Posted by med_empowered on September 26, 2005, at 16:47:58
In reply to The life guard at the gene pool is off duty..., posted by Racer on September 26, 2005, at 1:46:53
Genetics are weird. Take my family: my fathers parents were *off*--ECT, lotsa valium, etc. (Quietly crazy in the 60s-70s suburbs). He's fine, siblings are fine. Now, me: *off*. Some people find it kind of endearing ("you're so quirky, and...different), some people think its not such a good thing (those people are generally called "psychiatrists"), but I still make it work. Plus, if you run up the other side of my family, everybody has something going on, but only a few people each generation get hit with full-fledged, hardcore problems...I may be the lucky one for my generation (yeehaw!). Anyway, the whole "genes are IT" theory is hogwash; if you look back, that's what they based the whole Eugenics Experiment in the US on (this would be the period in time in which the "insane" and/or "feeble-minded" were *legally* castrated and/or sterilized against their will, and they were also forbidden to marry.) Its also the theory that led to some of the less-mentioned "projects" in Nazi Germany--like the ones where German Psychiatrists sterilized, then killed, *thousands* of "insane" or "feeble-minded" individuals in the country at the time. The response of American psychiatrists? Jealousy...they wanted to kill some crazies too, d@amnit. Anyway, the point is the whole genetic theory is pretty weak; yes, genes set us up for certain things, but there's really no *good* evidence that they determine the development or course of any mental illness. There are some good critiques of all those twin studies...I'll try to find some sights. All in all, just keep in mind that biology is not destiny; human beings are infinitely more complex and complicated than the people at Pfizer or the american psychiatric association would lead you to believe...there's a *whole* lot going on when it comes to the development and progression of mental illness, and much (most?) of it isn't genetic (think of all the variables...age, social status, race, education, gender, marital status, childhood environment, current environment....) So, please don't fret; you're not genetically programmed to develop a mental illness...odds are, you'll be fine; if you do develop a problem, there's much more hope for recovery than many would have you believe, so it won't necessarily be a "life-sentence" to mental illness. Have a nice day.
poster:med_empowered
thread:559625
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050921/msgs/559887.html