4 Decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. Schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder are synonyms.
☐ T ☐ F
2. Schizophrenia is a lifelong disorder, but can be cured.
☐ T ☐ F
3. Schizophrenic people are more violent than people with other mental illnesses.
☐ T ☐ F
4. Schizophrenia has a disruptive effect on people's lives.
☐ T ☐ F
5. Schizophrenia is more common in men than in women.
☐ T ☐ F
6. People with schizophrenia are unable to think rationally.
☐ T ☐ F
7. All schizophrenic people suffer from hallucinations.
☐ T ☐ F
8. Hallucinations only affect the interpretation of reality.
☐ T ☐ F
9. A psychotic episode is a sudden change in behaviour and personality.
☐ T ☐ F
10. The symptoms of schizophrenia can improve and worsen in phases.
☐ T ☐ F
5 Listen to a text on the possible causes of schizophrenia and complete the summary on the right with the following expressions.
a. behavioural or stress-induced events
b. biochemical abnormalities
c. dopamine receptors
d. excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate
e. metabolic pathway
f. more effective treatments
g. neurotransmitter systems
h. unsaturated fatty acids
Hypotheses on biological causes for schizophrenia
Many early theories focused on 1. ............................, but more recently, consensus holds that underlying 2. ............................ are more likely the cause. Lending great support to this idea is the fact that genetic predisposition may account for 50% of the risk of developing schizophrenia.
These biochemical hypotheses centre on dysfunction of the 3. ............................ in the brain, which provide for normal cognition and attention.
The Dopamine Hypothesis. The notion that dopamine may be involved in schizophrenia derives from the therapeutic usefulness of drugs that block certain 4. ............................ in treating the disorder. An overactivity of dopamine neurotransmission in cortical and limbic areas of the brain may cause schizophrenia.
The NMDA Receptor Hypothesis. NMDA receptors respond to the 5. ............................ and are known to be important for normal memory and cognition. It has been suggested that NMDA receptor dysfunction may cause schizophrenia.
The Single-Carbon Hypothesis. Researchers have often linked disturbances of the single-carbon folate pathway to schizophrenia. This 6. ............................ provides carbon groups for a variety of biochemical reactions in the brain.
The Membrane Hypothesis. Neurotransmitter receptors function within the membranes of nerve cells, and deficiency in the level of highly 7. ............................ is associated with schizophrenia.
Recently, our laboratory has discovered a signalling pathway that combines elements of all four of these theories. There is reason to hope, though, that new findings will lead to new 8. ...........................
GLOSSARY
disruption: alterazione
full-blown: vero e proprio
impairment: menomazione, danno
jumble: miscuglio
relapse: ricaduta
remission: remissione (di sintomi)
severity: gravità
split personality: personalità dissociata
to strike: colpire
withdrawn: introverso