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Genes and schizophrenia: a pseudoscientific disenfranchisement of the individual
Author(s) -
FLEMING M. P.,
MARTIN C. R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01690.x
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , pseudoscience , mental health , psychology , argument (complex analysis) , pessimism , psychiatry , clinical psychology , medicine , alternative medicine , philosophy , epistemology , pathology
Accessible summary• Mental health nurses work within the culture of recovery, instilling hope and promoting therapeutic optimism. • The biological model of psychiatry influences the services within which mental health nurses work, relies on an assumed genetic explanation for the cause of schizophrenia and implies a pessimistic therapeutic outlook. • Examination of the evidence that supports the genetic assumption of schizophrenia identifies serious flaws within the studies that artificially inflate the genetic contribution to schizophrenia and invalidate the findings from these studies. • The evidence from this review indicates a key role for modifiable environmental and psychosocial factors in the development and maintenance of schizophrenia symptom experiences. Mental health nurses can confidently work to collaboratively plan for goal achievement and facilitate recovery.Abstract The biological model of schizophrenia remains the dominant model within mental health services. It has a powerful influence on the culture of mental health services; providing the structure for the delivery and selection of mental health treatments. There is widespread acceptance of a genetic cause for schizophrenia. Acceptance of a genetic cause is inconsistent with a person‐centred recovery‐orientated approach. The following paper provides a rigorous review of the underpinning research that supports the genetic argument. Appraisal of family, twin and adoption studies uncovers serious flaws in the methodologies and statistical analyses used in studies. These flaws not only artificially inflate the genetic contribution to schizophrenia but also invalidate many of the findings. More recent micro‐imaging techniques have also failed to find replicable and consistent findings indicating a clear genetic pathway to schizophrenia. Freed from the implied pessimism of an unmodifiable genetic cause for schizophrenia, mental health nurses can confidently work to instil hope with people that have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.