ABSTRACT
Quantitative research confirms folklore, that ‘madness’ runs in families. Someone who has a first degree relative with a ‘diagnosis’ of Schizophrenia is nearly ten times more likely to acquire such a diagnosis themselves than someone who hasn’t. Earlier assumptions of a genetic basis for this have been disrupted by failures to find a ‘schizophrenia gene’, recognition of the effects epigenetic mechanisms can have on ‘heritability’, and more critical appraisal of twin and adoption studies that have appeared to support it. These are all reviewed.
The possibility that aspects of family life might predispose to adult experiences of psychosis was, historically, considered unduly judgemental and has been side-stepped. Nevertheless more recent work in this area does find some features of family life that are associated with an enhanced risk of troublesome psychosis in adulthood. How these might operate must remain speculative. Nevertheless, how a family that includes someone with a history of troublesome psychotic experiences carries that collective memory must be a powerful influence upon how they are understood and responded to, if and when they arise again.
