Sunday, 28 November 2010

The birth month effect in schizophrenia and bipolar

Noted in This article
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus/article_view?b_start%3Aint=0&-C

Several studies point to babies born in winter or early spring have a
small but significant chance of becoming schizophrenic or manic depressive.

"
Schizophrenia is usually diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 25, but
the person who becomes schizophrenic is sometimes recalled to have been
different as a child or a toddler—more forgetful or shy or clumsy.
Studies of family videos confirm this. Even more puzzling is the
so-called birth-month effect: People born in winter or early spring are
more likely than others to become schizophrenic later in life. It is a
small increase, just 5 to 8 percent, but it is remarkably consistent,
showing up in 250 studies. That same pattern is seen in people with
bipolar disorder or multiple sclerosis.

"The birth-month effect is one of the most clearly established facts
about schizophrenia," says Fuller Torrey, director of the Stanley
Medical Research Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. "It's difficult to
explain by genes, and it's certainly difficult to explain by bad mothers."
"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive

About Me

We It comes in part from an appreciation that no one can truly sign their own work. Everything is many influences coming together to the one moment where a work exists. The other is a begrudging acceptance that my work was never my own. There is another consciousness or non-corporeal entity that helps and harms me in everything I do. I am not I because of this force or entity. I am "we"