Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the differential effects of two generally accepted stressful situations – migration and natural disasters. The genetic composition of the individual interacts with the early memetic environment to predispose the individual to be stress-sensitive or stress-resistant. Another factor in this equation is the memes that the individual has absorbed in early life, memes for expressing dysphoria and memes for being “crazy,” and overarching memes that explain nature and misfortune. In the case of migration, the degree of conflict or congruence between the preexisting memes and the new meme pool of the new land would play a role, as well as the degree of support or filtering available from the submeme pool in the immigrant community playing a protective role. In natural disasters, genetic predisposition interacts with social support and perceived level of stress in the development of PTSD.
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Leigh, H. (2010). Genetic–Memetic Model of Mental Illness – Migration and Natural Disasters as Illustrations. In: Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5671-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5671-2_4
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