For many people who have parents that suffer from a mental illness the thought that they might have it to is a very scary reality. However, countless tests have shown that mental illness is not hereditary. Mental illnesses are caused by a combination of biological, psyhcological, and environmental factors.
Biological might sound scary because life is biology and therefore if you parents have a mental disorder you might biologically inherit the disease as well, but no. All the biological factors means is that there is an abnormal balance of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. When these chemicals are unbalanced the brain has trouble communicating between it’s nerve cells and messages in the brain may not be sent correctly or read correctly. This imbalance leads to symptoms of mental illness. Other biological factors may be a bacterial infection. Many bacteria infections like Lyme disease and syphilis cause symptoms that resemble mental illness.
Psychological factors also contribute to mental illness. If someone has suffered from trauma in childhood that was either emotional, physical, of sexual they might show signs of mental illness.
Environmental factors that contribute to mental illness are death or divorce, living within a dysfunctional family unit, living in poverty, moving around many times and having to change schools or jobs.
If you live within a family that has someone who suffers from a mental illness you are more likely to have one yourself because of psychological factors and environmental factors. If your parent suffers from a mental illness and has not provided you with a safe and stable home life you are more likely to have suffer from those effects and might even feel anxiety, anger, or inadequate because of your troubled home.
While mental illness is not inherited, children on parents with mental illness are more susceptable to mental illnesses because they often exposed to it. They may also have the same imbalance that their parents have. However, the important thing to remember is that there are medications and treatment centers available to help families.