Genetics 08: Can You Inherit a Mental Illness?

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.

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.