Research suggests that those from broken homes may be more prone to psychotic illnesses. Separation was associated with a 2.5 fold increased risk in developing psychosis: “Separation from one or both parents for more than a year before the age of 16, as a consequence of family breakdown, was associated with a 2.5 fold increased risk of developing psychosis in adulthood”.

Researcher Dr Craig Morgan said, “These findings provide evidence that early social adversity may increase the risk of later psychosis”, however he also stressed that more work was needed to fully understand this.

Another researcher, Professor Robin Murray, said, “For the last 30 years the traditional view has been that psychosis is largely a genetic brain disease, and most psychiatrists have thrown out the view that social factors can have a major impact”

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According to an article in The Guardian, scientists have discovered a variation in a gene in people at risk of schizophrenia. This provides strong evidence of a key genetic link, which gives hope to schizophrenia victims of finding a cure. Apparently, the mental health charity Sane described the research as “exciting” and referred to the possibility of a breakthrough.

Brain scans of young people more prone to schizophrenia show that “those who go on to develop the symptoms of the disorder have the mutated gene.” The researchers made their discovery after following 163 young people at risk of developing the disease from their late teens for 10 years.

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Experts believe the term schizophrenia should be abolished. Apparently the category “falsely groups a wide range of symptoms and encourages over-reliance on anti-psychotic drugs rather than psychological intervention”.

Paul Hammersley, who is involved with the Campaign to Abolish the Schizophrenia Label (Castle) said “It is associated with violence, dangerousness, unpredictability, inability to recover, constant illness, constant need for medication and an inability to work. I cannot emphasise enough how stigmatising this label is.”

It is estimated that 1 in every 100 person will develop schizophrenia at some point in their life. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of SANE, said “While we recognise that the term ’schizophrenia’ can act as a stigmatising label, without identifying this condition as a serious illness how can there be any hope of researching it and providing better treatments? Simply replacing the term with another is unlikely to add to our understanding of this complex condition.”

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New research, carried out at the University of Leicester, suggests that the British press may be guilty of promoting distorted views of mental illness.

Katy-Louise Morgan, Leicester’s Department of Media and Communication graduate says, “Both the tabloid and the broadsheet press have consistently given disproportionate and sensationalized coverage to psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, often linking them to serious crime. This is producing a very damaging misunderstanding not only of such psychotic conditions but is also damaging the portrayal of the more common neurotic illnesses”.

Unrealistic links between mental illness and violent crimes are often made by readers due to news of violent crimes such as murder being reported most commonly in connection with psychotic illness.

“The misconception is two-fold. Firstly, schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses are actually among the least common of all mental illnesses. Secondly, not all schizophrenics are murderers nor conversely are all murderers schizophrenic.” Indeed, most schizophrenic patients are not prone to violence” Miss Morgan added.