Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:52:32.935Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Neuropsychopharmacology: the interface between genes and psychiatric nosology

from Part II - Clinical background and research design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Thomas A. Ban
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Nashville TA, USA
Bernard Lerer
Affiliation:
Hadassah-Hebrew Medical Center, Jerusalem
Get access

Summary

OVERVIEW

The observation that mental illness runs in families received substantial support in family, twin and adoption studies. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity within the diagnostic categories of schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness has precluded any meaningful research in the genetics of these disorders. To break the impasse in genetic research of mental illness, consideration was given to split psychiatric disorders into simpler biological or behavioral components. However, all alternative approaches fall short of psychiatric nosology in classifying mental illness in a clinically relevant manner. Neuropsychopharmacology has the unique capability of linking the effect of a psychotropic drug on mental illness with the effect of the substance on brain structures involved in the action mechanism of the drug. Since the primary targets of psychotropic drugs are encoded by genes that have been identified, any form of disease which corresponds with the treatment-responsive population to a psychotropic drug is suitable for the generation and testing of genetic hypotheses relevant to mental illness. To provide orientation points about what nosology could offer genetic research, the history of psychiatric nosology is reviewed and the varying constructs that can be used are illustrated. Kraepelin's (1899) diagnostic concepts of dementia praecox and manic-depressive insanity are artificially derived nosologic constructs, whereas Wernicke's (1899) classification was based on scientific developments that were to become the foundation of neuroscience.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×