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{{Short description|American identical quadruplets (born 1930)}}
The '''Genain quadruplets''' (born in 1930) are a set of identical [[quadruplet]] sisters.  All four developed [[schizophrenia]], suggesting a large [[genetics|genetic]] component to the cause of the disease.<ref name="barlow">{{cite book |last1=Barlow |first1=David H. |author-link1=David H. Barlow |last2=Durand |first2=Vincent Mark |date=2015 |title=Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach |edition=7th |location=[[Stamford, Connecticut]] |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-28575-561-8}} {{pn|date=June 2017}}</ref> The pseudonym ''Genain'', used to protect the identity of the family, comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]], meaning ''dire ''(αἶνος)'' birth ''(γεν-).<ref name="barlow" /> The sisters were given the pseudonyms Nora, Iris, Myra and Hester, to represent each of the four letters in NIMH, the acronym for the [[United States]] [[National Institute of Mental Health]].<ref name="barlow" />  Nora, Iris, and Hester were hospitalized for their schizophrenia at least once each.<ref name="barlow" /> As of 2023, only Myra is still living.

==Personal lives==
The sisters were born in a midwestern American town (nicknamed "Envira") on April 14, 1930.<ref name=pmid10993407>{{cite journal |title=A 39-Year Followup of the Genain Quadruplets |last1=Mirsky |first1=A. F. |last2=Bieliauskas |first2=L. A. |last3=French |first3=L. M. |last4=Van Kammen |first4=D. P. |last5=Jonsson |first5=E. |last6=Sedvall |first6=G. |name-list-style=amp |journal=[[Schizophrenia Bulletin]] |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=699–708 |year=2000 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a033487 |pmid=10993407|doi-access=free }}</ref> They were considered local celebrities due to the quadruple nature of their birth.<ref name=pmid10993407/> The four sisters grew up with their parents in the same household. The Genain sisters' parents were described as "disturbed".<ref name="barlow" /> Their paternal grandmother may have had schizophrenia with paranoid symptoms, and their father was described as abusive. Myra and Nora were probably treated more favorably by their parents, while Iris and Hester were treated more harshly.<ref name="pmid10993407" /> The parents considered Hester to be a "habitual masturbator"<ref name="barlow" /> and referred to her as a "moron type" or "sex maniac".<ref name="pmid10993407" /> Iris and Hester were both [[female genital mutilation|circumcised]] as children in order to prevent them from masturbation.<ref name="doctoring">{{cite book |last=Bentall |first=Richard P. |author-link=Richard Bentall |date=2009 |title=Doctoring the Mind: Why Psychiatric Treatments Fail |location=London, UK |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-71399-889-4}} {{pn|date=June 2017}}</ref><ref name="pmid10993407" /> The quadruplets were reportedly physically abused by their father, given the pseudonym ''Mr. Genain''. Subsequently, the Genains accepted an offer by the [[National Institute of Mental Health|NIMH]] to take the daughters into their clinic and each was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

All of the sisters except Hester graduated from high school.<ref name="pmid10993407" /> Myra worked as a secretary for most of her life. She married and had two sons.<ref name="pmid10993407" /> When she grew older, she frequently visited her sisters Nora and Hester. Her eldest son contracted [[AIDS]] after a blood transfusion and died in 1996, while her younger son became a maintenance worker and retained a close relationship with his mother.<ref name="pmid10993407" /> Nora later managed the income the sisters received for having their photograph published in textbooks.<ref name="pmid10993407" /> Iris worked as a beautician for a while but most of her adult life was spent institutionalized.<ref name="duncan">{{cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=Connie |date=1 January 2013 |title=The Genain Quadruplets: A 55-year follow-up of two of four monozygous sisters with schizophrenia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278328389 |journal=[[Schizophrenia Research]] |doi=10.1016/j.schres.2013.06.011 |s2cid=44156366 |accessdate=5 January 2018}}</ref>

==Illness and scientific research==
All four of the sisters developed schizophrenia by the age of 24.<ref name=pmid10993407/> There was a history of mental illness in Mr. Genain's family that might have been an example of genetics being linked with mental illness or it may have just been a dysfunctional and abusive family free from a specific genetic component. Mr. Genain's mother had had a three-year nervous breakdown in her late teens.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Barlow |first1=David H.|author-link1=David H. Barlow |last2=Durand |first2=Vincent Mark |date=2015 |title=Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach |edition=7th |location=[[Stamford, Connecticut]] |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-28575-561-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Bentall |first=Richard P. |author-link=Richard Bentall |date=2009 |title=Doctoring the Mind: Why Psychiatric Treatments Fail |location=London, UK |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-71399-889-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bernheim |first1=Kayla F. |last2=Lewine |first2=Richard R. J. |date=1979 |title=Schizophrenia: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=0-393-09017-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/schizophreniasym00bern }}
*{{cite book |last=Farley |first=Audrey Clare |date=2023 |title=Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |isbn=978-1-53872-447-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Rosenthal |first=David|author-link= David Rosenthal (psychiatrist)|date=1963 |title=The Genain Quadruplets: A case study and theoretical analysis of heredity and environment in schizophrenia |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |doi=10.1002/bs.3830090407}}
*{{cite journal |title=The Genain quadruplets: Psychological studies |last1=Mirsky |first1=Allan F. |last2=Delisi |first2=Lynn E. |author-link2=Lynn DeLisi |last3=Buchsbaum |first3=Monte S.  |author-link3=Monte Buchsbaum|last4=Quinn |first4=Olive W. |last5=Schwerdt |first5=Pamela |last6=Siever |first6=Larry J.|author-link6= Larry J. Siever|last7=Mann |first7=Lee |last8=Weingartner |first8=Herbert |last9=Zec |first9=Ronald |last10=Sostek |first10=Andrew |last11=Alterman |first11=Ina |last12=Revere |first12=Virginia |last13=Dawson |first13=Susan D. |last14=Zahn |first14=Theodore P. |journal=[[Psychiatry Research]] |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=77–93 |year=1984 |doi=10.1016/0165-1781(84)90120-3 |pmid=6151205|s2cid=43234604 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Genain}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sister quartets]]
[[Category:People with schizophrenia]]
[[Category:American people with disabilities]]
[[Category:Quadruplets]]
[[Category:20th-century American people]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]