Madness and Genetic Determinism

The book covers important topics in the psychiatric genetics (PG) field. Many of these have been overlooked in mainstream accounts, and many contemporary PG researchers have omitted or whitewashed the eugenic and racial hygiene origins of the field. The author critically analyzes PG evidence in support of genetic claims which, given the lack of gene discoveries, are based mainly on the results of psychiatric twin and adoption studies. Given that the evidence in favor of genetic influences is much weaker than mainstream sources report, due to serious issues in twin and adoption research, the author points to environmental factors, including trauma, as the main causes of conditions such as schizophrenia.

Challenges theories of genetic determinism for mental illness, particularly schizophrenia Discusses weaknesses of past research in twin and adoption studies to suggest that environmental factors play a major role in mental illness Provides a historical examination of mental illness with particular focus on institutionalization

Autorentext

Patrick D Hahn is an Affiliate Professor of Biology at Loyola University Maryland, USA, and a freelance writer.

Klappentext
This book explores the history of genetic determinist theories of mental illness, beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing right up to the present day. A century of research in the field of psychiatric genetics, from family studies to twin studies to adoption studies to genome-wide association studies, has produced no credible evidence of a strong genetic components to so-called mental illnesses, no findings that help the human condition in any way, and in fact has caused great harm by diverting attention away from the well-established causes of these conditions, which have their roots in trauma and other adverse childhood experiences. This book also explores the long tradition of humanistic psychiatry and its great success in treating these conditions with an empathetic, client centered approacha tradition that has been all but forgotten in the modern era of biogenetic explanations and drug-centered treatments for mental illness. Patrick D Hahn is an Affiliate Professor of Biology at Loyola University Maryland, USA, and a freelance writer.

Inhalt

1. The Beginning.- 2. Ernst Rüdin and Family Studies.- 3. Franz Kallmann and Twin Studies.- 4. The Story of the Genain Sisters.- 5. Adoption Studies.- 6. The Mass-Marketing of Mental Illness.- 7. The Human Genome Project Era.- 8. The Story of January Schofield.- 9. Trauma and Psychosis.- 10. The Asylum Era and Moral Therapy.- 11. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann and Chestnut Lodge.- 12. Ronald Laing and Kingsley Hall.- 13. Soteria House and Open Dialogue Therapy.- 14. The Ghosts of Rüdin and Kallmann.