Evidence indicates strongly that schizophrenia is a severe disturbance in the brain's functioning.
It's caused by many factors - including changes in the chemistry of the brain, changes in the structure of the brain, and genetic factors. There are billions of nerve cells in the brain. Each nerve cell has branches that send and receive messages from other nerve cells. Neurotransmitters , chemicals released from these branches, carry the message from the end of one nerve branch to the cell body of another. In the brain of a person with schizophrenia, something goes wrong in this communication system.