Authors: Gillian Ruth May Steggles
The pathogenesis of schizophrenia has been understood to commence with the intense painfulness of the young person’s early environments, as their representational world. This preconscious representation of their early environments can be experienced so adversely as to impinge on brain function, namely the level of the individual’s wellbeing as evaluated by the nucleus accumbens, which also evaluates wellbeing as a rewarding consequence of exposure to drugs of addiction. Involving connection with the A10 nucleus, which is arguably homeostatic like the homeostatic nuclei that surround it in the brainstem, the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex secrete excessive amounts of dopamine to counteract the individual’s dysphoria. This adversely affects the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, which leads to the common manifestations of schizophrenia. Successful treatment is directly aligned with its proposed pathogenesis. Palliative management can provide alleviation to a lesser extent of some aspects of the illness.
View/Download pdf