Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T13:51:19.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Schizophrenia in Twins: 16 Years' Consecutive Admissions to a Psychiatric Clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Irving I. Gottesman  and
James Shields
Irving I. Gottesman
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, N.C.
James Shields
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Psychiatric Genetics Research Unit, Maudsley Hospital, London, S.E.5
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Recent developments in the vexed questions of the relative importance to be attributed to genetic and environmental factors in the aetiology of schizophrenia, and the manner in which they interact to produce a phenotypic psychosis, are highlighted by David Rosenthal's series of critical papers (1959–1962) on twin and family studies and the book edited by him chronicling the lives of a set of monozygotic quadruplets all concordant for schizophrenia (1963). In his thorough and open-minded critique Rosenthal argues that previously reported concordance rates for monozygotic (MZ) twins have been misleadingly high. To this point we shall return in a moment. Rosenthal finally concludes that “the best information we now have with respect to the whole broad question of heredity and environment in schizophrenia, is to be found mainly in the five major studies of twins.” Unlike some who have pointed out weaknesses in the studies, he believes that “our task is to determine their source, extent and implications, not to dismiss them offhandedly because they contain errors” (1962a, p. 132).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 112 , Issue 489 , August 1966 , pp. 809 - 818
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

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.)

References

Briggs, P. F. (1959). “Eight item clusters for use with the M-B history record”. J. clin. Psychol., 15, 22–28.3.0.CO;2-7>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlstrom, W. G. and Welsh, G. S. (Eds.) (1960). An MMPI Handbook. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. (1960). “The simulation of Mendelism”. Acta genet. (Basel). 10, 63–70.Google Scholar
Essen-Möller, E (1941). “Psychiatrische Untersuchungen in einer Serie von Zwillingen”. Acta psychiat. (Khh.), Suppl. 23.Google Scholar
Gottesman, I. I. (1962). “Differential inheritance of the psychoneuroses”. Eugen. Quart., 9, 223–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottesman, I. I. (1963). “Heritability of personality: a demonstration”. Psychol. Monog., 77, No. 9 (Whole No. 572).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottesman, I. I. (1965). “Personality and natural selection”. In Vandenberg, S. G. (Ed.), Methods and Goals in Human Behavior Genetics. New York: Academic Press. pp. 63–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottesman, I. I. and Shields, J. (1966). “Contributions of twin studies to perspectives on schrizophrenia,” In Progress in Experimental Personality Research (ed. Maher, B. A.), Vol. 3. New York: Academic Press. (In press).Google Scholar
Harvard, B. and Hauge, M. (1965). “Hereditary factors elucidated by twin studies”. In Neel, J. V. Shaw, M. W. and Schull, W. J. (Eds.), Genetics and the Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, pp. 61–76.Google Scholar
Huizinga, J. and Heiden, J. A. v. d. (1957). “The percentages of concordance in twins and mode of inheritance”. Acta Genet. med. (Roma). 6, 437–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inouye, E. (1961). “Similarity and dissimilarity of schizophrenia in twins”. Proc. Third World Congress Psychiatry, Montreal, Vol. I, 524–530. University of Toronto Press, and McGill University Press.Google Scholar
Juel-Nielsen, N. (1965). “Individual and environment: a psychiatric-psychological investigation of monozygotic twins reared apart”. Acta psychiat. (Kbh). Suppl. 183.Google Scholar
Kaij, L. (1960). Alcoholism in Twins. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell.Google Scholar
Kallmann, F. J. (1946). “The genetic theory of schizophrenia: an analysis of 691 schizophrenic twin index families”. Amer. J. Psychiat., 103, 309–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kallmann, F. J. and Roth, B. (1956). “Genetic aspects of preadolescent schizophrenia”. Amer. J. Psychiat., 112, 599–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kringlen, E. (1964). “Schizophrenia in male monozygotic twins”. Acta psychiat. (Kbh). Suppl. 178.Google Scholar
Langfeldt, G. (1939). The Schizophreniform States. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lidz, T. Wild, Cynthia Schafer, Sarah Rosman, Bernice & Fleck, S. (1962). “Thought disorders in the parents of schizophrenic patients: a study utilizing the Object Sorting Test”. J. psychiat. Res., 1, 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovibond, S. H. (1964). “Personality and conditioning”. In Maher, B. A. (Ed.), Progress in Experimental Personality Research. Vol. 1. New York: Academic Press, pp. 115–169.Google Scholar
Luxenburger, H. (1928). “Vorläufiger Bericht über psychiatrische Serienuntersuchungen an Zwillingen”. Z. ges. Neurol. Psychiat., 116, 297–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1962). “Schizotaxia, schizotypy, schizophrenia”. Amer. Psychol., 17, 827–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1964). “Manual for use with checklist of schizotypic signs”. Unpub. ms., Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Medical School.Google Scholar
Pollin, W. Stabenau, J. R. and Tupin, J. (1965). “Family studies with identical twins discordant for schizophrenia”. Psychiatry, 28, 60–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapaport, D. Schafer, R. and Gill, M. (1945). Diagnostic Psychological Testing. Chicago: Yearbook Publ.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosanoff, A. J. Handy, L. M. Plesset, I. R. and Brush, S. (1934). “The etiology of so-called schizophrenic psychoses with special reference to their occurrence in twins”. Amer. J. Psychiat., 91, 247–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1959). “Some factors associated with concordance and discordance with respect to schizophrenia in monozygotic twins”. J. nerv. ment. Dis., 129, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1960). “Confusion of identity and the frequency of schizophrenia in twins”. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 3, 297–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1961). “Sex distribution and the severity of illness among samples of schizophrenic twins”. J. Psychiat. Res., 1, 26–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1962a). “Problems of sampling and diagnosis in the major twin studies of schizophrenia.” Ibid., 1, 116–134.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1962b). “Familial concordance by sex with respect to schizophrenia”. Psychol. Bull., 59, 401–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (Ed.) & Colleagues (1963). The Genain Quadruplets. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Shields, J. (1962). Monozygotic Twins Brought up Apart and Brought up Together. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shields, J. (1965). Review of “Psychiatric Illnesses in Identical Twins” by Pekka Tienari. Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 777–781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slater, E. (with the assistance of Shields, J.). (1953). “Psychotic and neurotic illnesses in twins”. Med. Res. Counc. spec. Rept. Ser. No. 278, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Slater, E. (1958). “The monogenic theory of schizophrenia”. Acta genet. (Basel), 8, 50–56.Google Scholar
Slater, E. Beard, A. W. and Glithero, E. (1963). “The schizophrenia-like psychoses of epilepsy”. Brit. J. Psychiat., 109, 95–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srole, L. Langner, T. S. Michael, S. T. Opler, M. K. and Rennie, T. A. (1962). Mental Health in the Metropolis. Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Tienari, P. (1963). “Psychiatric illnesses in identical twins”. Acta psychiat. (Kbh.). Suppl. 171.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.