Shared deficits of education, marital and occupational functioning in unaffected siblings of multiple affected families with major psychiatric illness.

Background: Major psychiatric illnesses often cluster in families, and their impact on affected and unaffected members within families may reflect the consequence of both genetic and social liability.

Methods: Data was derived from 202 families with multiple affected individuals. Affected individuals (N = 259) had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or substance use disorder.

Neurocognition and its association with adverse childhood experiences and familial risk of mental illness.

Environmental factors such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may affect neurocognition, an endophenotype for several mental illnesses. This study examines the effect of ACEs on neurocognitive performance in first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with severe mental illness to determine whether familial risk has a moderating effect on the relationship between ACEs and neurocognition. Unaffected FDRs from multiplex families with severe mental illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or alcohol use disorder) (n = 324) and healthy controls (with no familial risk) (n = 188) underwent neurocognitive tests for processing speed, new learning, working memory and Theory of Mind.

Cross-diagnostic evaluation of minor physical anomalies in psychiatric disorders.

Background: Minor physical anomalies (MPA) are markers of impaired neurodevelopment during the prenatal stage. Assessing MPA across psychiatric disorders may help understand their shared nature. In addition, MPA in family members would indicate a shared liability and endophenotype potential.