Jay Joseph Psy.D. The Missing Gene

What causes psychiatric disorders to appear? Are they primarily the result of people’s

environments, or of their genes? Increasingly, we are told that research has established the

importance of genetic influences on psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,

autism, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The Missing Gene

provides a much-needed critical appraisal of theories supporting a genetic

basis for psychiatric disorders. These theories hold that psychiatric disorders are caused by a

genetic predisposition in combination with environmental agents or events. In fact, the field of

psychiatric genetics is approaching a crisis due to the continuing failure, despite years of concerted

worldwide efforts, to identify the genes presumed to underlie the major mental disorders.

The belief that such genes exist is based on studies of families, twins, and adoptees. However,

the author shows that, contrary to accounts in popular works, these studies provide little if any

scientifically acceptable evidence in support of genetics. Moreover it is not true, as frequently

reported in the popular media, that genes for the major psychiatric disorders have already been

discovered. In fact, researchers’ initial “discoveries” are rarely replicated. As this becomes more

understood, and as fruitless gene finding efforts continue to pile up, we may well be headed towards

a paradigm shift in psychiatry away from genetic and biological explanations of mental disorders, and

towards a greater understanding of how family and social environments contribute to human

psychological distress. Indeed, Kenneth Kendler, a leading twin researcher and psychiatric geneticist

for over two decades, wrote in a 2005 edition of

the

American Journal of Psychiatry

that the “strong,

clear, and direct causal relationship implied by the concept of ‘a gene for …’ does not exist for

psychiatric disorders. Although we may wish it to be true, we do not have and are not likely to ever

discover ‘genes for’ psychiatric illness.” And Peter Propping, recipient of the 2004 Lifetime

Achievement Award from the

International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, wrote in 2005 as follows:

“Whereas genetically complex traits are being successfully pinned down to the molecular level in other

fields of medicine, psychiatric genetics still awaits a major breakthrough.”

The author devotes individual chapters to ADHD, autism, and bipolar disorder, where he argues

that, contrary to

the

frequent claim that these conditions are “heavily genetically influenced,” there

exists

little evidence that they have a genetic foundation. Looking specifically at autism, despite the

near-

unanimous opinion that it has an important genetic component, the evidence cited in support of

this

position is stunningly weak. It consists mainly of family studies, which cannot disentangle the

potential

influences of genes and environment, and four small methodologically flawed twin studies

whose

results can be explained by non-genetic factors. Not surprisingly, then, over a decade of

autism gene

finding research has come up empty.

The Missing Gene

is an important book because theories based on genetic research have a

profound impact on both scientific and public thinking, as well as on social policy decisions. In

addition, genetic theories influence the types of clinical treatments received by people diagnosed with

psychiatric disorders. Yet, as the author demonstrates, these theories do not stand up to critical

examination.

Like the author’s previous work,

he Gene Illusion: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and

Psychology Under the Microscope

, this will be a controversial book, and is sure to spark intense

discussion among people interested in the causes of psychiatric disorders. As in

The Gene Illusion

the author challenges many positions viewed by mainstream psychiatry and psychology as

established facts. In the process, he shows that textbooks and other authoritative sources sometimes

provide misleading o

r inaccurate accounts of the research put forward as supporting the genetic

position. The author concludes that it is unlikely that faulty genes play a role in causing the major

psychiatric disorders.

The Missing Gene

provides an enormously important alternative to currently popular

genetic

theories in

psychiatry. It is destined to play an important part in public and scholarly discussions of

genetic

factors’ possible role in causing human psychological distress.

Table of Contents

HAPTER 1

Introduction. The Twin Method: Science or Pseudoscience?

HAPTER 2

ADHD Genetic Research: Activity Deserving of Attention, or

Studies Disordered by Deficits?

HAPTER 3

A Critique of the Spectrum Concept as Used in the Danish-American

Schizophrenia

Adoption Studies

CHAPTER 4

Pellagra and Genetic Research

CHAPTER 5

A Generation Misinformed: Psychiatry and Psychology Textbooks

Inaccurate

Accounts

Schizophrenia Adoption Research

HAPTER 6

Irving Gottesman’s

Schizophrenia Genesis

: A Primary Source for

Misunderstanding

the

Genetics of Schizophrenia

HAPTER 7

Autism and Genetics: Much Ado About Very Little

CHAPTER 8

The 1942 “Euthanasia” Debate in the

American Journal of Psychiatry

CHAPTER 9

The Twin Method’s Achilles Heel: A Critical Review of the Equal Environment

Assumption Test Literature

CHAPTER 10

Bipolar Disorder and Genetics

CHAPTER 11

Genotype or Geno

hype

? The Fruitless Search for Genes i

Psychiatry

Contact Information:

Publisher

: Algora Publishing. Website:

www.algora.com

. E-mail:

editors@algora.com

Author

: Jay Joseph, Psy.D., P.O. Box 5653, Berkeley, CA, 94705-5653, USA.

E-mail:

jayjoseph2

gmail

com

Ordering

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The

issing Gene

from

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ther

major distributors.