Genetics of Mental Disorders: A Guide for Students, Clinicians, and Researchers

Abstract

by S.V. Faraone, M.T. Tsuang, and D.W. Tsuang, 272 pp., ill., New York, Guildford Press, 1999 This book lucidly describes the key methods and issues relating to conducting and evaluating modern neuropsychiatric genetic research and its clinical applications. The book is aimed primarily at clinicians and students (the reference to “researchers” in the title is appropriate to the extent that it refers to those who have been active in areas other than genetics) and serves essentially as a primer to the subject. The three authors, themselves all active researchers in the genetic epidemiology of psychiatric disorders, focus mainly on the underlying rationale and many practical aspects of the major family/genetic techniques as they apply to studying mental disorders. While omitting many of the technical and mathematical details, the book describes and examines the strengths and limitations of both the more traditional genetic epidemiologic studies (e.g., family, twin, adoption) as well as molecular genetic approaches (e.g., lod score and sibpair …