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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.1 Delirium, dementia, amnesia, and other cognitive disorders
- 4.2 Substance use disorders
- 4.3 Schizophrenia and acute transient psychotic disorders
- 4.3.1 Schizophrenia: a conceptual history
- 4.3.2 Descriptive clinical features of schizophrenia
- 4.3.3 The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.4 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- 4.3.5 Epidemiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.6 Aetiology
- 4.3.6.1 Genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia
- 4.3.6.2 The neurobiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.7 Course and outcome of schizophrenia and their prediction
- 4.3.8 Treatment and management of schizophrenia
- 4.3.9 Schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders
- 4.3.10 Acute and transient psychotic disorders
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Section 10 Intellectual Disability (Mental Retardation)
- Section 11 Forensic Psychiatry
Genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia
Genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia
- Chapter:
- Genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia
- Author(s):
R. M. Murray
and D. J. Castle
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0076
One thing that is certain about the aetiology of schizophrenia is that there is no single cause. This might reflect the fact that the schizophrenia construct itself is heterogeneous, such that specific subtypes might in the future be found to have specific causes. But it is more useful at this stage of our knowledge to conclude that, like other disorders such as ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus, schizophrenia results from the cumulative effects of a number of risk factors. These may be crudely divided into the familial-genetic and the environmental, though there are clearly interactions between the two.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.1 Delirium, dementia, amnesia, and other cognitive disorders
- 4.2 Substance use disorders
- 4.3 Schizophrenia and acute transient psychotic disorders
- 4.3.1 Schizophrenia: a conceptual history
- 4.3.2 Descriptive clinical features of schizophrenia
- 4.3.3 The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.4 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of schizophrenia
- 4.3.5 Epidemiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.6 Aetiology
- 4.3.6.1 Genetic and environmental risk factors for schizophrenia
- 4.3.6.2 The neurobiology of schizophrenia
- 4.3.7 Course and outcome of schizophrenia and their prediction
- 4.3.8 Treatment and management of schizophrenia
- 4.3.9 Schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders
- 4.3.10 Acute and transient psychotic disorders
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- 4.8 Obsessive–compulsive disorder
- 4.9 Depersonalization disorder
- 4.10 Disorders of eating
- 4.11 Sexuality, gender identity, and their disorders
- 4.12 Personality disorders
- 4.13 Habit and impulse control disorder
- 4.14 Sleep–wake disorders
- 4.15 Suicide
- 4.16 Culture-related specific psychiatric syndromes
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Section 10 Intellectual Disability (Mental Retardation)
- Section 11 Forensic Psychiatry
