Schizophrenia, a brain illness, a mental disorder, is considered one of the top 10 causes of disability worldwide. Because of that, many studies are about what cause schizophrenia. It is an important disease of ours days, and gain more and more interest with every day. Many connections were tried with many and various diseases, many theories felled apart and many seems that might sow something that could give us hope.

The problem is that to make this studies is important to have a large area of research, many patients to study, many trained personal, special medical centers that must be very well equipped with high class technology machines, in conclusion involves many, many people and money. And most important of all, it needs a long period of time to do such studies, because the illness evolves very slow.

Schizophrenia is similar in several autoimmune illnesses and disorders like multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Like the autoimmune diseases, schizophrenia is not present at birth but develops during adolescence or young adulthood. It comes and goes in cycles of remission and relapse, and it runs in families. Because of these similarities, scientists suspect schizophrenia could fall into the autoimmune category.

The studies are telling that the patients with autoimmune diseases such as interstitial cystitis, Sjogren syndrome, celiac disease, thyrotoxicosis and acquired hemolytic anemia had a 50% higher risk of schizophrenia.

Some scientists think genetics, autoimmune illness and viral infections combine to cause schizophrenia. The genes of people with schizophrenia may tell the immune system to attack the brain after a viral infection. This theory is supported by the discovery that the blood of people with schizophrenia contains antibodies (immune system cells) specific to the brain.

By now, nothing is secure, but the research are continuing.