ABSTRACT
This chapter examines online spaces concerning schizophrenia genetics, a highly contested area of science in which genetics has long played an inconclusive role. The use of controversial scientific claims by these companies has gone some way towards both raising their profile, and positioning DTC genetic testing products as unreliable. Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by severe psychosis, with clinical symptoms of hallucinations, delusions and interference with thought processes. Controversies have been of interest to social scientists engaged with the social, cultural, moral and political aspects of medicine, science and technology. Many of the DTC genetic testing companies we examined used a variety of social media platforms in order to engage with consumers, such as blogs, Twitter and YouTube. While Lumigenix acknowledged the influence of environmental factors in the development of schizophrenia, the surrounding text nonetheless reinforced the genetic underpinnings of the disease and the potential to avert illness through early intervention, itself implying a known or knowable causal route.
