Genetic mutation studies shed new light on schizophrenia

Jim - Nonsense.

There's a ton of research done by independent researchers showing that brain chemistry, injury and genetic factors are major contributors mental illness, generally at least 50% of the risk. Doctors and psychologists work in pairs. Doctors (and psychiatrists) are best able to address the underlying chemical and physical causes, while psychologists work with the patient on changing the habits and behaviors that make the condition worse.

Psychotherapy alone is not sufficient. Psychiatry alone is insufficient. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool and a fraud. Sadly the world is full of fools and frauds, and in relatively few countries will a psychiatrist routinely refer patients to a psychologist and vice versa. Where I come from it is part of standard clinical practice, but not all countries have yet caught up.

Dr. Bessel VanderKolk of the Boston Trauma Institute is at the forefront of understanding PTSD, He says that when he was chair of the PTSD sub-committee for the DSM3 revision (the psychiatric diagnostic manual) some 40 researchers in all fields of mental illness brought him a consensus report that their findings indicated PTSD and related dissociation from early childhood trauma was the leading cause of most forms of mental illness. They wanted the DSM revised to show the different forms of mental illness were actually symptoms of such trauma. Hearing the internal voices characteristic of schizophrenia would thus be understood as internal identities dissociated from consciousness during repeated trauma causing PTSD, most often repeated sexual abuse in childhood. This recommendation was ignored by the psychiatric profession, as those in power are committed to a medical model and industry that supports drugs and behaviour modification rather than psychotherapy. The chemical changes in the brains of mentally ill people are more likely the result of most such illness, not the cause of it. The proof requires research to see if the brain chemistry of those who have gotten better with psychotherapy has become normal. However with drug companies doing the research, there is no incentive to consider alternative treatments, and every reason to discourage such thinking.

fantastic study and i hope it is the start of a method to provide early detection. mental illness is still a stigma in most places and an absolute blight on the individual, friends and loved ones.