Sometimes the speech of a person with schizophrenia makes no sense. Those who have it seem to have normal mental function in some areas but are very disturbed in others. It affects men and women equally. There are many theories about the cause of schizophrenia. The genes a person inherits from his or her parents may be partly responsible.
Stress can trigger episodes.
Some scientists believe that something might happen before birth, such as a viral infection in the womb, that causes schizophrenia decades later. These pictures show that some parts of the brain do not work normally in people with schizophrenia. Lab studies have shown that nerve cells in some parts of the brains of schizophrenics may be misaligned or damaged. Another possible cause is that chemicals carrying signals between nerve cells may be out of balance. Family problems or poor parenting does not cause schizophrenia.