I made an error recently regarding the origins of schizophrenia, so I corresponded with my friend Linda Stalters, MSN, APRN (retired), founder and former CEO of SARDAA (Schizophrenia And Related Disorders Alliance of America). Her comment to me was that schizophrenia “is more than just genetics.” It is a neurological brain disorder/illness. Very briefly:
The brain is the center of the central nervous system. Whether due to genes or genetic mutation, maternal exposure to virus or other environmental causes interferes with brain development. Changes in the neuro-circuitry causes the symptoms that currently define the schizophrenia spectrum. (As a note, schizophrenia is a spectrum illness just as much as, for example, autism is.) It can be called neurocircuitry disorder, neuro-developmental disorder, or neurological brain disorder/illness.
All the more reason that schizophrenia should not be treated as a crime.
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David Geiger is a licensed and awarded electrical engineer who spent 7 years in psychiatric hospitals and over 40 years since 1979 in the courts as a result of his schizophrenia.