It was later discovered that his parents would not discuss emotionally sensitive topics and when one parent would do so, the other would remain silent for days or even weeks. One of Roger's main symptoms that deeply concerned his parents was his long periods of silence. Roger's parents influenced his behavior and ignored the fact that they did so. A simple explanation for his long periods of silence is his parents' long periods of silence. Parents can influence the beginning of schizophrenia in their children.
Schizophrenia persists despite the fact that the majority of victims never marry of have children.
Parents are not the only environmental factors that may contribute to the causation of the disease. Schizophrenia rarely arises without an environmental cause. Usually a panic episode accompanies schizophrenia. Harry Stack Sullivan's central thought concerning the disease is that there is nothing to be found in schizophrenic thinking which is not found in some degree in the thinking of a normal person. When a seemingly normal person is subjected to intense environmental stress, these normal thinking patterns are exaggerated.