{"id":277,"date":"2014-08-06T06:22:49","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T06:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/?p=277"},"modified":"2014-06-25T23:13:55","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T23:13:55","slug":"does-bipolar-disorder-run-in-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/does-bipolar-disorder-run-in-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Bipolar Disorder Run in the Family?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I just met a woman in her early 20s who I really like.\u00a0 She seems very together but she told me that her parents and two\u00a0brothers are all diagnosed and on medication for bipolar disorder.\u00a0 I am wondering if something like this will also happen to her.\u00a0 What are her chances of getting bipolar disorder?”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

First a question of my own:\u00a0 Has anyone found the true cause of bipolar disorder?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful to know that X or Y was the cause, but the answer is not that simple. \u00a0Most scientists believe that mental illnesses are caused by a combination of several factors working together.\u00a0 In bipolar disorder, these factors are usually divided into biological and psychological causes.\u00a0 In plain English, the main reasons mental illness develops are physical (biological) and environmental.<\/p>\n

The first question in relation to what you are asking is:\u00a0 Is bipolar disorder inherited?<\/p>\n

This question has been addressed in many studies.\u00a0 In families of persons with bipolar disorder, first degree relatives (parents, children, siblings) are more likely to have a mood disorder than the relatives of those who do not have bipolar disorder.\u00a0 The closer the relationship, the greater the odds; for instance, in studies of twins, identical twins are three times more likely to develop bipolar disorder than a fraternal twin.\u00a0 The rate is 80% for identical twins and only 16% for fraternal twins.\u00a0 So, there is overwhelming evidence that bipolar disorder can be inherited and that there is a genetic vulnerability to developing the illness.\u00a0 There is also strong evidence that just because there are first degree relatives with bipolar disorder, it does not automatically mean that you will develop the illness.<\/p>\n

As far as the biological factors, researchers are quite certain that the neurotransmitter section of the brain is at least part of the cause of bipolar disorder.\u00a0 However, more research is needed to define its exact role.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that every individual is different, so the inherited biological factors may or may not be present.\u00a0 It is, however, important to note that your lady friend has both parents and two siblings with bipolar disorder.\u00a0 There is a strong indication that she would be quite vulnerable to developing bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

For mental, emotional, and environmental issues, stressful life events are thought to be the main element in the development of bipolar disorder.\u00a0 These can range from a death in the family, loss of a job, the birth of a child, or making a physical move, such as moving to a new home, or even going to college.\u00a0 It can be pretty much anything, but it cannot be precisely defined, since one person\u2019s stress may be another\u2019s pleasure.<\/p>\n

So, research has found that life events can lead to the development of symptoms of bipolar disorder.\u00a0\u00a0 However, once the disorder is triggered and progresses, psychological and\/or biological processes take over and keep the illness active.<\/p>\n

The best explanation of what causes bipolar disorder is that each person inherits certain physical vulnerabilities to problems that may or may not appear, depending on what stresses occur in his or her life.\u00a0 Durand and Barlow (2000) define this as the theory that both an inherited tendency and specific stressful conditions are required to produce the disorder.<\/p>\n

So, according to current thinking, your lady friend may have been born with a stronger likelihood than the \u201caverage\u201d person of developing bipolar disorder and some stressful event in her life could cause the illness to \u201ckick in.\u201d\u00a0 She may or may not have already experienced significantly stressful life events.\u00a0 If she has, she may be someone who has the emotional resiliency to remain stable in the face of heavy stress.\u00a0 It is then possible that she may never develop bipolar disorder, but her chances, due to heredity, do put her in a high risk category.<\/p>\n

So, the evidence does strongly suggest that she is in a high risk category.\u00a0 Might she develop bipolar disorder?\u00a0 Nobody knows for sure.\u00a0 Can she do anything to maintain a sense of stability and avoid development of symptoms?\u00a0 There is much evidence that resilient and active people who lead a healthy life style are at less risk.\u00a0 Exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, avoidance of and\/or development of techniques to handle such stress, spirituality and healthy relationships with others are all important factors in your lady friend maintaining her mental health.<\/p>\n

The worst case scenario is that she does indeed develop symptoms of bipolar disorder.\u00a0 If this occurs, early intervention and treatment are most important.\u00a0 In point of fact, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, often including both medication and psychotherapy, can allow persons with bipolar to lead full and productive lives.\u00a0 John Preston and Julie Fast have written a book entitled: Loving someone with bipolar disorder.\u00a0 Dr Jan Fawcett and his coauthors have written:\u00a0 New Hope for People with Bipolar Disorder.\u00a0 Either or both of these might be most helpful to you in your potential relationship.\u00a0 I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of happiness.<\/p>\n

~Dr. Manuel\u00a0S. Silverman, PhD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I just met a woman in her early 20s who I really like.\u00a0 She seems very together but she told me that her parents and two\u00a0brothers are all diagnosed and\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41,32],"tags":[93,78,52,75,51,79],"class_list":["post-277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bipolar-disorder","category-bipolar-ii-disorder","category-treatment-2","tag-bipolar-disorder","tag-disorders","tag-health","tag-mental-disorder","tag-mental-health","tag-mood"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locustherapy.com\/askthedoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}