behavioural

epigenetics

The author, Margaret Tyson, was an honorary researcher at the Institute of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester and now researches epigenetics particularly of cancer and schizophrenia. She also runs Manchester Amputee Fitnesss Initiative and Karen's Page.

   

Sources of abnormal behaviour leading to schizophrenia/psychopathy

Sources of abnormal behaviour that may lead to schizophrenia and/or psychopathy are being a child sexual abuser or sexually abused child by taking part in child abuse including Organised and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse (ORA). Heavy drug-taking is well documented as causing these diseases as well as military action which may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is evidence that certain prescribed drugs may lead to psychopathy.

1. Organised and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse (ORA) including satanist and other cult groups.

Various organised groups and covens practise abnormal behaviour including child abuse. Child abuse leads to structural changes in the brain both in the perpetrators (1, 2) and in the victims (3, 4). Child abuse (4) including involvement in these groups results in epigenetic modification that leads to changes to the brain (3). These changes cause various mental conditions including psychoses and schizophrenia (3, 4) .

Satanism, sadism and similar activities involve certain types of abnormal ritual behaviour leading to brain damage (4) . These practices come under the heading Organised and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse (ORA) (4) .

 

A study by Schroeder et. al. (2018) (4) found that ORA is often established in the family of the child and that the family took part in these ritual practises which included mind control (4) . When relatives took part in the abuse the mental health symptoms were more severe. It was found that about half of the study participants were involved in satanic ideologies with various other religious and other group ideologies forming the rest (4) . Changes to the brain include structural changes to different areas and changes to neurotransmitters (3)

2. Chronic Drug Abuse

Drug abuse has similar effects on the brain as the other types of behaviour noted here.These drugs act epigenetically (5-8) on the brain to alter neurotransmitter secretion (9, 10, 11-14) and also the structure (15, 6, 14) connectivity (6, 15, 16) and function (15, 17) of the brain. Chronic cannabis/marijuana abuse especially in adolescents is well documented as a high risk for schizophrenia/psychosis (18-20). Cocaine is also associated with these diseases(8, 21). Amphetamine and metamphetamine have also been linked to neurotoxicity and psychosis (22).

 

3. Prescribed drugs

 A Literature review found evidence of psychotic symptoms in children and young adults with AHDH prescribed methylphenidate (MPH). It was posited that the psychotic symptoms may be the result of increased dopamine due to MPH or of by AGHD itself. (23)

4. Military Action leading to PTSD

It has been found that 70% of veterans develop PTSD and some exhibit schizophrenia/psychosis (24) and up to one in five veterans with PTSD also have psychotic symptoms (25). It is postulated that the mechanism involved is similar to that of other behavioural causes of schizophrenia/psychosis that of prefrontal cortex control being overridden to act abnormally, for instance, violently. This results in disruption of networks for example the Default Mode Network linking the cortex to the limbic system (26) in particular the amygdala. This allows the “amygdala hijack” where emotions such as anger, violence and fear predominate (27-31). Increases in dopamine lead to an increase in these emotions (32).

 

References

1. Kneer J, Borchardt V, Kargel C, et al. Diminished fronto-limbic functional connectivity in child sexual offenders. J Psychiatr Res 2018 doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.01.012 [published Online First: 2018/03/14]

2. Kargel C, Massau C, Weiss S, et al. Diminished functional connectivity on the road to child sexual abuse in pedophilia. The journal of sexual medicine 2015;12(3):783-95. doi: 10.1111/jsm.12819 [published Online First: 2015/01/24]

3. Shrivastava AK, Karia SB, Sonavane SS, et al. Child sexual abuse and the development of psychiatric disorders: a neurobiological trajectory of pathogenesis. Ind Psychiatry J 2017;26(1):4-12. doi: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_38_15 [published Online First: 2018/02/20]

4. Schroder J, Nick S, Richter-Appelt H, et al. Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized. International journal of environmental research and public health 2018;15(11) doi: 10.3390/ijerph15112417 [published Online First: 2018/11/06]

5. Mitjans M, Seidel J, Begemann M, et al. Violent aggression predicted by multiple pre-adult environmental hits. Molecular Psychiatry 2018 doi: 10.1038/s41380-018-0043-3

6. Falkai P, Reich-Erkelenz D, Malchow B, et al. [Brain development before onset of the first psychotic episode and during outcome of schizophrenia]. Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie 2013;81(5):260-4. doi: 10.1055/s-0033-1335548 [published Online First: 2013/05/23]

7. Hosak L, Hosakova J. The complex etiology of schizophrenia - general state of the art. Neuro endocrinology letters 2015;36(7):631-7. [published Online First: 2016/02/10]

8. Tsankova N, Renthal W, Kumar A, et al. Epigenetic regulation in psychiatric disorders. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2007;8:355. doi: 10.1038/nrn2132

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2132#supplementary-information

9. Oleson EB, Cheer JF. A Brain on Cannabinoids: The Role of Dopamine Release in Reward Seeking. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine 2012;2(8):a012229. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a012229

10. Falkai P, Reich-Erkelenz D, Malchow B, et al. [Brain development before onset of the first psychotic episode and during outcome of schizophrenia]. Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie 2013;81(5):260-4. doi: 10.1055/s-0033-1335548 [published Online First: 2013/05/23]

11. Weinstein A, Livny A, Weizman A. Brain Imaging Studies on the Cognitive, Pharmacological and Neurobiological Effects of Cannabis in Humans: Evidence from Studies of Adult Users. Current pharmaceutical design 2016;22(42):6366-79. doi: 10.2174/1381612822666160822151323 [published Online First: 2016/08/24]

12. Rigucci S, Xin L, Klauser P, et al. Cannabis use in early psychosis is associated with reduced glutamate levels in the prefrontal cortex. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2017 doi: 10.1007/s00213-017-4745-z [published Online First: 2017/10/28]

13. Brisch R, Saniotis A, Wolf R, et al. The role of dopamine in schizophrenia from a neurobiological and evolutionary perspective: old fashioned, but still in vogue.

Frontiers in psychiatry 2014;5:47. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00047 [published Online First: 2014/06/07]

14. Curran HV, Freeman TP, Mokrysz C, et al. Keep off the grass? Cannabis, cognition and addiction. Nat Rev Neurosci 2016;17(5):293-306. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.28 [published Online First: 2016/04/08]

15. Battistella G, Fornari E, Annoni J-M, et al. Long-Term Effects of Cannabis on Brain Structure. Neuropsychopharmacology 2014;39(9):2041-48. doi: 10.1038/npp.2014.67

16. Filbey FM, Aslan S, Calhoun VD, et al. Long-term effects of marijuana use on the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2014;111(47):16913-18. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1415297111

17. Kumar A, Choi K-H, Renthal W, et al. Chromatin Remodeling Is a Key Mechanism Underlying Cocaine-Induced Plasticity in Striatum. Neuron;48(2):303-14. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.09.023

18. Szoke A, Galliot AM, Richard JR, et al. Association between cannabis use and schizotypal dimensions--a meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies. Psychiatry Res 2014;219(1):58-66. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.05.008 [published Online First: 2014/06/01]

19. Bossong MG, Niesink RJ. Adolescent brain maturation, the endogenous cannabinoid system and the neurobiology of cannabis-induced schizophrenia. Prog Neurobiol 2010;92(3):370-85. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.06.010 [published Online First: 2010/07/14]

20. Andreasson S, Allebeck P, Rydberg U. Schizophrenia in users and nonusers of cannabis. A longitudinal study in Stockholm County. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1989;79(5):505-10. [published Online First: 1989/05/01]

21. Kabir ZD, Martínez-Rivera A, Rajadhyaksha AM. From Gene to Behavior: L-Type Calcium Channel Mechanisms Underlying Neuropsychiatric Symptoms. Neurotherapeutics 2017:1-26. doi: 10.1007/s13311-017-0532-0

22. Shin EJ, Dang DK, Tran TV, et al. Current understanding of methamphetamine-associated dopaminergic neurodegeneration and psychotoxic behaviors. Archives of pharmacal research 2017;40(4):403-28. doi: 10.1007/s12272-017-0897-y [published Online First: 2017/03/01]

23. Pasha K, Paul S, Abbas MS, et al. Psychosis Induced by Methylphenidate in Children and Young Patients With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Cureus 2023;15(1):e34299. doi: 10.7759/cureus.34299 [published Online First: 2023/03/03]

24. A OC, DeLisi LE. Distinguishing schizophrenia from posttraumatic stress disorder with psychosis. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2015;28(3):249-55. doi: 10.1097/yco.0000000000000158 [published Online First: 2015/03/19]

25. A OC, Smedberg DL, Shin AL, et al. Familial risk for psychiatric disorders in military veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder with psychosis: a retrospective electronic record review. Psychiatric genetics 2018;28(2):24-30. doi: 10.1097/ypg.0000000000000192 [published Online First: 2018/02/01]

26. Clausen AN, Francisco AJ, Thelen J, et al. PTSD and cognitive symptoms relate to inhibition-related prefrontal activation and functional connectivity. Depression and anxiety 2017;34(5):427-36. doi: 10.1002/da.22613 [published Online First: 2017/04/04]

27. Stevens JS, Kim YJ, Galatzer-Levy IR, et al. Amygdala Reactivity and Anterior Cingulate Habituation Predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Maintenance After Acute Civilian Trauma. Biol Psychiatry 2017;81(12):1023-29. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.11.015 [published Online First: 2017/01/25]

28. Wainwright EN, Scaffidi P. Epigenetics and Cancer Stem Cells: Unleashing, Hijacking, and Restricting Cellular Plasticity. Trends in Cancer;3(5):372-86. doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2017.04.004

29. Lieberman L, Gorka SM, DiGangi JA, et al. Impact of posttraumatic stress symptom dimensions on amygdala reactivity to emotional faces. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry 2017;79(Pt B):401-07. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.07.021 [published Online First: 2017/08/02]

30. Robinson MJ, Warlow SM, Berridge KC. Optogenetic excitation of central amygdala amplifies and narrows incentive motivation to pursue one reward above another. J Neurosci 2014;34(50):16567-80. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.2013-14.2014 [published Online First: 2014/12/17]

31. Simons RM, Simons JS, Olson D, et al. Posttraumatic stress and alcohol use among veterans: Amygdala and anterior cingulate activation to emotional cues. Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of

Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors 2016;30(7):720-32. doi: 10.1037/adb0000200 [published Online First: 2016/10/28]

32. Schultz W. Dopamine reward prediction error coding. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 2016; 18(1):23-32 .