The еpigenetic code of mental illness: from gene to phenomenon
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Date
2026-08-02
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Plovdiv University Press
Abstract
The present text examines the relationship between epigenetics and psychiatry, aiming to
outline key points that show that mental illnesses can be explained through analysis of external
environmental factors. Epigenetics deals precisely with this – it shows that without a change in DNA, it
is possible to observe changes in gene expression, thus giving us the opportunity to trace how certain
processes influenced by the environment are related to mental illnesses. If medicine focuses on the
biological basis of human, then epigenetics draws attention to how a change in the environment can
influence epigenetic processes, unlocked under certain conditions. I will focus on the
phenomenological foundations of human, which has the potential to help trace the way in which
subjective experience is a biological imprint, having a relation to the meaningful construction of
subjective experiences. In this way we will trace ideas that will show that mental illness is not isolated
– it can also be explained through analysis of experiences in the context of the environment.
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Keywords
epigenetic, psychiatry, relation, trace, phenomenology