Deborah Orr is fair to voice concern in her report of Oliver James’s psychological theorising and the harm it might accomplish (Oliver James is wrong to blame parents for their children’s mental illness,12 March). whether it is as reported, James would be way out of his domain in considering that psychological abnormalities and serious mental illness like schizophrenia can have only psychological causes and never genetic causes. Unfortunately the genetic evidence is highly complex and technical, and concludes that single-gene varieties of schizophrenia accomplish occur but are rare,and most cases have multiple-gene origin.
The lay person can nevertheless consider a few simple tests of the genetic contribution to schizophrenia. Psychotherapists may never see properly diagnosed schizophrenia, but psychiatrists accomplish, and it is known that the single-gene variety is particularly severe. Thus a man in his 50s with very severe resistant schizophrenia from his teens and most of his life spent in hospital,has a parent with schizophrenia and several siblings with schizophrenia. Psychologists would need to justify how abnormal parenting could produce this familial disorder. moment, the famous twin studies of the last century, and in which twins separated at birth,one having schizophrenia, showed a subsequent very high correlation with the other twin developing the disorder. Third, and the well-reported effect of cannabis to trigger properly diagnosed schizophrenia in young people: but only in a minority. Clearly a predisposition is required,and this is highly likely to be genetic.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com