Oligophrenia and Mental Illness

Abstract

In general, this category of illnesses involves the same principles that were developed in the preceding chapters in order to arrive at a genetic prognosis. Some forms of oligophrenia, for instance, follow a simple Mendelian mode of inheritance. Others can be traced to microscopically visible chromosome changes. There is also a category whose genetic roots are best explained in terms of a multifactorial genetic system. Despite this, the entire chapter will be devoted to these diagnoses, and for two very specific reasons:

• 1. Oligophrenia and mental illness are frequent. Taken together, they include several percent of the entire world population.

• 2. For both counselor and counseled, problems in this category tend to involve a particularly complex mixture of genetic, psychological, and social considerations.