Schizophrenia: Developmental Variability Interacts with Risk Factors to Cause the Disorder

Abstract

A new etiological model is proposed for schizophrenia that combines variability-enhancing nonspecific factors acting during development with more specific risk factors. This model is better suited than the current etiological models of schizophrenia, based on the risk factors paradigm, for predicting and/or explaining several important findings about schizophrenia: high co-morbidity rates, low specificity of many risk factors, and persistence in the population of the associated genetic polymorphisms. Compared with similar models, e.g., de-canalization, common psychopathology factor, sexual-selection, or differential sensitivity to the environment, this proposal is more general and integrative. Recently developed research methods have proven the existence of genetic and environmental factors that enhance developmental variability. Applying such methods to newly collected or already available data can allow for testing the hypotheses upon which this model is built. If validated, this model may change the understanding of the etiology of schizophrenia, the research models, and preventionbrk paradigms.

Internal Echo Chamber: Schizophrenia Source Monitoring Errors, Self-Speech, and Auditory Hallucinations

“…This sickness affects millions worldwide and raises many questions. Although the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, a complex interaction of psychological, neurological, and environmental factors is believed to be responsible (Szoke et al, 2020). Understanding schizophrenia begins with acknowledging that it is a convergence of variables that represent the complexity of human experience.…”

Can Variability‐Enhancing Factors Replace Models of Risk as the Basis of Schizophrenia and Development?

“…Using schizophrenia as a model, Szoke et al. [ 1 ] introduce in this issue a novel paradigm that designates non‐specific environmental and genetic elements as variability‐enhancing factors, facilitating an indiscriminate predisposition to both favorable and adverse individual results. Subsequent questions arise on validating this model and the appropriate resolution of an exposure in future investigations.…”

“…Szoke et al. [ 1 ] propose a paradigm in which some of the factors in schizophrenia and other developmental pathologies are better regarded as promoters of variability, as opposed to being inherently detrimental or protective. This model uniquely allows the development of favorable outcomes, incorporating both genetic and environmental influences.…”