Mental illness may not be genetic

Major mental disorders have never been confirmed as to having a genetic cause. Belief is that genes play a role only in a small percentage of cases. Yet this does not stop psychiatrists from preaching genetics and chemical imbalance that supposedly goes along with it despite their being no evidence to support it. Perhaps we must first find what in the environment triggers mental illness rather then what genes. A common excuse touted as proof, being mental illness runs in the family, however that can also be attributed to the environment parents create around their child rather then the genes they passed on to the off spring.


Beginning at 10:00


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlPs10GSJjQ

If someone has the combination of genes that predisposes them to develop a mental illness, given the 'right' environment, do you think that they can avoid mental illness if they grow up in a more well adjusted environment?

What about those disorders that involve an inability to love others, such as npd, aspd and spd? I mentioned twin studies in another thread. Although some of them didn't seem to show a high heritability factor for npd, surely the fact that 2 people, raised apart, can both develop npd, (at least one in a healthy environment, I'd have thought), shows that genes alone can account for personality disorders?

Do you believe that people with personality disorders would have been able to love others, given a well adjusted upbringing?

act 4 wrote:If someone has the combination of genes that predisposes them to develop a mental illness, given the 'right' environment, do you think that they can avoid mental illness if they grow up in a more well adjusted environment?

What about those disorders that involve an inability to love others, such as npd, aspd and spd? I mentioned twin studies in another thread. Although some of them didn't seem to show a high heritability factor for npd, surely the fact that 2 people, raised apart, can both develop npd, (at least one in a healthy environment, I'd have thought), shows that genes alone can account for personality disorders?

Do you believe that people with personality disorders would have been able to love others, given a well adjusted upbringing?

We still do not know if npd, aspd, spd, ect is genetic or to what degree.


IMHO, I do believe that if everyone had a loving environment MI will go down. A high degree of people with MI also have a history of childhood abuse or neglect. Certainly not everyone, but the degree is high enough to warrant attention.

I wouldn't deny that an abusive or neglectful childhood can harm someone's mental health. I do think, though, that some people may have experienced this upbringing, because of a parent's mental problems, then go on to develop similar problems due more to heredity.

Thank you for the link in your original post, by the way, it gave me food for thought.

act 4 wrote:I wouldn't deny that an abusive or neglectful childhood can harm someone's mental health. I do think, though, that some people may have experienced this upbringing, because of a parent's mental problems, then go on to develop similar problems due more to heredity.

Perhaps, but one must also ask if the parents have MI, did they pick it up from the environment their parents created? IMHO, determining to what degree genes vs environment play a role is very, very difficult because here we have a scenario where both come together in all ways possible.

Thank you for the link in your original post, by the way, it gave me food for thought.

Weclome, and thank you for sharing you thoughts.

I went through a challenging time this last x-mas when my father's sister insisted that her deteriorating health was the reason I couldn't visit her, so I suggested I'd visit her kids ( my cousins ) and she made an excuse for them.
I was baffled but realized i had never met her grandchildren on prior visits , she also gave me all of my father's pictures in 2010 insisting they were better off with me.
It was an abusive father who had abused her and her siblings including my father who later abused my mother ,me , and my brother.
It was their own shame including my cousins that would turn my family into skeletons they were hiding in their closet.
I know my brother had acquired some of these traits of abuse and manipulation, but with these environmental factors in place I had a hard time believing in genetics as the key factor.

I believe genetics MAY play a role in some mental illnesses... but... psychiatrists take this too far.
I have some relatives with BPD, and a handful of times doctors and psychologists have diagnosed me with the pd right after hearing this. no testing or anything. and that's #######4.
almost ruined my life for a while lol

Physical characteristics can be genetic, so why not at least some brain structure similarities? Many of us can rise above what we were given in our past. Some can not. Our past forms who we are and usually our destiny as well. I feel that early childhood is a more impressional time than what we were initially delivered with at birth.
Lessons our parents learned from their parents, the horror of war, hopelessness, suffering and alcoholism/etc, formed how they may have treated us as we were raised and how it affected us. It can also be cultural and generational.
As an example, alcoholism has ravaged western society compared to eastern peoples. Growing up in an alcoholic household and becoming alcoholic myself as an adolescent was 90% of my problem. Only when the alcohol was removed and with the 12-steps, could I deal with the other 10%.
I am convinced that my life was saved from forces outside of my control. That helps me to believe.
There is a family tree of 'black sheep' in our family. Some we do not know much about, some that no one will speak of, some died young and some were committed to institutions for unknown reasons.
I am truly blessed to live in this time. We are more enlightened and wiser to deal with mental illnesses that there was little hope for, unsupported or misunderstood even 50 years ago. Much of the stigma has vanished, although some may always be there. Medical sciences, understanding of mental disease, methods of treating addiction and social ills are here and now and seem to be improving. The need is great and we still have a lot of work to do.