Facts About Mental Health:
Your Genes and You
Did you know that the branch of medicine that attempts to relate some types of mental illness to our genes is called genetic psychiatry?
Genes are tiny bits of chemicals inside the cells of all life forms, including humans. These tiny bits help determine how we grow, what we look like, and certain behavioral traits – all the way from musical talent to the ability to taste mushrooms. This is why genes are also sometimes called “biochemical instructions.”
More than 99% of human genes are exactly alike. An amazing fact is that less than 1% of our genetic make-up accounts for all the differences among us – skin, hair, and eye color, height, weight (to some extent), and the shape of our bodies, just to name a few. So the similarities among us are much greater than our differences. But just think about all the trouble and misunderstanding that 1% has caused!
You may have heard that scientists have finally figured out the plan of all our genes – all 31,000. All of these genes together, in one human, are called the human genome. Billions of dollars in the last few years have been spent in unraveling the human genome, and most scientists agree that the goal has finally been reached.
Some geneticists – scientists who study genes – believe that many human diseases result from things going wrong with our genes; but this is a very difficult research area, because there are so many things that can go wrong: and even if a gene is “defective” in some sense, that does not guarantee that illness will result. In many cases other events must combine to “trigger” a gene that is not working well, to cause disease or behaviors that we would rather not show. Such events are not always known, but they may include stress, toxins in our environment, poor diet, and certain unhealthy life styles.
In some cases there is a clear link between a gene (or combination of genes) and a particular illness. In Parkinson’s disease, for example, if things go wrong with a gene called DJ-1, the illness will probably develop. Cystic fibrosis and some forms of cancer are also thought to be the result of genes whose instruction sets are not working right. Scientists are now studying how these malfunctioning instruction sets can be corrected, or even replaced, through gene therapy. But in many more cases, the link between genes and diseases is strongly suspected but not proven. Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are in this category.
The search for a gene or combination of genes that causes schizophrenia has so far not been very productive. Many times scientists have announced a “link” between a gene and schizophrenia, but these discoveries, so exciting at first, have turned out to be single pieces of a puzzle; there are just too many factors in this complex disease.
It is hoped that genetic psychiatry will lead to real cures for many kinds of mental illness. What must be avoided is “genetic fatalism” – which causes some people to believe that, because they have inherited certain genes from their parents, there is nothing they can do to avoid illness. This is simply not true in most cases. Especially in mental illness, with a positive attitude and cooperation with medical treatment, mental illness can be conquered. This is what the recovery process is all about: Every good thing that happens, every little bit of progress, puts you on the road to recovery. Genetic psychiatry will uncover more links between mental illness and our genes, but it will probably never have all the answers. The rest is up to you and your doctor.
For more information about genes and genetic therapy, go to the following website:
MSN Learning & Research – Genetics
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refarticle.aspx?refid=761563786
top of page
