Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Twin Psychosis studies

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA IOP/TWIN
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Twin Psychosis studies
Date(s)	: [1934-2000]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 130 records management boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Institute of Psychiatry

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1936 Eliot Slater obtained a Medical Recearch Council grant to set up a twin register. In 1948 that led to a system at the Maudsley Hospital by which every patient was asked if they were born a twin and if they were, their names went on a register. The resulting Maudsley Twin Register formed the basis of much high quality research. This included a key monograph on the genetics of schizophrenia by Irving Gottesman and James (Jerry) Shields as members of the Psychiatric Genetics Unit. They argued the probabilistic rather than deterministic role of gender and were the first to apply a genetic - environmental multifactorial threshold model in modern psychiatry. In 1969 Slater retired and the Psychiatric Genetics Unit closed but research continued under Shields. Following his death in 1978 a section on psychiatric genetics was established within the Department of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, based at the Maudsley, under the leadership of Professor Robin Murray. Successive studies of adult and child twins, drawing on the Twins Register, have and continue to shed light on the epidemiology and genetic and environmental causes of or impact on schizophrenia and other personality disorders.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers reflecting a series of studies of twins utilising the Maudsley Twin Register, 1932-1999, reflecting the respective impacts of genetics and environment on a range of psychotic disorders, notably schizophrenia. Records include patient files/notes, 1932-1998; patient study profiles arising from tests, questionnaires and comments, 1948-1998; administrative records relating to funding applications to the Medical Record Council, ethical approval, and recruitment of subjects, 1948-1998. Studies include Opposite Sex Twin Study, Kendall Depressives Twin Study, Multiple Psychotic Families Twin Study, Maudsley Adult Twins Study, Anxious Twins Series, Personality Disorder Twin Study, Separated Twin Study, Psychotic Twin Studies, and the Gottesman and Shields series of studies on schizophrenia. The work of Professor Robin M Murray, Dr Adrienne M Reveley, Dr Alison M MacDonald and R Fulrich are also particularly reflected in the files.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Awaiting arrangement.

Conditions governing access:

The collection contains sensitive personal information and medical details, apply to the Director of Archives and Information Management, King's College London, for details on access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

The collection contains sensitive personal information and medical details, apply to the Director of Archives and Information Management, King's College London, for details on reproductions.

Finding aids:

No additional finding aids.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received from the Institute of Psychiatry in two accessions, Jan and Sep 2006.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Institute of Psychiatry, Familial and Environmental Factors in Functional Psychosis Study (ref: IOP/FAM)
Twins' Early Development Study (TEDS)(ref: IOP/TEDS).

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery, 2008.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jan 2008