A Lethal Inheritance: A Mother Uncovers the Science Behind Three Generations of Mental Illness.

ISBN-10: 161614467X
ISBN-13: 9781616144678
Category: Psychology
Pages: 267
Language: English
Published: 2012-01-10
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Author: Victoria Costello

Description

Every family has secrets; only some secrets are lethal. In Victoria Costello’s family mental illness had been given many names over at least four generations until this inherited conspiracy of silence finally endangered the youngest members of the family, her children. In this riveting story—part memoir, detective story, and scientific investigation—the author recounts how the mental unraveling of her seventeen-year-old son Alex compelled her to look back into family history for clues to his condition. Eventually she tied Alex’s descent into hallucinations and months of shoeless wandering on the streets of Los Angeles to his great grandfather’s suicide on a New York City railroad track in 1913. But this insight brought no quick relief. Within two years of Alex’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, both she and her youngest son succumbed to two different mental disorders: major depression and anxiety disorder. Costello depicts her struggle to get the best possible mental health care for her sons and herself, treatment that ultimately brings each of them to full recovery. In the process, she discovers new science that explains how clusters of mental illness traverse family generations. Artfully weaving the scientific into the personal, Costello takes a journey to the far reaches of neuroscience and reports back on the startling findings it is yielding about the complex interplay between genes and environment that drives mental illness, and what it now tells us about how parents can trump a lethal inheritance. She shares the results of long-term U.K. and European family studies identifying the earliest signs of mental illnesses that can be passed on from grandparents to parents and grandchildren. She tracks ongoing clinical trials to reverse the courses of these diseases through early intervention with the latest evidence-based treatments and offers brain-healthy choices individuals and families can make to prevent mental illness—freeing future generations to live healthier, happier lives.

Get the book

Similar books

Designing Preschool Interventions: A Practitioner's Guide
By David W. Barnett, Susan H. Bell, Karen T. Carey
... 165 Thomson , C. , 52 , 59 Thurman , S. K. , 230 Thyer , B. A. , 308 Timberlake , W. , 165 Webster - Stratton , 237 , 251 , 253 , 366 Author Index.
Assessing and Treating Low Incidence/High Severity Psychological Disorders of Childhood
By Stefan C. Dombrowski, Karen L. Gischlar, Martin Mrazik
Haberstick, B.C., Lessem, J. M., Hopfer, C. J., Smolen, A., Ehringer, M.A., Timberlake, D., et al. (2005). Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) and antisocial ...
The War Between Mentalism and Behaviorism: On the Accessibility of Mental Processes
By William R. Uttal
Some, like the “behavior systems” approach of Timberlake(1994)assume thatbehavior can be explained by a system of interactingmodules thatareeither built ...
The Psychology of B F Skinner
By William O'Donohue, Kyle E. Ferguson
However, there is clear evidence that this constant ratio does not always produce reinforcement (Timberlake & Allison, 1974). Second and, as we shall see ...
Finishing Well: Aging And Reparation In The Intergenerational Family
By Terry D. Hargrave, William T. Anderson
... 30, 32 Thomae, H., 40 Thompson, L., 23-24 Timberlake, E. M., 16 Tobin, S. S., ... E, 33 Wolfe, S. M., 81 Wolinsky, M. A., 85 Zarit, J., 11, 30, 31, 32, ...
The Social Insects: Their Origin and Evolution
By William Morton Wheeler
La Crisi Mondiale e Saggi Critici di Marxiano e Socialismo. Bologna, N. Zanichelli. ... TIMBERLAKE (P. H.): 1912. Experimental Parasitism, a Study of the ...
Principles and Practice of Behavioral Assessment
By Stephen N. Haynes, William Hayes O'Brien
... 143 Tharp, R. G., 80 Thompson, R. H., 250 Timberlake, W., 308,309 Tingey, ... B. W., 70 Ries, B.J., 268 Robins, E.,298 Robinson, S. L., 91,244 Roper, ...
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Approaches to a Science of Life: Word Pictures and Correlations Versus Working Models
By William T. Powers, Philip J. Runkel
... R.L., McGrath, Joseph E. McKeachie McPhail, Clark Miller, J.G. Mitchell, ... Jerry 469 Taylor 39 Timberlake, William 464 Tolman 72, 140, 142 Tucker, ...
Discovering Psychology: The Science of Mind
By John T. Cacioppo, Laura Freberg
... 247 Fromme, H., 523 Frost, P., 106 Frost, R., 161 Fryer, R., 291 Fuhrer, D., 4 Fukuyama, H., 408 Fulbright, R. K., 486 Fulero, S., 440 Fuligni, A. J., ...
Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding
By Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, Laura Namy
... C. 638 Ernst, D. 704 Ernst, E. 278 Esch, T. 110 Eslinger, P.J. 448 Esposito-Smythers, ... E. 197 Frontera, W. R. 408 Frost, J. 332 Frost, R. 699 Frost, ...