Schizophrenia Linked to Possible Faulty "Switch"

by Laura Heffner

Researches at the University at Nottingham in the UK believe they have discovered the possible cause of schizophrenia in humans.  After a four year study through the University's Division of Psychiatry believe that a disconnect between the loop that connects the insular and frontal cortex sections of the brain is the cause of schizophrenia.

The switching between these two sections allows us to switch between our inner private world such as remembering the past to the outer objective world such as  a loud noise or someone is talking to us.  For someone whom this is not possible, they end up lost in their inner world which can manifest in voices and hallucinations.  

Schizophrenia can affect as many as 1 in 100 people with very little know about the infliction.  Only 1 in 5 people have a chance in being cured.  A functional MRI was utilized in the study that compared a control group with schizophrenia that pinpointed this disconnect.  This discovery should aid in the diagnosis of persons with schizophrenia and also allow for new treatment options.  

Though scientists are still not sure what causes the disconnect in the brain but they believe it may be due to genetic predisposition or drug use.  Those who use cannibas or stimulant drugs are three to four more times likely to suffer from schizophrenia.  Underdevelopment of the brain during pregnancy and childhood malnutrition is also thought to possibly cause this mental illness.  

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is being researched as treatment for this disconnect.  Scientists believe that using magnetic pulses on certain parts of the brain affected may reset the switch.  Mindfulness is also being looked at to restructure the brain as well.  

Exciting discoveries for this affliction.  My father suffered from schizophrenia at the end of his life which may have been there for all of his life but compounded by his alcoholism or maybe the alcoholism brought on the condition.  Understanding why people become schizophrenic can help those who love them as well as provide more effective treatment and diagnosis.  

Killing Rampage in California, Gunman Once Held for Psychiatric Evaluation

by Laura Heffner

John Zawarhi recently shot and killed five people in Santa Monica as he went on a killing spree on the day prior to his twenty-fourth birthday.  He murdered his father, his older brother, a groundskeeper and his young daughter who had just registered for classes at Santa Monica College as well as a random outside of the campus library where Zawarhi had not attended since 2010.  He set his father's home on fire after the shootings where he too had resided.

When he was 16 or 17 years old, law enforcement had been called to his home and had been placed in psychiatric evaluation.  Not many details are available but there was no other psychiatric treatment mentioned.  Zawarhi's parents divorced amidst allegations of verbal and physical abuse of his father toward his mother.  His home life was tumultuous at best. 

The statement that stuck out at me was that a family friend said Zawarhi had a history of mental problems and a frightening fascination with guns.  This seems to be a theme in recent years, mental illness and the shooting rampage in schools, movie theaters, etc.  No where is safe from one plagued with untreated (and even sometimes treated) mental illness.  People want to scream for gun control and never look at the cause.  If you take the guns away there will be no more crazy people shooting up schools.  True.  That is a possibility but has anyone thought that because these people are so mentally ill, that they would do something else such as drive a semi loaded with explosives into a school?  Do we outlaw anything that could be used as a weapon?

I'm not taking a side one way or the other on gun control.  But this view seems short-sighted to me.  What about providing better resources for the mentally ill and their family, especially adult situations.  As a daughter of an alcoholic father who later in life was diagnosed with paranoia schizophrenia, I know all too well the limited resources and lack of help available when you receive a call from the apartment complex your father lives in that he is talking to the vending machines as if they are a person they are angry with.  You are helpless in getting them long-term treatment or any real help.  Or getting them to take their medication without being institutionalized.  I could easily see my father in his last years plotting something as a shooting rampage especially in his condition. 

So, I wonder, when will the powers that be realize it's not so much the guns but the person behind the gun and in many cases their mental illnesses which are truly the killer and not the weapon.   I suppose one could deduce that mental illness is truly the murderer.