Geneties of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder

Abstract

Schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder (bipolar disorder, manic depression) are the paradigmatic illnesses of psychiatry. They profoundly affect thought, perception, emotion, and behavior, and their symptoms cause significant social and/ or occupational dysfunction. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been recognized for several millennia, and the WHO (2001) ranks both among the top ten leading causes of the global burden of disease for the age group 15-44 years. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are illnesses with a largely unknown pathophys-iology and etiology. Evidence of a clear genetic contribution to the development of these disorders has led to important endeavors to discover the responsible genes. This chapter provides a concise and comprehensive review of the current state of genetic research into schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and also of its limitations and possible future directions.