It is a very common wondering whether or not mental illness are hereditary. Mental health is a concen of every individual and if any member in the family line is dealing with mental health issues, it becomes an obvious question whether that illness will be passed on their children genetically.
What is mental health?
Mental health signifies our emotional, psychological and social well being. It includes the way we behave, think, feel, deal with stress and regulate our emotions in day to day life. It affects our daily life activities, relation with others, our mood and physical health. WHO defines mental health as,
“state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”
What is mental illness or disorders?
An alarming disturbance in the thinking pattern, emotion regulations, perception of a situation, moods or behaviour can be referred as mental illness. Some common mental illness includes depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety and many addictive behaviour.
What causes mental illness?
Mental illness can be caused as a result of genetic and environmental factors. Research suggests that mental illness can be a result of genetic or environmental factors. There is no way yet known which can test the genetic inheritance of any mental illness. Mostly it devlops due to the environmental factors and life experiences. Thus, it is difficult for researchers to exactly determine the genes and the mental illness passed on.
Mental illness and inheritance
Research suggests that many mental disorder is seen to be passed on in a family line and hints to the inheritance of genes expressing mental illness. The commonly observed disorders which is seen to be passed on in a family are schizophrenia, autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), bipolar disorder and chronic depression. If a family member has some mental disorder, it is highly possible for their family to devlop the illness. But genetic inheritance may not be the only reason for such illness to be passed on to the children or other relative. It is quite possible that the disorder is devloped due to the environment and situation in a family.
Bipolar disorder – Bipolar disorder is an illness which is mostly seen to be inherited in a family. It involves extreme shift of mood, thinking pattern, and behaviour. Study suggests that there is 60–80℅ gentic factor involvement in the inheritance of bipolar disorder. But it is not the only factor involved and the major role is played by the environment and life incidents.
Schizophrenia – Deletion or duplication of a genes can be caused to devlop schizophrenia in an individual. And it may also be inherited and 70–90% chances is seen for schizophrenia to be inherited.
Autism – It is a neurological disorder present since birth. It also tends to run in a family but the pattern of inheritance is unknown.
Chronic depression – It is mostly seen to be inherited in a family. The most probable cause may be due to the same environment and situation rather than genetic inheritance.
Takeaway from Hopequre
Many mental illness are seen to have genetic inheritance and there is an obvious chance of devloping a mental disorder if any of your family or relative have such disorder. But main reason responsible for the devlopment of such illness is environmental and our daily life. And it is not necessary for the individual to devlop the supposed mental illness
