According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 21 million people globally suffer from schizophrenia, a mental health disorder associated with abnormalities involving perception and self-awareness, ultimately affecting thought and language. It is estimated that nearly 50% of patients do not receive appropriate medication to treat the disorder
It was through studies of mice with human glial cells that we succeeded in testing how dysfunctional glial cells may cause abnormalities in the formation of the brain’s neural networks, which may in turn cause severe anxiety, antisocial behavior and severe sleep problems. We see these problems in the mice, just as in human patients. This is an important discovery because it will now enable us to develop methods that can counteract the unwanted development of progenitor cells,” said Dr. Steven Goldman of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at both the University of Copenhagen and the University of Rochester, and lead author of the study.
I think the basis of my schizophrenia is anxiety, or just generally excessive fear leading to paranoia and OCD type ruminations. I’m not antisocial, maybe asocial. I just don’t easily trust or make friends and have a very limited social network. I have always suffered from sleep problems, even before diagnosis.
“Goldman believes it may be possible—as a result of insight gained through their research—to ultimately replace defective glial cells with healthy glial cells in a targeted approach as a method to ameliorate or even arrest the progression of schizophrenia.”
