Dec 17 2008
Possible Genetic Causes Of Borderline Personality Disorder Identified
In an ongoing study of the health and lifestyles of families with twins in the Netherlands, Trull and colleagues examined 711 pairs of siblings and 561 parents to identify the location of genetic traits that influences the manifestation of BPD. The researchers conducted a genetic linkage analysis of the families and identified chromosomal regions that could contain genes that influence the development of BPD. Trull found the strongest evidence for a genetic influence on BPD features on chromosome nine.In a previous study, Trull and research colleagues examined data from 5,496 twins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia to assess the extent of genetic influence on the manifestation of BPD features. The research team found that 42 percent of variation in BPD features was attributable to genetic influences and 58 percent was attributable to environmental influences, and this was consistent across the three countries. “We were able to provide precise estimates of the genetic influence on BPD features, test for differences between the sexes, and determine if our estimates were consistent across three different countries,” Trull said. “Our results suggest that genetic factors play a major role in individual differences of borderline personality disorder features in Western society.”
Abstracted from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081216114100.htm
Where does this leave the question of “nature versus nurture”? One theory is that Personality Disorders are a result of post traumatic stresses and the resultant disorder due to a pervasive perpetual reaffirmation of the slanted world view brought about by the initial trauma. Is this in addition to or in place of the genetic element, or does the genetic pre-disposition towards Personality Disorders just need a trigger that would not knock “Chromosome-9-normal” people into a land so removed from the societal accepted norm?
Likewise, it is possible for those with a perfectly normal ninth chromosome to develop one or more Personality Disorders?
I have no idea, although I feel certain that it can’t *just* be genetic, can it?
Looking around the Internet for inspiration on this and other matters regarding the unbaking of cakes into their constituent ingredients, I came across 2 fascinating blogs which deserve further investigation:
http://aethelreadtheunread.wordpress.com/ and http://thesecretlifeofamanicdepressive.wordpress.com/
More on these and other matters once I have read and thought further; anyone’s and everyone’s opinion welcomed …
