STUDY FIND THAT SEVERAL MENTALL ILLNESSES SHARE GENETIC TRAITS

courtesy: guardian UK

Mentall illnesses are often hard to diagnose because their symptoms are vague or do not fall into specific categories.  What is worse, some illnesses share symptoms, making treatment more difficult and identification problematic.

That has prompted scientist to look into the possibility of a genetic link between mental illnesses, to better understand what if anything the genetic similarity can tell us about the nature of the disease and to come to a better and quicker diagnosis.

And the results have come up with a very interesting finding.  The five most common mental illnesses all share the same genetic origin.  That includes autism, bipolar, ADD, schizophrenia and severe depression.  

This is very important, because in the past certain illnesses were seen as having very different effects and symptoms from one another.  This has influenced both the counseling and the therapeutic approach, since most of the illnesses were considered to be markedly different.  

However the similarity is a small fraction of the total gene pool the diseases possess, so that its impact may not as wide as people might think.  But even a small amount of information can help in the identification and therapy of a mental illness. 

What the genetic similarities might indicate is that the five common illnesses could all be but different manifestations of the same disease, in different stages that differ in severity, like a continuum with different stops at one level of illness or another.  

The genetic familiality also goes to explain what has baffled psychiatrists for a long time, and that is the overlap of symptoms between the illnesses.

But the finding also indicates that the diseases could be caused by problems in the development of the brain in the patient, a development that can be influenced also by the environment.

Source: Lancet 2.27.13