Research in Psychiatric Genetics in India1

Mr. Chairman, Respected Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel specially privileged to be selected for the First T I L A K O R A T I O N on Biological Psychiatry by the Indian Psychiatric Socic;y. I a m deeply aware of the honour and thank you all for the same. The present oration is devoted to young age in more than one way. I t is notable that a personal loss of the family of Prof. A. Venkoba Rao , I a m referring to the untimely demise of Tilak, has been the start ing point for the oration. Tilak was only 26 years old, no age to see o.ies own creator, when fate snatched him away from the mortal world. It has been a very thoughtful gesture on the par t of the family to consider someone young to deliver an oration every year. I have chosen the topic of 'RESE A R C H IN PSYCHIATRIC G E N E TICS IN INDIA' for the oration. As I mentioned eu l ie r , the oration being for tho.e le;s than 40 years, it is na tura l that I should draw material from sources other than my own research work for tl e oration. Around 10 years of experience in the profession is too short a time to have done enough personal work to be the sile subject of the oration. In view of this, I ask your indulgence to be with me in the next 45 minutes as (i) I share with you the excitement of my own research efforts in psychiatric genetics, (ii) review the Indian literature for comprehensive understanding of the topic and lastly, suggest a few areas for future research in this area. Of the aetiological studies of mental disorders, genetic studies have been important since the beginning of the Century. The initial efforts were to sort out the ' N A T U R E N U R T U R E ' controversy. Following the twin studies and more recently from the adoption studies, the focus of attention has moved from the either-or approach to one of the mechanism of interaction of the genetic predisposition and environmental influences (Slater and Cowie, 1971). The methods used for genetic research in psychiatry have been, (i) twin studies, (ii) family studies, (iii) adoption studies, (v) population studies (especially for menta l handicap) and (v) study of genetically determined characteristics like blood groups and dermatoglyphics. At the beginning of the broad survey of work, it is appropr ia te to point out that genetic research had received very low priority in Ind ia . A recent major review of the area brought out as two volumes titled M E D I C A L G E E N T I C S I N INDIA (Verma and Puri , 1978) contains very little reference to mental disorders other than menta l handicap. T h e r e have been no twin studies, no adoption studies in the Country. Only a limited number of family studies have been undertaken in functional psychosis. T h e method of population screening has been widely employed for the study of menta l handi cap . This limited work in this area of psychiatric research, in contrast to what is happening in the West, is largely due to limited professional training as well