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What the Biopsychosocial model stated was that biological, psychological and social factors influence human functioning especially in regards to disease and illness (Suls et al, 2013). In the analysis of the biopsychosocial model of the mind in explaining how disease manifests, one has to understand that this process of thinking was influenced by Galton’s concept of Nature Vs. Nurture, which, according to Galton, influenced the personality and the very persona of the individual. Nature represented the physical make-up of the individual and that individual’s natural mental capacity for thinking and learning, whereas nurture represented the influences that affected the individual after birth (Hergenhahn, 2009). The use of the biopsychosocial model can be used to analyze specific types of mental disorders and one in particular is schizophrenia.

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   Through the use of modern medicine and evaluative tools such as the positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, physicians are now able to visualize the organic changes to the brain in terms of activity and physical size in patients with schizophrenia. There was a research conducted by Karabay, Oniz, Gokcay, Alptekin, Hugdahl and Ozgoren (2013) which wanted to enlighten the relationship with mental illness and the morphology of the brain and the use of this relationship as a possible biomarker for patients suffering with schizophrenia. Karabay et al (2013) conducted a study to observe the Prefrontal Cortex and the Heschel’s Gyrus in terms of changes in size and function and its relationship to patietns’ cognitive ability as well as and other psychiatric implications for patients suffering with schizophrenia. Karabay et al (2013) documented that in medical studies that there have been profound changes in the morphology of patients suffering from schizophrenia such as the dysplastic changes of the ventromedial temporal lobe, changes in the limbic system’s subcortical nucleus, in the profrontal cortex and in the main cerebral cortex, which is responsible for memory and executive functions.

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Since the Heschl’s gyrus plays a role in auditory perception and the processing of language, the reduction of the volume of the Heschl’s gyrus is associated with the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenic patients. There was, unfortunately, a decreased overall size in brain volume in patients with schizophrenia as compared to individuals who do not have schizophrenia (Karabay et al, 2013). To augment the current research’s understanding of how organic changes in the brain is associated with cognitive changes in schizophrenia patients, Nickl-Jockschat, Schneider, Pagel, Laird, Fox and Eickhoff (2011) conducted a study to observe the correlation with the reduction in grey matter size and duration of schizophrenia. The results of the study showed that morphological changes of the grey matter and white matter in areas of the brain that were associated with auditory and language perception of stimuli and response processes were significantly affected.

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When one studies schizophrenia, one has to also understand the environmental factors in the onset of this disorder. Despite the genetic and the congenital factors for the explanation of the disorder, there are also environmental factors that could contribute to the manifestation of schizophrenia. In a study conducted by Van Os, Kenis and Rutten (2010) it was identified through twin-twin studies and through heritability studies that there is increased risk for schizophrenia for patients who live in an urban environment, for patients who are in a social-economic disadvantaged minority group such as African American or Latino-American group, patients who are regular users for cannabis, and for those who have experienced developmental trauma. Van Os et al (2010) emphasize the importance of gene-environmental analysis for schizophrenia and schizotypal disorders as a way to understand how disorders can be identified, and help aid in the treatment and management process (Richard and Brahm, 2012).

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Research Methods and Results

We (Lucino et al, 2013)conducted a study to observe changes in the brain morphometry occurred in patients with schizophrenia, the specific areas of the brain that was analyzed and observed was the prefrontal cortex as well as the heschel’s gyrus. The researchers hypothesized that there would be dramatic changes in the heschl’s gyrus asn prefrontal cortex in schizophrenic patients as compared to patients that are not suffering from schizophrenia. The study took 29 patients suffering from schizophrenia and were evaluated to have schizophrenia through DSM-IV diagnosis. These said 29 patients were then studied through magnetic resonance imaging and their prefrontal cortex and heschl’s gyrus volumes were measured through proper tracing procedures. When the data was analyzed, they observed how brain volume sizes changed as the disease progressed in its nefarious stages. The results of the study showed how there was indeed a decrease in the heschl gyrus volumes in both the right and left hemispheres, as well as a decrease in white matter and grey matter sizes in both left and right hemispheres of the brain. It was observed that in relation to the left heschl’s gryus volume, the spearman rho was at -0.48, with a p < 0.01 with a curve estimation at p < 0.05. The decrease in size of the heschl’s gyrus and prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia has been associated with the loss of neuronal dendrites, decrease in conduction, as well as the loss of axonal myelin and even apoptosis of neurons.

The presentation of the information was rather didactic and thorough with biomedical graphing used to illustrated the morphological changes of the brain, specifically the heschl’s gyrus and the prefrontal cortex. This provides psychologists and neurophysiologists an biological feedback and point of view of how organic changes influence cognition.

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