Customer Reviews

Genetics of Mental Disorders: A Guide for Students, Clinicians, and Researchers

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Students, clinicians and researchers who study the genetic roots of mental disease will find this an involving overview which provides a comprehensive introduction to psychiatric genetics. From the contributions of genes and environment to mental health to genetic predispositions and transmission links, Genetics of Mental Disorders offers chapters which sound detailed and involved, but which can be absorbed by lay readers.

I'm still making my way through this book, but what I've seen so far has offered an interesting explanation of the mood disorders. To be sure, mood disorders are not entirely determined by genes - there are environmental factors to be considered as well, as twin studies have shown. However, suggestions that there are genes which can predispose individuals to mood and thought disorders is compelling; this explanation can provide an answer for many questions that pure environmental accounts cannot. It makes for a worthwhile read.

In reply to an earlier reviewer, I would note that the past month has seen announcements concerning potential marker genes for bipolar disorder and depression-triggers, lending some credence to the premise of the book.

This is another in the long line of books and articles claiming that mental illnesses are largely genetic. This claim is made despite the fact that not a single gene has been found to be linked to a mental disorder (at least not one that wasn't refuted a few years later). I guess the idea is to put out a bunch of studies making claims and, by the time the studies are refuted, you can crank out some new ones. My favorite passage in this book goes as follows: "Recent linkage analysis studies have replicated initial reports of positive linkage to chromosome 6 markers in families with schizophrenia. Although there are several negative studies, the evidence implicating the short arm of chromosome 6 is the strongest to date for schizophrenia." "Several negative studies"? That sounds quite uncompelling to me. If you are going to assert that mental illnesses are genetic and human beings can be reduced to genetic robots...

I'll sell this book ,I review it and then I can make about it