Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders: Advances in Genetic Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics

This chapter presents a background, summary, and recent advances in genetic epidemiology and molecular genetics. The review of genetic epidemiology describes the tools and methods of genetic epidemiology and summarizes research on the genetic epidemiology of the major classes of psychiatric disorders. The molecular genetics section presents a summary of advances in the molecular genetics of bipolar disorders and a comprehensive review of the genetics of schizophrenia. Finally, approaches to integrate molecular genetics and genetic epidemiology in order to facilitate investigation of the joint influences of genetic factors and environmental factors on the etiology of psychiatric disorders are described.