mental illness and genetics

Many psychiatric disorders share an underlying genetic basis, a new study finds

The fact that psychiatric disorders tend to run in families in certainly no news. However, what a new study demonstrates is that many conditions share a complex underlying basis.

The discovery was made possible by the collaboration of 600+ institutions worldwide, who investigated genetic patterns across the disorders of 260,000+ patients and 780,000+ controls.

Final results indicated widespread between different conditions, particularly ADHD, bipolar disorder, MDD and schizophrenia. Anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorders also appeared to be related.

Interestingly, neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s appeared distinct from mental illnesses.

Based on their findings, researchers concluded that the categorical distinctions upon which current classification systems are based might overlook common characteristics between disorders. An important topic for future research, given its implications for treatment.

Source: Corvin, Neale, et alia (2018)