Abstract
Only adoption studies can provide solid evidence for the existence of heritable factors. Twin studies, showing that the concordance rate in monozygotic twins exceeds that in dizygotic twins, are weakened because monozygotic twins are likely to be treated more similarly by significant persons in their environment, and may also tend to identify psychologically with each other. Studies of family process, showing that families with disturbed communication patterns are more likely to have a schizophrenic child, are not compelling evidence for nongenetic factors, because the disturbed behavior of the parents could be a consequence of the behavior of the child, or a parallel effect of the same genes that caused schizophrenia in the offspring. There are, however, adoption studies in both schizophrenia and affective disorder that point toward the existence of heritable factors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Further reading
Botstein D, White RL, Skolnick M, Davis RW (1980): Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am J Hum Genet 32: 314–331
Gottesman II, Shields J (1982): Schizophrenia: The Epigenetic Puzzle. New York: Cambridge University Press
Kety SS (1983): Mental illness in the biological and adoptive relatives of schizophrenic adoptees: Findings relevant to genetic and environmental factors in etiology. Am J Psychiatry 140: 720–727 (Contains a summary of the Danish adoption study data, with responses to critics.)
Kidd KK, Matthysse S (1978): Research designs for the study of gene-environment interactions in psychiatric disorders: Report of a Foundations’ Fund for Research in Psychiatry panel. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35: 925–932
Mendelwicz J (1981): Adoption study in affective illness. In: Biological Psychiatry, Perris C, Struwe G, Jansson B, eds. New York: Elsevier
Schulsinger F, Kety SS, Rosenthal D, Wender PH (1979): A family study of suicide. In: Origin, Prevention, and Treatment of Affective Disorders, Schou M, Stromgren, E, eds. New York: Academic Press
Sutcliffe JG, Milner RJ, Shinnick TM, Bloom, FE (1983): Identifying the protein products of brain: Specific genes with antibodies to chemically synthesized peptides. Cell 33: 671–682
Tsuang MT, Winokur G, Crowe RR (1980): Morbidity risks of schizophrenia and affective disorders among first degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, mania, depression and surgical conditions. Br J Psychiat 137: 497–504
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Matthysse, S. (1989). Mental Illness, Genetics of. In: Abnormal States of Brain and Mind. Readings from the Encyclopedia of Neuroscience . Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6768-8_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6768-8_30
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-6770-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-6768-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive