Psychological Disorders

International study is uncovering more and more genes involved in mental illnesses
like depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Yet the quest for answers is far
from complete.
When it comes to what triggers mental illness, the jury is still out on how much is
nature or nurture, genetics or environment. Two psychiatric problems that have
been closely linked to heredity are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Depression
and other types of mental illness also tend to run in families. Bu when it comes to
nature versus nurture, we still have a lot to learn.
"Most mental illness is probably due to some combination of inheritance and
exposure, says Vishwajit Nimgaonkar, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center who specializes in genetics. When we started to map the
human genome 25 years ago, we thought we might find the answer to psychiatric
illness in our genetic code. Unfortunately, a simple genetic cause has not been
found."
Inheriting Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Depression
"The best evidence for inherited mental disease is in schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder. If both your parents have either one of these psychiatric problems, you
may have a 40 to 50 percent risk of inheriting the disease," says Edwin Meresh, MD,
assistant professor of psychiatry at the Loyola University Health System in Chicago.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by disorganized thoughts and
feelings; you may also experience a disconnect from reality. Bipolar disorder is
characterized by mood swings between depression and hyper-excitability, called
mania. Depression is more than feeling blue; its a deep seeded sorrow and despair.
Heres what we know:
Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of the population. If one of your parents has
schizophrenia, your chance of having the disease is 13 percent. The risk of
developing schizophrenia goes up with each additional family member that has the
disease.
Bipolar disorder affects about 2 to 3 percent of the population. If one of your parents
has bipolar disorder, your chance of having the disease is 15 percent. The risk of
developing bipolar disorder also goes up with each additional family member that
has the disease.
Major depression affects about 10 percent of the population. If one of your parents
or a sibling has major depression, your risk increases by 20 to 30 percent.
The Genetics of Mental Illness

Some diseases are caused by a single abnormal gene, but thats not the case for
mental illness. "There are many genes that have been identified. We are finding
large genetic variations, so there are probably multiple genes involved and different
things that trigger those genes. We assume that schizophrenia is about 75 percent
genetic, but we have only been able to find 5 to 10 percent of those genes so far,"
says Dr. Nimgaonkar.
Studies on twins show that genes dont tell the entire story. "If it was all genetic, you
would expect that identical twins, who share the same genes, would always have
the same mental illness. But even if one identical twin has schizophrenia, the other
twin only has the disease about 50 percent of the time," says Dr. Meresh.
Researchers in more than 20 countries have been participating in a genetic study of
mental illness called the Psychiatric Genome-Wide Association Study Consortium. So
far, they have studied the genomes (a person's complete genetic code) of more
than 50,00 people with mental illness. They recently published some of their
findings in the journal Nature Genetics. This is what they found:
Common gene variants contribute to both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
There are at least 11 regions of the genome that are strongly associated with both
diseases.
Neither disease is caused by a single gene, but by a combination of several genes
and unidentified non-genetic factors.
"It's also important to know that even if you don't inherit a gene for mental illness,
you can still have a genetic cause. Genes can alter after birth and contribute to
mental illness also. This is called a de novo genetic change," says Nimgaonkar.
Non-Genetic Causes of Mental Illness
If mental illness is not all genetic, what are the other causes? That is another area
that we need to learn more about. Here are just a few of the non-genetic
possibilities:
Complications during pregnancy
Drug abuse
Stress
Trauma early in life
Living in a dysfunctional home
Physical or sexual abuse
Parental neglect

Losing a parent early in life

"As we learn more about the genetic and non-genetic causes of mental illness, we
may be able to target drug treatment more successfully. One day, we may be able
to do a blood test that can predict or diagnose mental illness, but we are not there
yet," says Nimgaonkar.
We know that genes arent the whole story and that something in the environment
must also be involved to trigger a psychiatric problem. So the age-old debate of
nature versus nurture goes on. The answer seems to be somewhere in the middle.
Sexuality
Biological Hypotheses (Nature?)
1. The Gay Gene: In 1993, a study published in the journal Science showed that
families with two homosexual brothers were very likely to have certain genetic
markers on a region of the X chromosome known as XQ28. This led to media
headlines about the possibility of the existence of a gay gene. There have also
been headlines about an alcoholism gene, which makes people become
alcoholics, and a warrior gene, which makes people unusually aggressive. Thing
is, genes cannot always control behaviour, what genes can do -in some cases- is to
create a tendency to develop or display certain traits or behaviour, as with the case
of alcoholism.
2. Size and Shape of the Brain: Several studies have been conducted amongst
heterosexual and homosexual males and it has been determined that the shape and
size of their brain differ slightly. In 1991, a study published in the journal Science
seemed to show that the hypothalamus, (which controls the release of sex
hormones from the pituitary gland) in gay men differs from the hypothalamus in
straight men. The third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH3)
was found to be more than twice as large in heterosexual men as in homosexual
men. Also, PET and MRI studies performed in 2008 have shown that the two halves
of the brain are more symmetrical in homosexual men and heterosexual women
than in heterosexual men and homosexual women. These studies have also
revealed that connections in the amygdalas of gay men resemble those of straight
women; in gay women, connections in the amygdala resemble those of straight
men. Some other studies have also shown that the corpus callosum the main
connection between the two halves of the brain- has a different structure in gay
men than in straight men. However, other studies have found no difference.
3. Hormone Imbalance During Pregnancy: Other biological determinist models of
gayness suggest that same-sex attraction is largely or entirely determined by
hormonal influences in the womb. This was the central thesis of the recent book,
Born Gay, by Glenn Wilson, a reader at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and
Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in psychobiology at the University of East London. Their

book is easily the best summary of evidence from dozens of biological studies into
the causes and correlates of homosexuality. It is know that testosterone
masculinises the foetal genitaliaand presumably also the brain. Without it, the
foetus stays female. It may be that the brains of gay men dont receive the full
amounts of testosterone at the right time during foetal development, and so are
insufficiently masculinised.
Other scientists have also carried out studies showing differences between gay and
straight people with respect to a number of physiological traits that are associated
with hormonal influences. These include: physique, hearing, brain structure, finger
lengths, penis size (gay men tend to be better endowed than straight men), and the
age of puberty (on average lesbians mature later than straight women, and gay
men earlier than heterosexual men). There seems to be links between the level of
hormone foetus have been exposed to and their sexual preference in the future.
4. Number of Pregnancies: Somehow related to the previous theory, and according
to new research by Anthony Bogaert, a psychologist at Brock University in Canada,
gay men tend to have older brothers. Indeed, the more biological older brothers a
man has, the greater his likelihood of being gay. This leads Bogaert to conclude that
a mans sexual orientation is influenced by the conditions in his mothers womb
when he was a foetus.
These are the four most popular studies around the causes of homosexuality, which
have been studied in depth amongst researchers and scientists. However, it is worth
mentioning that that research have identified over 100 traits and theories that have
direct effect on the sexual preference of an individual. This leaves the door open to
an immense number of possibilities and hypotheses. This report, by no means,
intends to become a summary or formal professional report or analysis of all these
theories and hypotheses.
Intelligence
Over 60 per cent of a childs intelligence is passed down from the parents - much
more than previously believed, say scientists.
A study of 6,653 pairs of twins - one of the largest of its kind - suggests IQ really is a
product of nature rather than nurture.
The research reviewed educational achievement of identical and non-identical twins
- who are 5O per cent genetically similar - to enable them to identify the degree to
which traits are influenced by the environment or are inherited.
It found their scores in GCSEs were 62 per cent heritable - while individual traits
accounted for between 35 and 38 per cent.

Psychiatrists measured the children for 83 of these psychological characteristics

which were condensed into nine broad areas including IQ, self-efficacy, personality,
well-being and behavioural problems.
Overall they accounted for three-quarters of the heritability of the results
suggesting the heritability of educational achievement is based on the inheritance
of many different traits - not intelligence alone.
Educational achievement is generally considered to be the result of influences such
as classroom environment and parental involvement.
But last year the biggest ever study of genetic intelligence involving 18,OOO
children from the UK and three other countries by Queensland University found 4O
per cent was owed to parental DNA. A previous study had suggested 5O per cent.
The latest findings suggested this is an under-estimate after Kings College London
researchers looked at GCSE results of their 16-year-old participants in subjects
including, maths, English and the sciences.
Both types of twins were assumed to have been exposed to identical environments including home and school, reports Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Professor Robert Plomin said: Because educational achievement at the end of
compulsory schooling represents a major tipping point in life, understanding its
causes and correlates is important for individual children, their families and society.
The main finding is although intelligence accounts for more of the heritability of
GCSE than any other single domain, the other domains collectively account for
about as much GCSE heritability as intelligence.
Together with intelligence these domains account for 75 per cent of the heritability
of GCSE. We conclude the high heritability of educational achievement reflects
many genetically influenced traits - not just intelligence.
They said the results also support the trend in education towards personalised
learning and it is to be hoped better policy decisions can be made with knowledge
of genetic influence rather than assuming differences are environmental.
Equality of school opportunities will not get rid of genetic differences between
children and its important to realise some enjoy learning more than others because
of their DNA.
Prof Plomin said: Genetic thinking counters the deplorable tendency to blame
teachers and parents rather than recognising learning is inherently more difficult for
some children and differences in childrens educational achievement are more a
matter of genes than schools or home environments.

This trend toward personalised learning has become more practical with rapid
advances in technology and educational software to supplement or supplant onesize-fits-all traditional systems of education.
A study showing over three fifths of a childs intelligence is passed down from the
parents support the idea a more personalised approach to learning may be more
successful, said scientists.
The study of 6,653 pairs of twins - one of the largest of its kind - suggests IQ really
is a product of nature rather than nurture.
Eva Krapohl, of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings
College London, said: Previous work has already established educational
achievement is heritable. In this study we wanted to find out why that is.
What our study shows is the heritability of educational achievement is much more
than just intelligence - its the combination of many traits which are all heritable to
different extents.
Its important to point out heritability does not mean that anything is set in stone.
It simply means children differ in how easy and enjoyable they find learning and
that much of these differences are influenced by genetics.

The researchers found the heritability of GCSE scores was 62%. Individual traits
were between 35% and 58% heritable - with intelligence being the most highly
heritable.
Kaili Rimfeld, also from the IoPPN at Kings, said: No policy implications necessarily
follow from finding that genetics differences influence educational achievement,
because policy depends on values and knowledge .
However our findings support the idea that a more personalised approach to
learning may be more successful than a one size fits all approach.
Finding educational achievement is heritable certainly does not mean that
teachers, parents or schools arent important.
Education is more than what happens to a child passively; children are active
participants in selecting, modifying and creating their experiences - much of which
is linked to their genetic propensities, known in genetics as genotype-environment
correlation.