Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Could Schizophrenia be caused by a virus?




The story of Steven and his twin David reflects the mystery of schizophrenia. For a long time it was blamed on cold mothers then on bad genes. Now a group of scientists are exploring the theory that schizophrenia does not start as a psychological disease, it begins with an infection.


Steven and David Elmore were born identical twins but they were very different. David came home at the normal time with his mother but Steven stayed in the hospital for a month hovering between life and death in an incubator. He had a high fever and a dangerous viral infection. Later the mother noticed a difference in her babies, Steven would lay awake and rarely cried and when his mother smiled at him, he didn't smile back at her the way David did. But Steven caught up and the twins shared the same friends, were both B+ students and basically had a happy childhood.


Then at the age of 17, Steven began hearing voices. Three voices called through the windows of his house: two angry men and one woman who begged the men to stop arguing. Other voices came through his car stereo system. He finally broke down and within weeks was in a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.




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