Key Research: Gottesman et al. - Severe mental disorders in offspring with two psychiatrically ill parents

Question 1

What is the aim of Gottesman’s study?

Answer 1

To investigate a large sample and find the probability that a child with two parents with a psychiatric illness would be diagnosed with a mental disorder (same one as parents).

Question 2

Outline the sample of Gottesman’s study.

Answer 2

• Population of Denmark alive or born after 1968 with clear link to biological parents from Civil Registration System
• 2.7million people + parents
• 1.3million couples studied, some with more than one child
• Used Psychiatric Central Register to identify anyone who had ever received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, or unipolar depression

Question 3

Outline the method of Gottesman’s study.

Answer 3

• Used data from national statistics to identify people with a diagnosis
• Children of each couple were checked in the same register for any diagnosis of a mental disorder
• To classify the illness they used the ICD-8 and ICD-10

Question 4

What were the four groups of participants?

Answer 4

Group A - Two parents admitted
Group B - One parent admitted
Group C - Neither parent admitted
Group D - No restrictions or data on parental admissions

Question 5

How many people were in Group A? What were the results of Group A to do with schizophrenia?

Answer 5

• 270 people
• 26 admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia
• 40 admitted with schizophrenia or schizophrenic-related disorders

Question 6

How many people were in Group B? What were the results of Group B to do with schizophrenia?

Answer 6

• 13,878 people

- 473 admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Question 7

How many people were in Group C? What were the results of Group C to do with schizophrenia?

Answer 7

• 2,239,551 people

- 9384 admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Question 8

How many people were in Group D? What were the results of Group D to do with schizophrenia?

Answer 8

• 2,701,592 people

- 14,938 admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Question 9

What are the main conclusions of the results?

Answer 9

• Offspring of couples diagnosed with schizophrenia or similar disorders have higher chance of being admitted themselves
• Even higher if both parent have been admitted compared with only one parent or neither parent