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Heritable mental disorders: You can't choose your relatives, but it is they who may really count

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2006

Ester I. Klimkeit*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Psychology, Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria3800, Australia
John L. Bradshaw*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Psychology, Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria3800, Australia

Abstract:

Keller & Miller (K&M) briefly mention and promptly dismiss the idea that genes for harmful mental disorders may confer certain advantages to affected individuals. However, the authors fail to consider that the same genes (in low doses or reduced penetrance) may be adaptive for relatives, and that this may in part explain why they are retained in the gene pool.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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