Mental illness, genomics and society
Mental illness, genomics and society
Even though very little is changing in terms of psychiatric treatment nowadays, genetic research in psychiatry is opening the door to a completely new idea about mental illness. New definitions will be formulated, whereby the distinction between physical and mental disease will become less absolute. Moreover, the cause of mental illness will then be sought in networks of vulnerability and risk factors instead of the depth of an individual's psychological or biological inner self. What will this mean for care providers, policymakers, patients and family members? This project looked at the impact of psychiatric genomics on depression and schizophrenia. Research was conducted by two large research consortiums: GROUP (Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis) and NESDA Netherlands Study of Anxiety and Depression. Interviews and ethnographic research was conducted among patients, family members, scientists, policymakers and care providers.
Psychiatric disorders will be viewed as the result of inner and outer factors, which differ from one person to the next. At the same time, everyone who develops these disorders will acquire a higher degree of own responsibility to tackle and process these problems.
Another branch of research concerns patient participation. Although patient participation is a requirement set as standard by the financiers of GROUP and NESDA, such as ZonMw, it seldom takes place in practice. Focus group interviews showed that patients can most definitely make a useful contribution, as they ask relevant questions that do not differ greatly from those posed by researchers. Active patient participation should therefore be stimulated and facilitated, especially when it concerns complicated disorders like depression and schizophrenia.