Genes underscore 5 psychiatric disorders

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...104003.htm

"A group of international doctors has uncovered the genes that contribute to the development of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.

A collaborative research project carried out by The University of Queensland and Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam analysed more than 400,000 individuals to determine the genes behind these five psychiatric disorders.

UQ psychiatrist Professor Christel Middeldorp said several sets of genes marked all five disorders.

"Before this analysis, we knew a lot of psychiatric disorders were related to each other due to their hereditary nature," Professor Middeldorp said.

"We often see multiple family members with mental illness in one family, but not necessarily with the same disorder.

"We investigated if specific sets of genes were involved in the development of multiple disorders, which genes are not only related to say, ADHD, but also to the other four psychiatric disorders.

"These are genes that play a role in the same biological pathway or are active in the same tissue type.

"Genes that are highly expressed in the brain were shown to affect the different disorders, and some genes were related to all the illnesses we studied.

"It shows that there is a common set of genes that increase your risk for all five disorders."

The study's lead author Dr Anke Hammerschlag said it was due to the biological pathways shared by the genes in the brain.

"We found that there are shared biological mechanisms acting across disorders that all point to functions in brain cells," Dr Hammerschlag said.

"The synapse plays a vital role as this is the connection point between brain cells where the cells communicate with each other.

"We also found that genes especially active in the brain are important, while genes active in other tissues do not play a role."

New pharmaceutical drugs could potentially target these shared pathways.

"Our findings are an important first step towards the development of new drugs which may be effective for a wide range of patients, regardless of their exact diagnosis," she said.

"This knowledge will bring us closer to the development of more effective personalised medicine."

More bad science.

Did they use control groups to isolate behavioral/environmental from genetic sources? Whole families often present with mental illness because children are raised by the mentally ill. That, in itself, doesn't make it genetic. Without controls, the best we can say is that the genetics are a nonexclusive correlation, with environment being another. No causation...unless they start coming up with gene-editing cures, instead of selling more pharmaceuticals.

The human brain is the most malleable biology in the body. Between epigenetics and neuroplasticity, there's little reason to believe peculiarities in the brain are driven by anything but behavior and environment.

But people are happy to take more pills to justify their own mental illness.

Quote:there's little reason to believe peculiarities in the brain are driven by anything but behavior and environment.

Do you have any proof that the five disorders listed are driven only by behavior and environment? Autism? Schizophrenia? Bipolarism? Are you kidding me?

(Aug 28, 2019 02:40 AM)Magical Realist Wrote:

Quote:there's little reason to believe peculiarities in the brain are driven by anything but behavior and environment.

Do you have any proof that the five disorders listed are driven only by behavior and environment? Autism? Schizophrenia? Bipolarism? Are you kidding me?

The exact same evidence of correlation that they attribute solely to genetics, without any control group to demonstrate otherwise. Correlation is not exclusionary.

Aside from the fact that those working in the mental health field display higher rates of mental illness than the general public.

The therapists reported higher rates of family dysfunction, parental alcoholism, sexual and physical abuse, and parental death or psychiatric hospitalization than did their professional counterparts. - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/artic...e-problems

And since this article is touting more medication:

Psychiatrists Must Face Possibility That Medications Hurt More Than They Help
Mental health has declined as prescriptions for antidepressants and other drugs keep surging

Quote:The exact same evidence of correlation that they attribute solely to genetics, without any control group to demonstrate otherwise. Correlation is not exclusionary.

No..you have no evidence of an environmental or behavioral cause to these disorders. There are simply no studies supporting such a ridiculous proposal. Evidence for the genetic causes of these disorders otoh is both abundant and compelling:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...reatments/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...ble-cause/

https://www.bphope.com/unraveling-the-family-tree/

https://www.additudemag.com/new-gene-mut...velopment/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...114559.htm

(Aug 27, 2019 11:21 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...104003.htm

"A group of international doctors has uncovered the genes that contribute to the development of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia....

Great Hosanna Bonana, a unifying principle of clinical conditions unearthed.

Just because some materialist theory is popular does not mean it is actually demonstrated as causal.
Environmental Connections: A Deeper Look into Mental Illness

The causes of mental disorders are regarded as complex and varying depending on the particular disorder and the individual. Although the causes of most mental disorders are not fully understood, researchers have identified a variety of biological, psychological, and environmental factors that can contribute to the development or progression of mental disorders.[2] Most mental disorders are a result of a combination of several different factors rather than just a single factor.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_..._disorders

As usual, some people are just looking to confirm their self-justifying bias.

Quote:Just because some materialist theory is popular does not mean it is actually demonstrated as causal.

In the world of science, the most popular theory is the one with the most evidence. Such is the case for the genetic etiology of mental illness. There is simply much more evidence for this causal factor than for any other. For bipolarism 70% is caused by genes. For autism it's 90%. For schizophrenia it's 79%. 40% for depression. 50% for ADHD.

Quote:As usual, some people are just looking to confirm their self-justifying bias.

You're the one in denial of genetic causation. Why don't you study some actual science on the subject instead of blaming mental illness on the patient themselves or their childhood raising?

(Aug 27, 2019 11:21 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: "A group of international doctors has uncovered the genes that contribute to the development of ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.

I think that it's been known for quite a while that many psychiatric conditions have a strong genetic component.

Quote:UQ psychiatrist Professor Christel Middeldorp said several sets of genes marked all five disorders.

"Before this analysis, we knew a lot of psychiatric disorders were related to each other due to their hereditary nature," Professor Middeldorp said.

"We often see multiple family members with mental illness in one family, but not necessarily with the same disorder.

"We investigated if specific sets of genes were involved in the development of multiple disorders, which genes are not only related to say, ADHD, but also to the other four psychiatric disorders.

"These are genes that play a role in the same biological pathway or are active in the same tissue type.

Yes, if the same genes are implicated in multiple psychiatric disorders, one would expect a similarity in the physiology or biochemistry of whatever's happening.

Quote:"We found that there are shared biological mechanisms acting across disorders that all point to functions in brain cells," Dr Hammerschlag said.

I'm inclined to believe there could be a common underlying neurochemical/neurophysiological defect that might end up expressing itself in very different ways depending on other biological factors or life experience.

Quote:New pharmaceutical drugs could potentially target these shared pathways.

Yes. I don't think that we will see much progress in psychiatry until we understand more about what psychiatric conditions are and what causes them.

While I do think that talking-cures and spiritual-counseling can be useful and effective for general problems of dissatisfaction with life, I don't think that they are effective at all for the major psychoses. Those seem much more biological and physiological to me. Once we know more about the biology that predisposes some people to these conditions, we can try to disarm those processes. And just by its nature, it's probably drugs and pharmaceuticals that will best be able to do that. (Surgery doesn't seem like as good an option.)

If it's found that there are underlying commonalities in whatever events are resulting in very different kinds of psychiatric conditions, then drugs that address those underlying processes might reduce the odds of people developing the conditions.

Quote:"Our findings are an important first step towards the development of new drugs which may be effective for a wide range of patients, regardless of their exact diagnosis," she said.

I don't know if this will supply psychiatry with a desired silver-bullet against psychiatric conditions, but it's pretty clearly a step in the right direction.

I think that it's very hopeful.

(Aug 29, 2019 03:13 AM)Magical Realist Wrote:

Quote:Just because some materialist theory is popular does not mean it is actually demonstrated as causal.

In the world of science, the most popular theory is the one with the most evidence. Such is the case for the genetic etiology of mental illness. There is simply much more evidence for this causal factor than for any other. For bipolarism 70% is caused by genes. For autism it's 90%. For schizophrenia it's 79%. 40% for depression. 50% for ADHD.

Quote:As usual, some people are just looking to confirm their self-justifying bias.

You're the one in denial of genetic causation. Why don't you study some actual science on the subject instead of blaming mental illness on the patient themselves or their childhood raising?

No, in the world of humans bringing their biases to science, correlation is very often conflated with causation. Again, where are the studies with control groups to isolate the results from social contagion?

I'm not the science-denier here, mister "I have evidence of ghosts".

And I never said mental illness was only due to, what, bad choices and rearing. As any credible reference will state, there are many causes of mental illness. Among them, trauma, brain damage, etc., none of which the patient can be blamed for. Or do you think PTSD is genetic too? O_o