Genetics 08: Can You Inherit a Mental Illness?
遺傳學 08: 精神疾病會遺傳?
Yiler
Article A
Researches have found that there are likely genes that contribute to people's mental disorders, conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression are very possibly relate to genes. The National Institute of Mental Health's researches showed that there are four main factors that affect the likelihood of someone possessing mental illness, the factors are: genetics, biology, environmental, and psychological factors. Anxiety disorder likely runs in families, and scientists have found that genetics contribute around 30-50% in the likelihood of someone inheriting anxiety disorders. Despite having profound influence on the susceptibilities of mental disorder, your genes are not the only causes of mental illness, in the end it still comes down to the distinct life experiences of each individual.
Article B
Anxiety disorder is a condition that makes people feel anxious constantly, and there are 4 main types of them. People with generalized anxiety might feel worried about certain things for a long period of time, they might also feel restless, hard to focus, easily annoyed etc. People who posses panic disorder might get panic episodes from time to time, they might feel extremely uneasy and nervous during each episode. People with social anxiety feel anxious might find it hard to make eye contact, having fear that people are judging them, get an increasing heart rate, and sweat a lot when facing social situations. People living with phobia disorders might feel frightened and nervous when facing certain things or people, the things that causes a phobia are often related to the personal experience or trauma a patient has.
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Steve
Article A
It has been long know that mental health issues can be passed down to next of kin but it is still unknown whether candidate genes are associated with multiple disorders via pleiotropic mechanisms, and/or if other genes are specific to susceptibility for individual disorders. To find out, 157 studies or 1519 meta-analyses of multiple gene and/or multiple disorders were reviewed for genotypes implicated in serious mental disorders that have varying levels of reported heritability. 134 genes were comfirmed to have significant effects cross disorders like major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorders (AD), including panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder), schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). the majority (63%, n ¼ 966) focused on identifying genes in schizophrenia, of which 199 meta-analyses confirmed a significant gene effect for 50 genes (97 variants). The next disorder of focus was bipolar disorder at 17% (n ¼ 259 meta-analyses) with 98 meta-analyses confirming 46 genes (65 variants); then MDD at 12% (n ¼ 177 meta-analyses) with 43 meta-analyses confirming 27 genes (27 variants); then ADHD at 5% (n ¼ 81) with 25 meta-analyses confirming 8 genes (11 variants); and finally anxiety disorders at 3% (n ¼ 36) with 13 meta-analyses confirming 3 genes (6 variants).
Article B
Research has found that mental illness likely has a genetic component, but it is most likely caused by a combination of genetic and environmental components. Mental and behavioural conditions that are more likely to have a genetic component includes autism, bipolar disorder, ADHD, major depression, and schizophrenia. There is no genetic test available to determine if a person carries a gene that would give them a higher risk of mental illnesses. The only way to understand their genetic risk of a person developing a mental illness is to look at familial lines. Genetics alone are not the only causes of mental illnesses, other factors such as stress can also lead to mental illnesses.