Role of heredity in influencing mental disorders and deficiencies

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: A survey of mental disorders and deficiencies that are influenced by genetic factors have been undertaken in this report. The materials used in this survey are: (1) textbooks on eugenics and heredity; and (2) periodicals and journals containing recent studies on the mentally defective. It was necessary to include books of psychiatry as well as genetic studies, as the problem is of psychological importance as well as biological. It is the thought that this study will provide a basis of study for the biologist, the psychiatrist, the student, and the interested reader.

Findings and Conclusions: It was emphatically illustrated in the literature that the problem of mental illness lies in the germ plasm of the general population, rather than the mental defectives themselves who make only a negligible contribution to the increase of the mentally deficient. Mental illness, a condition for which people have been tortured in previous years, should be looked upon as a bodily disorder. The ugly stigma that the illness has carried for many years is being gradually erased. Mental illness affects the whole population; by presenting a problem to the families and friends of the afflicted, it also places a financial burden on the nation. New treatments and approaches are being utilized. The "snake pit" era is gone forever. Geneticists and psychiatrists are cognizant of the fact that the problem does not originate from a single source, and are uniting their efforts to combat this problem of long standing.