Back to Blog Posts
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 25% of US adults and 13% of young adults are diagnosed with a mental health disorder each year. These disorders include depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. There are some concerns about whether these mental health disorders are passed genetically within a family from generation to generation. However, there are no genetic tests to confirm mental health disorders. While environment and experiences play a vital role in developing a mental health disorder, this does not mean that genes should be ruled out completely.
Family History
While no genetic test can determine whether you will develop a mental health disorder, the chance of having a specific mental health disorder is higher if other family members have the disorder. While it might run in the family, there can also be considerable variances in the symptoms. You might have a mild case while another family member has a severe case. Mental health disorders do not typically follow a consistent pattern regarding inheritance. There might even be many family members who don't experience any symptoms in their lifetime.
What Causes a Mental Health Disorder?
Most mental health disorders can happen because of many contributing factors, including environment, experiences, habits, and genes. Multifactorial inheritance is a term used to describe this, and it further elaborates that there are many contributing factors to cause mental health disorders. It can also include type 2 diabetes, obesity, and asthma.
Environmental Factors
Trauma experienced from childhood, whether sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, can increase your risk of developing a mental health disorder. Stressful home environments, experiencing loss, or currently, the COVID-19 pandemic can also contribute to developing a mental health disorder. Experiencing emotional harm in school, such as being bullied, can also result in severe long-term emotional damage. It is crucial to understand and work with your emotions and their relationship to your past experiences and current behaviors.
Perhaps you have a history or have recently started using substances to cope, including tobacco, alcohol, and drugs - substance use significantly contributes to developing mental health disorders. In addition to the likelihood of developing a mental health disorder, substance use disorders (SUDs) can perpetuate the rate at which a disorder advances. Substances harm the brain, including developmental and overall health leading to more risk for Alzheimer's and Dementia if abused long term. If you are struggling with SUD, you will need to overcome your addiction - prolonged use can further diminish your mental and physical health.
Epigenetic Regulation and Genetic Polymorphisms
Epigenetic regulation regulates gene expression by modulating the frequency, rate, or extent of gene expression in a mitotically or meiotically way that does not entail a change in a DNA sequence. Simply put, epigenetics affect how a person reacts to environmental factors and can also affect whether the person develops a mental health disorder as a result of mutating your genes. This means that the influence of the environment, genes, and substances can mutate a gene you carry to developing a mental health disorder or other genetic traits such as cancer, hair loss, obesity, and more. However, epigenetics is not constant over time, meaning that there must be the right combination of environmental factors and epigenetic regulation for a disorder to develop.
Genetic Polymorphisms are changes in DNA that make you unique as an individual. A polymorphism will not solely lead to the development of a mental health disorder. However, much like epigenetic regulation, a combination of experiences and actions will need to occur to influence any changes.
Is My Mental Health Disorder Hereditary?
In short, it's complicated. Knowing whether you are susceptible to developing a mental health disorder will first consider your family's health history. If autoimmune diseases such as diabetes or thyroid run in the family, it is essential to let your doctor know it can be the first place to look if you experience symptoms - the same goes for mental health disorders. Understand that it is more complicated than thinking that there is some genetic switch to flip that turns on a mental health disorder. It is also why it is so important to mind your environment and your behaviors. Whether you develop a mental health disorder or not, remaining in a stressful environment or using a substance to self-medicate and cope is detrimental to your overall well-being.
Suppose you worry about developing a mental health disorder or passing it on to children. In that case, it is time to overcome any bad habits you have and reach out to a therapist or doctor to learn as much information about yourself as you can. The more information you have, the better prepared you can be. At START UP Recovery, we help you work on your strengths to instill good habits and practices into your lifestyle. No matter where you're at in recovery and no matter what age, we believe everybody has the opportunity to reach their best success. It first takes understanding yourself and then becoming proactive to do something about it. While you can't pick your genes, you can choose how to live your life, and START UP Recovery can aid you in your journey. We deliver leading-edge entrepreneurial resources in a safe and structured luxury recovery environment designed to transform lives, starting with rebuilding one's relationship with self. Your health is important to us and will always come first. To learn more, reach out to us at START UP Recovery by calling (310) 773-3809.