As more patients seek information about family risks of psychiatric illness -- an interest likely to increase as gene-identification studies are publicized -- most psychiatrists agree it is their role to discuss these issues but admit they are ill-prepared to do so. Psychiatric Genetics addresses that need as the first book to focus on clinical applications of genetics in psychiatry. It covers issues involved in genetic counseling, the interpretation of familial and genetic information for clinical use, information regarding risks associated with specific psychiatric disorders, risk/benefit considerations related to medication use during pregnancy, and the ethical and social implications of psychiatric genetic knowledge and research -- including the prospects for genetic testing. While other books have been written for the genetics community, this volume is addressed to practitioners: a clinically relevant resource that can help them understand the often bewildering flood of information about genetics -- information difficult to interpret, let alone integrate into practice -- and enable them to respond to patients' requests to predict the risk of recurrence of psychiatric illness or provide information about reproductive and pregnancy-related issues. Experts from psychiatry, genetic epidemiology, molecular genetics, genetic counseling, cognitive psychology, and ethics focus on issues that have received little attention elsewhere yet are of increasing importance to clinicians. Written at a level that assumes no particular expertise in genetics, the book features these immediately applicable benefits: It offers a framework for understanding and critically evaluating the psychiatric genetic research literature, enabling clinicians to better understand the meaning and limitations of genetic discoveries when patients raise questions about media reports. It provides a resource for clinicians who would like more information about the role and content of genetic counseling, outlining a typical counseling session while demonstrating how risks are estimated and discussed. It summarizes genetic aspects of major psychiatric conditions -- from childhood-onset disorders through psychotic, mood, and anxiety disorders to dementia -- as well as neuropsychiatric manifestations of other genetic disorders. It alerts clinicians to risk/benefit considerations related to medication use during pregnancy. It covers the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetic research and counseling, illustrating the dilemmas that arise with new advances. Whether used as a clinical guide, reference, or ancillary text, this book sets the standard for the application of psychiatric genetic knowledge in everyday practice. Psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, and genetic counselors will find it an essential resource for all patient encounters in which genetic issues arise.

Psychiatric Genetics: A Primer for Clinical and Basic Scientists offers a straightforward introduction to the essentials of psychiatric genetics, covering basic epidemiology, recruitment for human studies, phenotyping strategies, formal genetic and molecular genetic studies, statistical genetics, bioinformatics and genomics, pharmacogenetics, the most relevant animal models, and biobanking. Each chapter begins with a list of "take home" points that summarizes content, followed by a brief overview of current knowledge and suggestions for further reading.

Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are increasingly confronted with questions about the genetics of psychiatric illness, and the clinical applications of new genetic findings. Psychiatric Genetics: A Primer for Clinical and Basic Scientists addresses these questions through a straightforward introduction to the essentials of psychiatric genetics, complementing more comprehensive textbooks that may seem overwhelming for those new to the field. Written and edited by leaders in the field and the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG), the book covers basic epidemiology, recruitment for human studies, phenotyping strategies, formal genetic and molecular genetic studies, statistical genetics, bioinformatics and genomics, pharmacogenetics, the most relevant animal models, and biobanking. Each chapter begins with a list of "take home" points that summarizes content, followed by a brief overview of current knowledge and suggestions for further reading. This Primer is ideal for medical students, psychiatric residents, psychiatrists, and basic neuroscience researchers who are interested in learning about the key concepts and recent advances in the exciting field of psychiatric genetics.

Psychiatric genetics has become ‘Big Biology’. This may come as a surprising development to those familiar with its controversial history. From eugenic origins and contentious twin studies to a global network of laboratories employing high-throughput genetic and genomic technologies, biological research on psychiatric disorders has become an international, multidisciplinary assemblage of massive data resources. How did psychiatric genetics achieve this scale? How is it socially and epistemically organized? And how do scientists experience this politics of scale? Psychiatric Genetics: From Hereditary Madness to Big Biology develops a sociological approach of exploring the origins of psychiatric genetics by tracing several distinct styles of scientific reasoning that coalesced at the beginning of the twentieth century. These styles of reasoning reveal, among other things, a range of practices that maintain an extraordinary stability in the face of radical criticism, internal tensions and scientific disappointments. The book draws on a variety of methods and materials to explore these claims. Combining genealogical analysis of historical literature, rhetorical analysis of scientific review articles, interviews with scientists, ethnographic observations of laboratory practices and international conferences, this book offers a comprehensive and detailed exploration of both local and global changes in the field of psychiatric genetics.

Psychiatric Genetics is a concise reference that presents the complexities of this dynamic field in a clearly written, easily accessible format, with numerous tables and illustrations. Ten expert contributors offer a fascinating view of psychiatric genetics in a text that is thorough and scholarly yet also succinct and accessible. The introduction summarizes the field's four distinct paradigms -- and their interrelationships -- that help us understand the role of genetic factors in the etiology of psychiatric disorders: basic genetic epidemiology, which demonstrates heritability; advanced genetic epidemiology, which explores the nature and mode of action of these genetic risk factors; gene finding, which enables us to infer the probability that a locus in the genomic region under investigation contributes to psychiatric disorder liability; and molecular genetics, which traces the biological mechanisms by which the DNA variant identified using gene finding methods contributes to the disorder itself. Psychiatric Genetics illustrates the importance of Appreciating the complex field of psychiatric genetics -- Presents the major conceptual and statistical issues in psychiatric genetics, including many of the basic principles of both genetic epidemiology and gene finding, as well as a brief review of DNA itself. Detailing the results for one disorder where substantial progress had been made in gene finding and molecular genetics -- Covers schizophrenia, because of the substantial progress made during the past few years. Presenting results for a more typical and common set of psychiatric disorders where most of our information comes from basic and advanced genetic epidemiology and where we are just beginning to make advances using gene finding -- Discusses anxiety disorders, which illustrate these sets of issues. Covering disorders where major advances have been made using basic and advanced genetic epidemiology -- Details substance use disorders, where the paradigm has shifted from sociological to genetic factors and where, in contrast to the genetics of more traditional psychiatric disorders, researchers must consider the inherent conditionality of drug abuse. Investigating the role of genetics in personality disorders -- Focuses on the development of conduct and antisocial behavior and how to incorporate developmental processes into analyses of the role of genetics. Psychiatric Genetics draws students, educators, and practitioners alike into the exciting world of psychiatric genetics with a lively discussion of its broad trends and of the strengths and limitations of its methods to provide true insight into the etiology of psychiatric and substance use disorders.

Psychiatric Genetics provides the reader with a complete view of the methodological problems encountered in psychiatry genetics and proposes solutions to commonly occurring questions. The best European and American specialists have given a thorough review on the advantages and disadvantages of genetic epidemiological methods, the way to choose a genetic marker or a clinical interview and how to ascertain patients, unaffected relatives and controls and what should be the criteria to include a case or a control. New phenotypic methods are described focusing on candidate symptom and endophenotype approaches. Examples coming from cognitive neurosciences, biochemistry, electrophysiology and brain imaging techniques are reviewed. This book will serve as an essential handbook for psychiatrists, psychologists, and geneticists involved in the genetics of psychiatric disorders.

From reviews of the hardback:'It is timely to see such an excellent textbook... Aimed at graduate level students, this book is complex enough to be thorough, but clear with enough background to be accessible... the coverage is comprehensive and the flow logical... The text is uniformly well written and achieves a successful integration.' -The Lancet'A good introduction and reference book for professionals interested in psychiatric genetics such as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and neuroscientists... the book you want to have on your bookshelf to look up material and obtain a complete and balanced picture of the field.' -Psychological MedicineRevised for paperback edition, with new appendicesGenetics promises to provide one of the most powerful approaches to understanding the functional pathology of the human brain. This book presents a critical review of the evidence for a genetic contribution to common psychiatric conditions and the rarer single-gene disorders that may have psychiatric presentations.The first section of the book introduces the reader to molecular biology and the techniques of molecular genetics. The coverage then moves on to consider the genetics of normal and abnormal development, followed by a look at the genetics of abnormal behaviour in adults. This section includes, amongst others, consideration of personality disorders, schizophrenia and the dementias. The final section considers the applications of the work and covers issues such as counselling and ethics, closing with a look to the future.The editors are internationally renowned figures in this field and they have invited a team of equally eminent chapter authors.Readership: Psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, geneticists, neuroscientists and neurologists

A comprehensive, up-to-date resource providing information about genetic influences on disorders of behavior.

Psychiatric genetics is an exciting new discipline that explores how our minds and behavior are influenced by our genes. Increased interest in this area of medical genetics has been sparked by advances in molecular genetic techniques, the genome project, the neurosciences, the role of genes in somatic diseases, and the linking of specific genes with complex mental disorders. This Handbook is the definitive resource on this complex, and sometimes controversial, new field.

The new edition of this critically praised text continues to provide the most comprehensive overview of the concepts, methods, and research advances in the field. It has been revised and enhanced to capitalize on the strengths of the first edition while keeping it up-to-date in the field of psychiatry. This comprehensive publication now includes new chapters on child psychiatry, community studies, and perinatal studies.