Tag: epidemiology of mental health
Are DNA Changes the Link Between Poverty and Mental Illness?
Researchers at Duke University who studied 183 adolescents for three years found that increased depression associated with poverty may be mediated by epigenetic changes in DNA. The...
Comments on Jeffrey Lieberman and Ogi Ogasâ Wall Street Journal Article...
The March 3rd, 2016 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an article by past President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Jeffrey Lieberman and his colleague, computational neuroscientist Ogi Ogas. The article was entitled âGenetics and Mental IllnessâLetâs Not Get Carried Away.â In their piece, the authors started by expressing the belief that a recent study identified a gene that causes schizophrenia, and then discussed whether it is desirable or possible to remove allegedly pathological genes in the interest of creating a future âmentally perfect society.â The authors of the article, like many previous textbook authors, seem unfamiliar with the questionable âevidenceâ put forward by psychiatry as proof that its disorders are âhighly heritableâ In fact, DSM-5 Task Force Chair David Kupfer admitted that âweâre still waitingâ for the discovery of âbiological and genetic markersâ for psychiatric disorders.
Child Poverty Linked to Early Neurological Impairment
A new NIH-funded study suggests that children from low-income environments are more likely to have neurological impairments. The researchers claim that these neurodevelopmental issues are âdistinct from the risk of cognitive and emotional delays known to accompany early-life poverty.â