An Overview of Bipolar Disorder and How Genetics Can Increase Hereditary Risk

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition characterized by extreme changes in mood and energy levels. Genetics are not the only cause of bipolar disorder, but research shows that its strong genetic component can increase your risk, making the condition one of the most heritable mental health disorders.

Read on to learn more about bipolar disorder and its causes, symptoms, and treatment.

My mom had electric shock for bipolar.

She had a breakdown after my dad almost died when she was in her 50s. She did really well on lithium.

Then it skipped my brother’s and me, but 2 out of 3 of my kids have been diagnosed with it. My son is really struggling.

I have bipolar disorder. Can even tell you when in January of 2000 that it "activated". It has made my life hell too many times. I've lost career possibilities, friends, and even a marriage because of this disease.

A few months ago I finished almost four years of working in the mental health field as a peer support specialist. That's someone who's come a long way from the worst of bipolar disorder and gets to help others live better and more fulfilling lives despite their diagnoses.

It's hard. But you can definitely have a good life, in defiance of your condition.

I'll be praying for you friend :-)

Pretty much everything is genetic... If you do a genealogical record of your family and a DNA test, you can discover a great deal of information... Sadly, it may not be the information that you’re looking for or want to know, but it will give you a better understanding of the health issues that you’ll face. Even so, there are other factors that affect your mental health that won’t appear in your genealogical records.

There is absolutely no evidence in my family going back over 7 generations of mental health issues... That being said, my sister had a schizophrenic episode when she was about 20 years old... Thankfully it only lasted for about a year and it was damn scary. She managed to come out of it without medication or drugs, and oddly enough, she hasn’t had any mental health issues since then.

Why it happened is baffling... She had gone on trip for several months out west to ‘explore’ life and on her return home she wigged out at an airport. Thankfully, relatives were close by and they retrieved her and brought her home... Then the next year was a nightmare of insanity.

What my genealogical research does record in detail is the death of many of my relatives with cancer and disability caused by strokes. If I manage to live long enough, that will likely be the cause of my demise. The good news is that many of my relatives (despite living for the moment and not being exercise fanatics, or living healthy lifestyles) lived pretty long lives... Most of them making it into their 80’s and beyond, including my own parents who passed at 87 and 88.

So that’s the good news.

As a related aside, please consider sleep apnea (which is also hereditary).

Do an online search with key words sleep apnea and bipolar disorder. They are highly correlated.

Correlation does not always mean causation, however one suspects that the continuous local and whole body inflammation from sleep apnea contribute to, if not cause, depression, including bipolar.

Sleep apnea is highly treatable, and without drugs or surgery.

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