Can We Continue to Blame Genes for Mental Illness?

Screencap from the article from Big Think

As I re-examine my course and content, I was going over the genetics and biological predisposition with genetics at the fore to describe the causal factors of depression and schizophrenia.

I was reexamining the information on the twin studies.  The texts I was reading gave great props to the twin studies.

This morning, I ran across this article on Big Think. Both the article and comments make for some fascinating reading.

The title of the post was "Mental Illness: It's Not in Your Genes"

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

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Seven-Year-Old Schizophrenic and Oprah

Back in October of 2009, Oprah devoted a show to childhood schizophrenia. The primary storyline involved a young seven-year-old girl exhibiting a number of schizophrenic symptoms and how her families meets the challenges of this girl's disability.

At http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Exclusive-The-7-Year-Old-Schizophrenic you will find a number of video clips and articles surrounding this little girl. If anyone has developed handouts and/or discussion questions based on these clips, please leave a comment below.

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Schizophrenia.com

Schizophrenia.com at http://www.schizophrenia.com is one of the better websites for information on schizophrenia. Listed below are the the many links from the site.

Schizophrenia Information

• Schizophrenia Overview
• Symptoms/Diagnosis
  
• Causes & Prevention
• Internet-Based Videos
  
• Schizophrenia Brain Pictures
  
• Schizophrenia Treatments
• Schizophrenia Success Stories
  
• Support Groups
• Frequently Asked Questions
  
• Recovery & Resources
• Assisted & Involuntary Treatment
• Managing Depression
  
• Preventing Suicide
• Schizophrenia Biology & Genetics
  
• Good Schizophrenia Books
  
• Good Schizophrenia Videos
  
• Famous People & Schizophrenia
  
• Join Research & Studies
  
• Facts and Statistics
  
• Poverty, Crime & Violence
• Schizophrenia Advocacy
  
• History of Schizophrenia
  
• Events & Conferences

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Childhood Schizophrenia on Oprah

I do not normally watch Oprah, but some of my students do. Recently, several came to me and asked if I had seen the episode with the seven-year-old girl with schizophrenia.

I went to Oprah's site to see what was there--I was surprised to find some videos, but many resources for parents and others who are dealing with the difficult situation. There is also an interview with Dr. Judith Rapoport, an expert in child psychiatry. While this goes beyond the level of schizophrenia I cover in class, I see how this could benefit all of us for background. Videos are on this page. Fascinating. Disturbing. Scary.

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Mindstorm and Schizophrenia

The following link is to a page by Janssen.com, a pharmaceutical subsidiary, describing the virtual reality tour to illustrate using all the senses how life might feel to one who is schizophrenic. The video has several disclaimers and warnings as well as a first-person video account of a day in the life of one person. I used it recently in class to highlight what it might be like for one who suffers from multiple symptoms. My students had a variety of reactions from "weird" to "that's scary" and "that's intense." Along with much contextualizing that I did, the students got a sense of mostly auditory hallucinations.

http://www.janssen.com/janssen/news_mindstorm.html

The site describes it this way:
A Virtual Hallucination: MINDSTORM is an invaluable teaching aid for medical students, physicians, the healthcare community, and law enforcement personnel. The simulation has the potential to create empathy for a frightening condition that most people can barely imagine.

It is worth a preview for a possible inclusion for your unit on disorders

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