Genain quadruplets
Encyclopedia
The Genain quadruplets are a set of identical quadruplet sisters notable for all having schizophrenia
, suggesting a large genetic
component to the cause of the disease. The fictitious name Genain, used to protect the identity of the family, comes from the Greek
, meaning dire (αινος) birth (γεν-). The (equally fictitious) names of the sisters, by order of birth, are Nora, Iris, Myra and Hester. These names were chosen to represent each of the four letters in NIMH, the acronym for the United States
National Institute of Mental Health
. Three of the sisters (all but Myra) were hospitalized for their schizophrenia at least once.
The girls' father, Mr. Genain, was frequently unemployed, and a highly withdrawn and irritable person. The mother, while showing fewer signs of schizophrenic behavior than the rest of the Genains, guarded her children obsessively. As the family's mental instabilities made life at home less and less tolerable, the Genains accepted an offer by the NIMH
to take the daughters into their clinic, where they were given extensive testing and they were each diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The long history of mental illness
in Mr. Genain's family suggests that genetics is a major cause of schizophrenia. Mr. Genain's mother had a three-year nervous breakdown in her late teens, and frequently threatened to kill herself and her husband later in life. The NIMH reported numerous behaviours in Mr. Genain's siblings indicative of mental illness, including an unemployed brother who slept with his 13-year-old daughter; another brother who was an alcoholic, another who reported hearing voices. Mr. Genain himself kept an unusually strict watch on his quadruplet girls, insisting on personally transporting them and having lunch together at the same time every day even after the sisters were well into their twenties. They were not permitted to visit or be visited by friends.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, suggesting a large genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
component to the cause of the disease. The fictitious name Genain, used to protect the identity of the family, comes from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, meaning dire (αινος) birth (γεν-). The (equally fictitious) names of the sisters, by order of birth, are Nora, Iris, Myra and Hester. These names were chosen to represent each of the four letters in NIMH, the acronym for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...
. Three of the sisters (all but Myra) were hospitalized for their schizophrenia at least once.
The girls' father, Mr. Genain, was frequently unemployed, and a highly withdrawn and irritable person. The mother, while showing fewer signs of schizophrenic behavior than the rest of the Genains, guarded her children obsessively. As the family's mental instabilities made life at home less and less tolerable, the Genains accepted an offer by the NIMH
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...
to take the daughters into their clinic, where they were given extensive testing and they were each diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The long history of mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
in Mr. Genain's family suggests that genetics is a major cause of schizophrenia. Mr. Genain's mother had a three-year nervous breakdown in her late teens, and frequently threatened to kill herself and her husband later in life. The NIMH reported numerous behaviours in Mr. Genain's siblings indicative of mental illness, including an unemployed brother who slept with his 13-year-old daughter; another brother who was an alcoholic, another who reported hearing voices. Mr. Genain himself kept an unusually strict watch on his quadruplet girls, insisting on personally transporting them and having lunch together at the same time every day even after the sisters were well into their twenties. They were not permitted to visit or be visited by friends.