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Post by Casey on Dec 5, 2013 13:24:24 GMT
My family's mental health is all over the place...Even just immediate family: My mum has Addictive Personality Disorder, and Anorexia. My Dad has Bipolar with Psychotic Tendencies, and anxiety. My Grandma has OCD and severe depression. My older brother tried to kill himself. My older sister has an Eating Disorder. I have OCD, BPD, EDNOS, depression and anxiety. And my younger sister has Depression, Anxiety and Bulimia. It's lead me to wonder whether mental health conditions are genetic? Or maybe we've learnt them and they've been reinforced by the fact we've grown up in an environment where people are unstable? Anyway, what do you think? And are your conditions found in anyone else within your family too?
Casey xx
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Post by callum on Dec 5, 2013 15:48:15 GMT
Hmmm...actually a fascinating question tbh - and not just in terms of mental health.
I think the answer probably lies in there's a bit of both, although I think it's mostly nurture. Not that I can back that up with any kind of scientific facts or theories.
I was adopted when I was 5/6 as I had abusive parents. My adoptive parents are both intelligent (my dad is a professor) and what people would generally call model citizens. I have no genetics from them at all, yet I certainly have their mannerisms etc. I think if you're around people al the time then you're more likely to pick things up from them - but there must also be a genetic link too.
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Post by Katrine on Dec 5, 2013 20:07:50 GMT
Interesting question, and I do think that's it's a bit of both. You can be "sensitive" and then something in your environment will trigger it, idk.... My brother has had a depression and a psychosis, but the doctors told him it was because of drugs. I know some in my mothers family has "something", but no one really know what it is and they definently don't want to discuss it! I wish I knew though, because maybe then I could learn about myself. Oh well.
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Post by BethH on Dec 5, 2013 22:03:35 GMT
OCD and depression run in both sides of my family, which is something I had np idea about until after I was diagnosed this year. I do think that in my case it was genetic as a lot of my symptoms are very different to those of my family members, so it could be different for other people.
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Post by ellief on Dec 5, 2013 22:47:33 GMT
I think it's both. There's also genetic factors that can be turned on or off by life experiences, like some babies that where in the wombs of mothers close to the twin towers were born with PTSD because of genetic switches in brain signals or something. Think it's called epigenetics.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2013 21:20:21 GMT
The book Wasted by Marya Hornbacher (massive trigger warnings here guys) has some fascinating statistics into this for eating disorders. People who have mothers with eating disorders are MUCH more likely to have one, because they notice their parent's bad eating habits, such as skipping meals and picking at food, and think it's normal. It's also been proven that "normal "eating habits, such as eating dinner as a family at the table, not in front of the telly, been encouraged to explore different foods and been exposed to the process of cooking makes an eating disorder or obesity less likely.
Regarding other disorders, I think it's a bit of both. There's some interesting twin studies about this. My mother has depression, anxiety and panic attacks, my aunt had depression and bulimia (she's now passed away) and my uncle is an alcoholic.
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Post by Michaela on Dec 8, 2013 1:32:40 GMT
Definitely a combination of the two. The environment is huge, as that is where we "learn" to react or deal with things a certain way, particularly things that involve coping mechanisms or a certain view of the world, like eating disorders, depression or anxiety. But then everyone doesn't react in the same way and in the same situation one might become ill where another might not. Disorders like Bipolar and Schizophrenia have a high genetic component, but again this does need to to be triggered by something in the environment.
Then you also might wonder why we are more likely to get a mental illness if relatives have one, even if it is not the same illness - there is a lot of interesting research into personality for this. Personality traits tend to run in families, whether through genes or the environment (some of both) and particular personality traits are associated with certain mental illnesses. For example perfectionism is associated with eating disorders, anxiety disorders and depression which helps explain why (for example) a parent with OCD may be more likely to have a child with an ED. As another example, impulsivity is associated with addictions, BPD and Bipolar, so parent with an alcohol problem may be more likely to have a child with bipolar. It also partly explains the high co-morbidity of disorders - essentially the same root manifested in a different way.
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