Last update:
19-Nov-2025

Schizophrenia is an intricate mental disorder characterized by severely impaired thinking, delusional thoughts, hallucinations and poor emotional responsiveness, and typically arises in late adolescence or early adulthood. Although the cause of this disorder cannot be determined yet, the genetic background is not completely unclear. Provided that there are no distinct pathology or diagnostic standards for schizophrenia, it is challenging to link gene mutations to specific physiological or biochemical alterations linked to the illness. However, plenty of genes are clearly linked to schizophrenia. The disorder seems to have a similar genetic background with depressive disorders, since a gene overlap is observed, and with immune disorders, as well. Epidemiological evidence shows that there is an increased incidence of immune disorders to people suffering from schizophrenia and to their relatives. Finally, schizophrenia is, also, related to environmental factors, smoking and substance use; alcohol and drugs.

Key words: Depressive, Genetics, Immune, Schizophrenia, Smoking, Substances.