Abstract
Postnatal environmental factors, such as early life adversity, cannabis use, and social stressors are associated with increased risk for psychotic disorders. Understanding mechanisms that underlie increased psychosis risk is of great importance for the development of novel preventive approaches and early interventions. In a timely review article, Pishva et al. discuss available evidence suggesting that postnatal environmental risk factors contribute to psychotic disorders via epigenetic mechanisms. While the evidence supporting this hypothesis is limited and primarily based on the epigenetic profiling of psychotic patients and animal models, further investigation in this area is warranted and may bring exciting results.
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Submitted as an invited commentary on a review paper by Pishva et al. (2014) regarding epigenetic mechanisms in psychotic disorders, in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.
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Kundakovic, M. Postnatal risk environments, epigenetics, and psychosis: putting the pieces together. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 49, 1535–1536 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0927-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0927-8