ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the impact of possible future genetic findings in relation to a condition, schizophrenia, which has a contentious history, a complex aetiology and a high incidence. The principle of predictive medicine is often invoked in discussions of future health policy and management. The chapter provides part of a 3-year research project funded by the Wellcome Trust. The project focused on two common multifactorial diseases thought to have a genetic component: schizophrenia and heart disease. Schizophrenia has also been frequently cited in more general discussions as a condition likely to be affected by new genetic knowledge. Geneticists who foresaw the possibility of testing were conscious of some of the potential problems. The chapter shows how the view varies between different professional and lay groups concerned with the condition in the United Kingdom: geneticists, psychiatrists, community psychiatric nurses, general practitioners, carers and persons diagnosed as having schizophrenia.
