years from now ...
Nature and Nurture intersect. What is so surprising? If you take someone who has a potential problem, and put them in a crowded, poorly educated environment, filled with violence, why would you be surprised if the outcome is mental illness; as opposed to putting them in a serene well nourished atmosphere where they might have a more reasoned response to their problems?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVitamin D deficiency, infection, and stress might suppress neurogenesis, leading to symptoms of depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, or other 'mental illnesses.'
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExcerpt from http://seedmagazine.com/content/print/the_reinvention_of_the_self/ :
"For example, if a pregnant rhesus monkey is forced to endure stressful conditionslike being startled by a blaring horn for 10 minutes a dayher children are born with reduced neurogenesis, even if they never actually experience stress once born. This pre-natal trauma, just like trauma endured in infancy, has life-long implications. The offspring of monkeys stressed during pregnancy have smaller hippocampi, suffer from elevated levels of glucocorticoids and display all the classical symptoms of anxiety. Being low in a dominance hierarchy also suppresses neurogenesis."
A propos: nurture re schizophrenia: nutritional i.e. vitamin deficiencies may well play a part in triggering onsets of schizophrenia; this applies specifically to migrants from sunnier climates with fruits aplenty who often lack their traditional food intake patterns in their northern host countries, which can cause nutritional starvation mode for the brain, with probable malfunctions such as schizophrenia and depression as consequence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's no mention of the many who unexpectedly develop severe schizophrenia shortly after puberty.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAdult-onset schizophrenia devastates families with its sudden arrival, affecting those who were perfectly normal as a child and teenager.
See http://DrMcKenzie.com for one of the major factors in experiencing schizophrenia, early trauma. His textbook link at amazon.com is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=9057025019/recoverybydiscovA/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisadfhsteh
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRisk factor? Horror story!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDeaf son. Hallucinating and paranoid (command / control issues). Did not recognize his mom or dad. 15 y.o.
Could not get him into a treatment facility for 2.5 days!
Then a psychiatrist made arrangements for him to get into LI Jewish Memorial hosp where the truth be told, they had no idea if that was a proper diagnosis.
Since, he been diagnosed depressed and now, finally, ADD!
He had grown 4 inches in he space of 5 months! He had major kidney surgery (UPJ obstruction) and a broken toe 3 months prior.
Why am I sending this? I hope someone can use this info to prevent disabled kids from further deterioration and anxiety. I believe the main reason it happened was he was alienated and had the risk factors: born in late Nov., lived in NYC for a few years, mainstreamed school (a lot of pressure).
But let's not forget he is not dark skinned. I would like to believe his height change and internal pressures "snapped" him.
Is there a snap gene?
Am I being silly "bugging" about science looking in a skin color direction when there are "non-colored" components, me being one of those voices?
You want to write an impressive article? Why do the professional "front line" doctors tell me , '...the northeast is notoriously poor at diagnosis, treatment and support of adolescent neuroses.'?
Then throw a disability on?
The one doctor that was going to take us would NOT provide for a deaf child!
Where are the doctors espousing 'inability to cope" and hormone changes?
European? Vitamin D? Possible.
Dr. Feynman, rest his soul, said a long time ago, 'We scientists look in our own directions for answers. Then some day, we get a call from a colleague telling us to look over here. So we put down what we're doing and try to get back to it later'...paraphrasing all the way, but you get the gist.
I believe your latest viewpoint is awaiting a much needed update...
At least, for the layman it seems easy to call this latest effort mumbo-jumbo, premature at best.
Constant Stress as Schizophrenia Trigger?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder if anyone ever studied the impact of long period stress factor as a possible schizophrenia trigger ?
I mean such factors as :
- Noisy, crowded city environment, with continuous sensory stimulation.
- Prejudiced, unfriendly people around
- Lower self esteem
It is possible that human brain exposed to such long term stress factors may experience some specific modifications, which end up as schizophrenia in some more prone people.
It would be interesting to study what is the impact of migration for people who experience a good assimilation and much better life quality in the new country.
It could be that higher risk of schizophrenia among people of African origin can be attributed to two factors :
- evolutionary : in Europe more people, for longer periods lived in overcrowded urban communities, so people more resistant to stress linked to such life conditions could be more favored by evolution. (ex. people more stressed more easily get infections, and by having a weakened immunity system, are more likely to die and leave less progeny)
For the most of its history Africa was less urbanized, so people living there had no chance to evolve a higher psychical hardiness to difficulties and stresses linked with the life in the overcrowded urban environment.
- since Afro-Americans are in minority and in general they experience worse economic and social status, this may be the cause of a life-long stress and lower self esteem.
It should be compared what is the frequency of schizophrenia among people living a placid life in calm, friendly environment when compared to people exposed on overwhelming sensory stimulus, neighborhood hostility, insecurity, stressful work.
Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=more-vitamin-d-could-prevent-some-psychosis
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