Psychiatric disorders and communication

The aetiology of mental illness is complex and not fully understood. Conditions such as schizophrenia are widely accepted as disorders of the brain but a comprehensive neurobiological account of such conditions remains elusive (Meyer and Feldon 2010). A complex interplay of genetic factors, perinatal exposure to environmental insults, early developmental problems and/or early adversity such as abuse, and lifestyle factors are thought to be involved. Many psychiatric disorders have their origin in adolescence. This is a time of brain development particularly involving the pre-frontal cortex (Blakemore 2008). It is also a period of life when individuals may take risks which expose them to jeopardising that cognitive development, such as smoking cannabis which is thought to contribute to gene expression in some individuals with an underlying genetic susceptibility towards schizophrenia (Barkus and Murray 2010). The aetiology of each of the disorders considered in this chapter will be addressed in more detail within the relevant sections.