108 genes have been identified as being linked to schizophrenia, some of which we already knew about, but most of which are newly found revelations. The encouraging results have also convinced the US to invest $650 million into the research so as to learn even more about the disorders and how to treat them.
As psychiatry currently stands, it is simply ludicrous to believe that schizophrenia, autism and other mental disorders have nothing to do with our genetics. Our genes dictate much of who we are and how we behave—some even believe that genetics is all there is too it, but that’s a contentious argument not taken seriously by many.
In the same way that a “healthy” and “sane” mind (though these terms seem self-evident, they are actually rather ambiguous) is governed by the laws of our genetic code, the mind of an erratic and unpredictable individual, say a schizophrenic, or someone suffering from autism too, is subject to these same genetic rules. That is to say that whatever your state of mind, you will always, to a greater or lesser extent, be somewhat affected by genetics; it is an inescapable, overarching part of the human condition: we are not—as some might claim— mere by-products of our society; we are both society andgenetics.
Just yesterday a journal was published that is testament to this very notion that genes are inextricably related to our behaviour. Hundreds of researchers from the Psychiatry Genomics Consortium (PCG) pooled samples from over 150,000 victims of the disorder and were able to identify 108 genes seemingly involved in increasing one’s susceptibility to schizophrenia. 83 of these genes had never been pinpointed before.
The novelty here is not so much in having realised that schizophrenia is largely a genetic affliction—that was already well understood, but rather that we now know exactly which genes are involved, and where they are located. The gene regulating D2R (Dopamine 2 receptor) for instance, has been strongly correlated with people having schizophrenia. Such a finding confirms what psychiatry had already predicted in their “Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia“, meaning they can now continue—without fearing being entirely wrong—to use this model to understand the disorder. Following this exciting piece of research, psychiatry will be given a hefty sum of$650 million to expand upon the research and continue to understand how these genes are related to schizophrenia, autism and other mental disorders. It is the largest donation ever given to psychiatry. The one flaw that the research seems to have made is that their sample, although large, has primarily focussed on people from Northern Europeandescent. Said this, the researchers are already tackling this problem by collecting more data including DNA from people around the world.
For the full journal click here.
This article was originally published on Urban Times.
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