Is it hereditary if my father has mental illness?

When suffering from mental illness, some adults cannot get married and have children, because some mental illnesses are very hereditary. So if the father has a mental illness, will it be hereditary? Will the father have a mental illness? This question cannot be generalized. Most mental illnesses are hereditary to a certain extent, but it also depends on the actual situation of both parents. Some will be hereditary, and some will not. This requires a doctor to give a reliable answer.

Is mental illness hereditary?

There are many types of mental illness. Except for a small number of temperamental mental illness and mental retardation, which have clear genetic conditions, the rest are caused by multiple factors such as physical constitution, psychology and environment. According to research, the proportion of ordinary people suffering from schizophrenia is 3/1000, and the chance of blood relatives of schizophrenia patients suffering from the disease is higher than that of ordinary people. According to current research results, the incidence rate of siblings of patients with schizophrenia is 7%-15%. If one of the parents is ill, the incidence rate of their children increases to 16%. If both parents suffer from the disease, the incidence rate of their children is 40%-68%. As for periodic bipolar disorder, the incidence rate of ordinary people is about 0.4%, the incidence rate of fraternal twins is 26.3%, and the incidence rate of identical twins is 95.7%. Therefore, we must consider the impact of genetics.

Although genetics plays an important role in the cause of mental illness, it is not an absolute factor. In other words, children with genetic influences will not necessarily develop the disease. We cannot ignore the factors of the acquired living environment.

Can mental illness be passed down from generation to generation?

Can mental illness be inherited from one generation to another? In life, mental illness has a high incidence rate and is hereditary. This will bring great psychological pressure to patients, who are afraid that mental illness will be inherited to their offspring. So is it true that mental illness can be inherited from one generation to another?

Generally speaking, all kinds of mental illness have a genetic tendency. Mild mental illnesses, such as neurasthenia, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobia, anxiety, etc., have a lower chance of inheritance, while severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and manic-depressive psychosis, have the highest probability of inheritance. A grandfather's illness may be passed on to his grandson. Through a detailed investigation of 4-5 generations of direct and collateral relatives of hospitalized schizophrenia patients, the prevalence rate is 7-8 times higher than that of the general population. The results of investigations in other regions in China and abroad are roughly the same.

Moreover, the more sick people there are in a family and the closer the blood relationship with the sick person, the greater the chance of getting sick. For example, if one parent is sick, the chance of their children getting sick is about one in four, which means that one in four children may get sick. If both parents are sick, then the chance of their children getting sick is more than half.

Blood relatives of schizophrenia are not only prone to schizophrenia, but also other mental illnesses, such as mental retardation and affective psychosis. From the perspective of symptoms and course, the next generation often develops the disease earlier than the previous generation, and the condition tends to become more severe.

Generally speaking, if there is a mental patient among relatives, their children are prone to illness, but this does not mean that all children will definitely get sick. Geneticists believe that if the risk of the offspring of patients with severe hereditary mental illness is greater than 10%, birth control is usually recommended. If you want to have children, you must let your children exercise their physique and willpower; create a good environmental factor; pay attention to your children's thoughts and emotions at all times, and enlighten them in time when they encounter unpleasant things, so as not to let them form mental pressure; let your children rest in time, avoid overwork, and do not over-tense the cerebral cortex. If your child has dizziness, headache, insomnia, dreaminess, irritability and irritability, go to a mental hospital for treatment as soon as possible to avoid the occurrence of mental illness.