• Question: I've seen a lot of programmes and things recently on children who seem to be born with mental illness such as schizophrenia could this be pre-natal or something to do with the development of the child?

    Asked by caramelchemist to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Susanna Martin

      Susanna Martin answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      some people do think that schizophrenia and other mental illnesses can be predetermined due to our genetic traits, other people think it might be to do with your environmental upbringing, or even your experiences in the womb. The key problem with finding out is that there isn’t a single thing malfunctioning in schizophrenia it could be a range of issues, and for some people this could be a mix of genes and then an environmental cause which triggers it, for instance alcohol abuse. One way people try to explore the nature/nurture argument is to look at cases of mental illness with identical twins. It can be interesting to explore why one twin has a disorder while the other one doesn’t.

    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Susie definitely has this covered! We’re still on the way towards understanding all of human genetics so we can’t yet be sure that schizophrenia could be a genetic disorder. It is also possible that it’s something that happens inside the womb that affects brain development.

      This is one of those great areas of science where we don’t have all of the answers yet – this means there’s a space for someone like you to become a scientist to try and ask this question!

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