genetics: fearfully & wonderfully made

 Last week in my neuropsyc class we discussed genetics.  It was FASCINATING.  Research examining possible genetic links of mental illness fascinate me.  The prof in this class has done a lot of research with patients suffering from schizophenia, so it was really interesting to hear about his experience (I was particularly interested to learn how adoption studies are done - they actually can't just find an ill adopted child and simply look at biological and adoptive parents because usually the education level, age, SES, etc. of the adoptive parents is better so it would appear that most things tested for would be due to biological factors even when it wasn't the case. . .)

The professor did a great job of underscoring for us that genetics are NOT NOT NOT deterministic.  They simply are about POTENTIAL and odds.  There are some researchers who maintain that nothing can truly be biological because of ALL that "enviornment" covers.  Enviornment includes environment at conception and a LOT of prenatal factors.  This brought us to the discussion that really made me think. . . I was always aware that women are born with all of the eggs that they will have in a lifetime.  HOWEVER, I did not think all the way through that.  This means HALF of our genetic material was being strongly influenced back when our grandparents conceived our mothers.  About half of my genes were set the day my mother was born on October 29, 1957.  This means that whatever enviornment and experiences that my maternal grandmother, Bernice, was having for the 9 months my mom was in utero was playing a very significant role in who I would become.  Wild, huh?

In the lecture, the professor emphasized how important genetic research is in the mental health field but that it is crucial that we understand that the illnesses we work with are very multifaceted and are often expressed in a variet of ways --- thus, the biological influences at play are MANY.  Living in a time where the human genome has been mapped out, the fact of the matter is that if depression, bipolar or an eating disorder were caused by one gene or a singular biological factor, we would already know.  However, we can be using the information that we get from neuro research to help us understand how to attempt to regulate the mechanisms that seem to be off kilter (and that's not always with medication, interestingly fMRI studies show significant changes in the physiology of people's brains as they undergo psychological intervention as well).

My closing thought of nerdiness:

We have 100 trillion cells in our body. 

Each cell (with the exception of blood cells) has a nucleus.

Each nucleus contains all of our DNA.

There are 6 feet of genetic information in the DNA kept in each cell.

This means we have 100 billion miles of DNA in our bodies.

special thanks to my fantastic, soon-to-be-birthday-girl mum for sending me pictures of her and my grandma when they were a similar age to me today (25). . .

Psalm 139.1-18

O LORD, you have searched me

and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

Okay, now I must get myself back to reading journal articles about the intracacies of genetics, neuroanatomy and disordered eating. . .