Very compelling article, with findings that question the Western
accepted heritable likelihood of mental disorders. Yet, under-developed
countries have few such problems. Nazi Germany tried to eradicate them,
along with homosexuality and countless other people who were deemed
different by killing off "undesirables", yet it took no time at all for
percentages to climb back up to world average levels, and beyond.
Despite decreasing birth rates, depression is competing for second place
as most debilitating illness by 2020. Mathematician John Nash, who won a
Nobel in economics, and was portrayed in /A beautiful Mind/, is
discussed toward the end of the article.
One small flaw regarding the Nazi eradication argument is that a
heritable disease is not just passed down directly from affected
individuals to offspring, but moves around in the family. Those killed
off no doubt had siblings who could easily pass along the 'gene', but I
read it through quickly. Perhaps they account for this in their numbers.
Natalia
http://brucelevine.net/what-happened-after-a-nation-methodically-murdered-its-schizophrenics-rethinking-mental-illness-and-its-heritability/
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