Do anyone think that a parent can pass down mental illness, like retardation, etc., to all of their children?

Question

lol. Is kentucky full of mental wackos? lol

Answer 1

Yes, have you ever been to Kentucky?

Answer 2

I've got more than enough depression in my family to believe it's hereditary. A lot of mental illnesses have a high rate of running in families according to a lot of research. But, ya know, a lot of these illnesses are manageable with meds to the point that the ones with the illness are highly functioning in society. There's too much stigma attached to it is what I believe, but that's a different subject, eh?

Answer 3

Absolutely. There's a large genetic component to many forms of mental illness. Downs Syndrom is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 23, and causes mental retardation. There are also other forms of retardation that are genetic. It's also clinically proven that people with a family history of bipolar disorder are far more likely to develop the disorder. Same goes for depression (although this might have some environmental factors at work as well), alcoholism or substance abuse (yes, you can have a genetic predisposition for addiction), and many other common mental illnesses.

Parents can also pass mental illnesses down to their children in other ways. For example, people who were abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children. By abusing their own children, they pass on the psycological trauma of the abuse, and the predisposition towards abusing their own children when they're older. Also growing up with parents that abuse drugs or alcohol will increase the chances that the child will develop the same problem. When you said "pass down," you were probably thinking about genetics, but that's a way of passing problems on to your kids, too.

There are also forms of mental illness that are purely environmental. For example, if a child's umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck during birth, he may be deprived of oxygen and suffer perminant brain damage. One effect might be mental retardation. However, unlike genetic causes of retardation, this absolutely positively can't be passed on to his children. Generally speaking, PTSD can't be passed on to your kids (with the exception of the abuse example mentioned above).

Incidentally, I noticed someone above me mentioned dyslexia. Dyslexia is caused by a dominant allele of a gene on the short arm of chromosome 6. That's about as heritable as it gets :)

Answer 4

You seem to be a mental wacko to even state that stupid comment about Kentucky. I resent the fact that you feel that all of the people in Kentucky are wacko!!!!! Half of my family is from Kentucky and we aren't wacko!!!!! You are just an idiot that doesn't know his head from his ***!!!!

Answer 5

Yes I believe mental illness can be hereditary and can be a learnt behavior especially when children are young and or drugs are a part of the life style

Answer 6

Yes, I know of a case (I actually know the family) where a woman who was mentally retarded married a man with normal IIQ. 2 of their children are mentally ill, one is totally normal.

Answer 7

Most mental illness skip a generation or two.

Answer 8

Mental illness is hereditary.

Answer 9

yes i think parents can pass on mental illness to their children. i know mine did, to both me and my sis

Answer 10

Yes. I've seen it. A schizophrenic mother had 5 kids, 2 of which are also schizophrenic, sad.

Answer 11

I do believe mental illness is hereditary.