Why Schizophrenia Affect Men More Than Women
One of the most interesting questions to arise from the study of schizophrenia is whether gender played any role for an individual’s susceptibility to this mental disorder. Since hereditary factors played a significant role in increasing one’s risk factor to this mental disorder, it would be interesting to find out what level of significance gender had in all of this.
Gender Profile of Schizophrenia
Clinicians have long been conducting research studies to explain whether men or women are more likely to develop schizophrenia as compared to the other sex. What they were able to point out in the result of the study is that men and women react differently to schizophrenia, as well as treatments. Hence, a male or female will have different chances of acquiring this mental disorder and what treatments will work best for them.
The most notable difference between each gender is their reaction to certain medications. The progress rate for each individual also differ between each sexes. Despite the differences in the reaction of men and women to the treatment for the disease, health experts and phsyicians still recommend the same treatment approach for both sexes instead of being discriminatory.
One major conclusion that clinicians have been able to come up with during their extensive research study is that men are hit the hardest of the disease and statistics are there to prove it.
Why are Men More Prone to Schizophrenia?
Medical statistics reveal that the number of men who were diagnosed with schizophrenia outnumber the cases in women. This is especially concentrated within the 15 to 25 age range, which creates an even more alarming conclusion that the symptoms of this condition are manifested early on. Even before the research studies and statistics revealed it, medical professionals were able to guess that men are more susceptible to schizophrenia due to their florid and often threatening behavior.
Analyzing Schizophrenia in Women
There has been several cases of misdiagnosis of schizophrenia in women, which turned out to actually be bipolar disorder or depression. The onset of symptoms for schizophrenia in women happen three years later than that of men. This is why it is believed that women suffering from schizophrenia are more capable of dealing with the symptoms of their condition since they are far more mature and their brain has attained its full social development. This solid foundation is something that men lack by the time the symptoms of schizophrenia are manifested since they do not have solid foundation yet.
Reasons Why Schizophrenia is More Common in Men
After analyzing the statistics in men and women, it is more important to examine what might have caused men to be more prone to schizophrenia than women. Although the reasons are somewhat speculative, there are several evidence for this:
Men have a higher tendency of suffering from brain injuries by the time of birth.
Men and boys engage in physically active sports, which increases the possibility of them suffering from head injuries or brain damage.
Imaging studies have shown that men have 16 percent smaller inferior partial lobule in their brain as compared to women. This is a vital part of the brain that affect the visual, auditory, and key sensory areas, which when miswired result to the manifestation of key schizophrenia symptoms.
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By Anders Eriksson
Gender Differences in Schizophrenia
This article will explain some observed differences in male and female schizophrenics. There are two things I must define first. One is estrogen, a special hormone found in women. The other is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are chemicals and compounds that pass messages between neurons in the brain. In schizophrenics high levels of dopamine are found and are believed to be part of the disorder (Kolb, 1998). Multiple studies have shown that gender plays an important part in schizophrenia.
Though gender does not affect your chances of being born with schizophrenia, it does affect the effects of the disease. Studies have shown that the disease is less severe in women. Researchers have found that women have fewer and lesser symptoms, and later onset. Some scientists believe that this is because women have estrogen. Research on the effects of estrogen shows that it reduces the effects of dopamine in the central nervous system. If men are given estrogen, their symptoms are decreased, but this is not an effective long-term solution, because it leads to feminization of the men (Mueser and McGurk, 2004).
Cortical surface variability maps. Variability maps of cortical surface and sulcal anatomy in normal controls (n = 28; 15 males) and schizophrenic patients (n =25; 15 males) showing the both hemispheres. The color bar indicates patterns of variability in each group as the root mean square magnitude of displacement vectors from each point in the surface meshes.
Does Gender Affect Schizophrenia?
Are there important differences in men and women suffering from schizophrenia? A paper published in a recent issue of Psychopharmacology Bulletin (2007:40) seems to suggest that there are. Women with schizophrenia tend to differ from males by having better functioning before the onset of psychotic symptoms, a later age at onset, a distinct symptom profile and better course of illness, and different structural brain abnormalities and cognitive deficits. Additionally, premenopausal women appear to have a superior response to typical antipsychotics compared to men and postmenopausal women. These gender differences appear to stem from the connection between hormonal and psychosocial factors. Estrogen in particular may play a protective role in women with schizophrenia and account for some of the gender differences observed in the disorder. Despite the potential benefit of estrogen in this population, women with schizophrenia appear to be at risk for hormonal diseases, either due to side effects from antipsychotic medication or, possibly, as a result of the illness itself. The authors stress the need for more research to examine the role for hormonal therapies in women with schizophrenia and gender differences in how antipsychotic medications work.
Canuso CM, Pandina G.
Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc., in Titusville, NJ.
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