Electrical impulses are sent to the brain when something stimulates our senses. The impulses not only allow us to use all of our senses, but they also organize our thought processes. The nervous system in our body is very complex. One may think that only one nerve controls senses at a particular area and goes directly to the brain, but that would be wrong. Interaction between nerves is a key in getting information to the brain, nerves must translate message back and forth. This complex system allows for some mistakes as well. Mistakes in our nervous system may cause our brain to misinterpret the signal or it may not receive it at all. The impulses make-up may undergo a chemical change if something happens to it on the way to the brain, which could result in abnormal behavior and irregular thought processes. A particular chemical in the brain has been studied extensively by researchers, it is called Dopamine. These researchers believe that higher levels of dopamine are present in schizophrenic patients than in normal people. To test this theory researchers have injected animals with amphetamines to increase the amount of dopamine in their systems. After the injection, some of these animals were showing the same types of behavior as human schizophrenic patients. Some included standing still for long periods of time or continuously pacing around. Small doses of amphetamines in humans can also cause dopamine levels to rise a slight bit. This small increase, however, can still cause delusions and hallucinations in the subject. Though the evidence shows that high levels of dopamine could be the cause of schizophrenia, most scientists still believe that more causes exist in this complex disease. .
The Genetic Theory states that schizophrenia's cause may be linked to traits in a person's genetic makeup. A normal human being has 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each pair of chromosomes has one chromosome from the mother and one from the father.
