Epigenetics and Transmission: Towards a Fourth Dimension
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Transgenerational transmission of vulnerability to disorders, as well as that of disorders themselves, has always fascinated psychopathologists. Even if we are still far from understanding how transmission takes place, it constitutes a sort of horizon, a necessary illusion that gives us the hope of preventing the emergence of disorders, or at least of being able to treat existing vulnerabilities in order to protect the next generation. Epigenetics has added a fourth dimension to this transmission, complementing the three others, genetic, behavioural, and symbolic or cultural. “Acquired” characteristics due to a new activation of previously silent genes are transmitted to the next generation. The environment plays an essential role in this process. The current consequences for psychopathology and the models of understanding developed by this burgeoning research have contributed to opening up new perspectives. Will we know how to explore them?
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