Family history of mental illness

In My Humble Opinion
1

As I’ve been researching my biological father’s genealogy, I’ve discovered disturbing evidence of some sort of possibly hereditary mental illness which seems to infect his family.

The first sign seems to have appeared in the descendants of my paternal great-great-grandparents. Their son was my great-grandfather. They also had a daughter who, in 1902, took her five oldest children out to the barn and shot them, and then burned down the house with her sixth and youngest child inside it. Her husband put her in an inn in Greenville hoping to calm her. When asked why she killed her children, she “said she could not die and leave her children to be mistreated by others” (this comes from a contemporary newspaper article on the incident). She then escaped the inn and drowned herself in the Mississippi river. Since both she and her husband were young and presumably healthy and unlikely to keel over any time soon, it seems like this was an irrational fear that her mind became fixated upon, possibly exacerbated by post-partum depression (her youngest child being an infant at the time).

Another of my great-grandfather’s sisters had a daughter who was committed at age 20 to the State Hospital for the Insane in Hinds co., MS. In 1916, when her uncle petitioned for guardianship of her, she was described as “hopelessly insane” (unfortunately the only description of her mental illness I could find). She spent the rest of her life there and died at the age of 24. One of her brothers died under mysterious circumstances when he disappeared from a barge on the Mississippi river. It’s possible he fell overboard accidentally, met with foul play, or drowned himself.

And finally we come to my great-grandfather’s brother’s daughter, who committed suicide (for what reason, I do not know). So in this generation of cousins, we have one murderer/suicide, one who spent her adult life in an asylum, one suicide, and one possible suicide.

As for paternal grandfather and father, both were known for being capable of explosive violence, criminal behavior, and unpredictability. These seem to have been well-known family traits (another cousin described this family as a “restless half-assed volatile” bunch). I doubt either one has ever been diagnosed with any sort of organic mental illness or personality disorder, but considering their family history I’m very suspicious that there was some sort of hereditary schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or something at work here.

Are there any psychiatrist/psychologist Dopers who’ve seen cases like this? Is this likely to be a case of genetic-based insanity in a family? And if so, what disorder caused this behavior? I’m identifying a pattern of violent tempers, suicidal urges, possible obsessive or depressive behavior, and instability.

2

I can’t offer medical advice or even a professional opinion, as I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist. But I do have a Ph.D. in molecular biology, and a family history of mental illness, and I have done a fair amount of research on factors that are believed to be associated with development of certain mental illnesses (bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). I can’t answer your question about whether or not a particular disorder might have caused the pattern of behavior you have uncovered, but I do encourage you to take the information about your family history seriously.

Based on my research, it is my understanding that genetics can play a role in an individual’s development of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. (I haven’t researched the role of genetics if any in other mental disorders.) For someone with a family history of mental illness, there are certain behaviors or situations that you may want to cultivate or avoid in the interest of your health (or the health of your kids), for example, avoiding any use of illegal drugs, and limiting use of alcohol or stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine. I would suggest that a psychiatrist would be able to advise about these matters.

3

Nothing as dramatic as the OP, but every single person on my father’s side - including my brother and me - suffers from chronic depression. It manifests itself differently in each individual, but it’s unmistakably there.

4

We have something similar on my mother’s side of the family, enough that my doctor calls it “massive heredity”. It’s a mix of depression, psychosis, autoimmune diseases and prolific creativity.

My grandmother’s father was considered “odd”. I don’t know much about him other than that he built a church organ out of a sofa. That’s pretty odd. His wife, my great-grandmother, reputedly had “the sight”.

One great-uncle suffered from schizophrenia. Several of my grandmother’s other siblings suffered from alcoholism, depression or were just termed “odd”. My grandmother herself was extremely creative and excelled in dressmaking, drawing and music. She was famous for making fabulous coats and gowns without using patterns.

My mother has two sisters and one brother. One sister is bipolar with psychotic episodes. The other is chronically depressed. All siblings have musical talent (brother was a jazz musician, sisters are blues singer and pianist respectively, my mother is a folk musician and illustrator).

In my generation, I have four cousins on my mother’s side. Out of those, one is bipolar, one has recurring psychotic episodes. The former is a sometime writer, the latter is a poet.

I have one sibling with no mental problems. I’ve had regular depressions since my teens. Oh, and I’m a writer.

My doctor has confirmed that there’s some relationship between creativity and mental illness, something to do with sensitivity. I haven’t done a lot of research myself. But looking at the family history above, it’s an interesting thought.

5

There is really no genetic generic trait for “mental illness”. Depression, schizophrenia, psychopathy or agression are all different, independent afflictions with their own hereditary components.

So, if you look at your murdering great-grandfather’s sister. She quitel likely suffered from post-partum psychosis. So, you have no more then one distant relative who suffered from post-partum depression/psychosis. How many relatives at that level have you got? Over fifty? I know the odds for spost parum psychosis in the general population are about 1 in 1000. So the odds of any one of fifty of your distant female relatives suffering from it is as big as one in twenty. So, it could very likely be just a statistical coincidence.

For depression, the odds of anyone getting a major depressive episode in their lifetime is over 1 in 10. So in fifty distant relatives, at least five of them should have had a major depressive episode. If I understand you correctly, you know of only one case. So, your family might be actually less, not more, genetically prone to depression then the general population (hooray!)

Also bear in mind, that in the time of your great grandfather, they didn’t have meds and they didn’t know as much of diseases as we do now. Your murderous great-grandfather’s sister missed diagnosis nowadays would have been caught in time by everyone around her who ever read a pregnancy book, and with the right meds she would have been cured in less then a month.

So, a feeling of doom, while interestingly gothic, probably is a bit premature. :wink:

6

My mother (and possibly her mother), me, and my daughter all have or have had major depression. My mother’s depression also had psychotic features. I am a mental health counselor, and have studied up quite a bit on such things. I have a bachelor or science degree in social work, with a minor in psychology. I have a master’s of education in clinical counseling, and have worked as a professional counselor for the past 14 years. The nature vs nuture controversy has been going on for years. In the famous Minnesota Twins study (no, not the baseball team!) they have been able to study mental illness in identical or fraternal twins who were either separated at birth and adopted into separate families, and compared those twins who were raised alone. The results are quite interesting. Also, I am reading a book about personality disorders, but I do not remember the name of the author. It is called, Evil Genes. The author discusses and cites many works regarding brain research and genetics as it relates to borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. She also applies some of these disorders to famous dictators as well as to those who are not famous. The book talks about PET scans, and MRI scans on the brains of people as they experience emotions or those who have been diagnosed with certain mental health disorders. It’s a great book, and I’d recommend it for those wanting more insight.

7

Oops! That should have read ‘twins who were raised together’.