University of Pittsburgh researcher working to learn how childhood stress could cause schizophrenia

PITTSBURGH — It’s frightening to find out that a child’s stress level could determine if they develop schizophrenia later in life. A University of Pittsburgh professor is using this research to see if there’s a way to stop the mental illness before it starts. He discovered the key is to help children before they hit puberty.

We all love to see children happy. But we know some kids are experiencing more stress than ever - at home, at school, all around them.

Researcher Eve Johnstone in Ireland looked at children vulnerable to schizophrenia, whether through genetics or some other avenue. She found stress played a key role.

“What she found was that the children that were hyper-responsive to stress and anxiety tended to be the ones that transitioned to schizophrenia,” said Dr. Anthony Grace, professor of neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology at Pitt.

Dr. Grace is taking the Irish study one step further. He’s trying to stop schizophrenia from developing at all, even in high-risk children. His research is in the animal testing phase.

“What we found is if we just give them value or even something as simple as environmental enrichment for a couple weeks before puberty, we can actually prevent the changes that lead to the circuit disruptions that mimic what we see in schizophrenia and humans,” said Dr. Grace.

That means, early findings of his research suggest doctors could stop schizophrenia from developing in someone, for good! The key is to start treatment before any changes start.

“We need to get them at the pre-pubertal stage before the symptoms occur. After the symptoms occur, a lot of the damage has already been done,” Dr. Grace said.

Dr. Grace stresses that more research is needed. Other studies show that vulnerable children are not the only ones at risk.

“So, if there is enough trauma, even without the genetic predisposition, there’s the concern of it leading to schizophrenia in the adult,” said Dr. Grace.

While you can’t totally eliminate stress from a child’s environment, there’s plenty you can do to try to reduce it.

“Putting them in safe environments, putting them in areas where they feel valued, might be a way of mitigating these effects of the early life, stress and trauma,” said Dr. Grace.

Dr. Grace also mentioned researchers are working on new medications for schizophrenia. Researchers now know more about the disease, so these drugs treat it at the root cause, without all the side effects patients hate.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW