Even though this story sounds a little far fetched, it is completely 100% authentic. I come from a pretty conservative and old-school family, more about that later. Anyway, I have met a girl that is a friend of the family, and we plan to get married. The problem that is arising is that there is a history of mental illness (i.e. schizophrinia, bi-polar syndrome) in her family that scares my family. They believe that even though she may not be infected with any mental disorder to this point, that it may show up later on, or even worse in our kids.
I have no belief in this claim, since I believe that mental illness is more condusive to the person’s environment.
Anyway, my family is such that I can’t marry without the approval of my parents and they are giving me trouble on this issue. Is there any medical evidence that states that mental illnesses of these types are not inherited?
I have no cites, I have no proof. All I know is my sister, my mother and I all have been diagnosed with clinical depression at one point or another.
jarb
I don’t have the cite, but I’m sure they are easy to find. There is a definate hereditary factor to some types of mental illnesses.
There is a genetic element to schizophrenia. It can run in families. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.)
How old is your girlfriend? Schizophrenia often makes its first appearance in women when they are in their late 20’s. More info here.
If it were me, I wouldn’t drop a potential mate just because she might develop schizophrenia. Chances are she won’t. Even if she does, the symptoms can often be treated pharmaceutically. Symptoms are also frequently “episodic.” That is, a schizophrenic may spend 99.9% of their lives in a normal state, with only occasional episodes of mental breakdown.
I have some personal knowledge on this point. Unfortunately, there is good evididence that both schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder have an inherited component, although the environment also comes into play. In my family, my father was schizophrenic, and one of his sisters was also diagnosed as such. His other sister never showed any signs of mental illness, but one of her sons (my first cousin) is schizophrenic, although her other two sons and her daughter are not. I am not aware of any major mental illness in my grandparents generation, nor has there been any schizophrenia among me or my five siblings. One of my closest friends is bi-polar, and her mother is almost certainly bi-polar as well.
This said, I would agree with spoke-. There is a risk, but if you care for the person you need to consider that neither she nor her children may ever develop the disease.
Some cites:
http://dubinserver.colorado.edu/prj/jpr/6.html
http://www.brown.edu/Courses/Cpub/cpubsh/Rebecca_Burwell-PY0075_S01/gschdadd16.pdf
The girl I am speaking of is 27 years old. There are no symptoms of anything being wrong with her, or for that matter any of her siblings.
Her mother however went all the way until her 30’s until displaying any type of symptom, but subsequently changed her pattern of behavior from that point on…that is another fear in the eyes of my family.
Part of the problem with the mentally ill family members is that they are/were overseas, therefore many of their conditions went undiagnosed and untreated.
Once again, the “old-world” way of thought causes my parents to believe that this could skip a generation, and cause our kids to have these problems.
I’m a licensed, non-practicing clinical social worker, so that should give me a little credit. If I remember the DSM-IV (published by the American Psychological Association)correctly, a direct genetic link is indicated in certain mental illnesses, but is not established beyoind a shadow of a doubt.
Basically, it’s a nature vs. nurture situation- neither one is 100% responsible. You may want to check out the APA or WebMD, or just check out the DSM-IV in the library. As a warning, generally when a layperson gets his hands on a DSM-IV, there is a tendency to diagnose everyone with something, and see things that aren’t there.
upbhavan writes:
> Anyway, my family is such that I can’t marry without the
> approval of my parents and they are giving me trouble on
> this issue.
It seems to me that this is the problem, and their worrying about your girlfriend coming from a family with a history of mental illness is only a side-effect of this.
Mental illness is clearly family related. My son is driving me nuts!
[rim shot]