Mental illness and epigenetics

Marcus Bockman / Daily 49er

Steve Lopez speaking at the Karl Anatol Center at CSULB March 3, 2010.

In light of Steven Lopez, author of "The Soloist" and columnist for the Los Angeles Times (photo at right), visiting Cal State Long Beach to discuss what it was like to help a mentally ill, homeless man with extraordinary talents as a musician, I decided to look at current news on the mentally ill.

In the weekly journal Science, on March 4 the article "Mental illness multiplied in children," a new discovery in genetics came to mind--epigenetics. Epigenetics examines "the study of heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in the DNA sequence." Epigenetics allows for the passing on of characteristics that may not have been in the original been expressing a certain way. 

This is because different genes respond to our physiology. For example, a study  done in part with the documentary "The Ghost in Your Genes," examined pregnant mothers living in New York City who witnessed the falling of the World Trade Centers. Stress hormones affect the functioning of a gene and issues like post-traumatic stress disorder while exhibit low levels of cortisone, which is the chemical that deals with stress in humans.

These women's children, were born and continued to exhibit low levels of cortisone, and at around 9 years old, these children are showing discreet characteristics in dealing with stress in comparison to their peers. This brings me back to the article on mental illnesses being hyperbolized in children when the parent suffers from a mental illness. The article states:

"The team analyzed the records of all psychiatric admissions in the country between 1970 and 2007 and found 196 pairs of parents in which both had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Of the 270 offspring, 27% had been admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia by the age of 52. And for all psychiatric diagnoses, hospitalization for this group was a whopping 67.5%. In contrast, among 8000 couples in which one spouse had schizophrenia, only 7% of the offspring were schizophrenic."

These numbers are significant and can help family management programs, and also understand homelessness and how it can be induced from mental illnesses. 

And did you know that the city of Long Beach has a plan to end homelessness in a 10-year-plan? Check it out here.