A research team co-led by Dr. Lena Palaniyappan, Douglas Researcher and Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, has published their findings that seem to indicate how schizophrenia originates and develops over time in the brain. They hope these findings will pave the way for targeted treatments and better diagnosis of the serious mental health condition.

In a study published earlier this month in Science Advances, the researchers said they used a new method called “epicentre mapping,” to analyze brain scans from 1,124 people with schizophrenia. It allowed the researchers to identify two regions of the brain where structural abnormalities in people with schizophrenia are most likely to start: Broca’s area and the frontoinsular cortex. These areas govern language and emotional processing.

The researchers also found, despite identifying those two common areas, the illness can also develop in other regions of the brain.

“This tells us that everyone suffering from this condition has a unique starting point that may explain the differences in symptoms,” said Dr. Lena Palaniyappan. “But there is a common process that results in a more diffuse, though subtle, changes in brain structure. This insight provides an important clue to the age-old question of whether schizophrenia is one illness or many illnesses.”

Read the article in Science Advances