Psychiatric Genetics

Enthusiasm about the role that genetics plays in our understanding of behavioral phenotypes has led to the development of many new epidemiological and statistical strategies, as well as to refinements in phenotype analysis. In Psychiatric Genetics: Methods and Reviews, hands-on experts comprehensively review the tools and methods currently available to uncover the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders, and then demonstrate through archetypical examples how these strategies can be used. Casting their net widely, the authors critically examine the key methodological issues involved in phenotypic analysis-including study design, molecular techniques, clinical interviews, and population sampling methods-and discuss new and alternate strategies that identify candidate symptoms and endophenotypes with better genetic validity. These strategies suggest cognitive intermediate phenotypes in schizophrenia, show how personality disorders may generate biologically mediated traits in the full-blown disorders, and yield data about P50 and P300 as endophenotypes in schizophrenia and alcoholism. One of the most promising approaches for the identification of valid phenotypes-the union of neuropsychological experimental designs and in vivo physiological brain mapping-is also discussed. §Practical and timely, Psychiatric Genetics: Methods and Reviews lays the cornerstone for the new diagnostics in psychiatric genetics-the unraveling of the genetic basis of psychiatric disorders and the development of new therapies through the precise identification of the phenotypes involved.