A person’s mental health is an essential part of who they are. It dictates how they respond to their surroundings and with the people they meet throughout their lives. However, there can be situations where a person will have certain disorders that can severely affect their mental outlook on life. The worst part is that a person can inherit these disorders from their ancestors.
How Does Genetics Affect a Person’s Mental Health?
The genes you get from your parents are what you have for the rest of your life. These genes will dictate a number of things like the color of your hair, your appearance, and even your temperament. Your genes will also influence your mental health moving forward. The worst part is that they are much easier to inherit .
When compared to other inheritable diseases like Parkinson’s disease and even cancer the chance to inherit them is very high. The chance of inheriting disorders like depression, autism, and schizophrenia are around 80% much higher compared to those that we previously mentioned.
However, some of these genes will need a “trigger” of sorts in order to affect you. This is where both genetics and the environment start working together.
Specific Genes Can Increase Risk of Developing Mental Health Problems
Not every gene will be responsible for affecting an individual’s mental health. There will be certain genes like CACNA1C will increase the risk for a person to develop these types of issues issues. CACNA1C is more commonly known to increase the risk of a person to develop schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Depression can also be hereditary as a parent who has depression has a three times the chance of having a child with the same disorder.
Nature and Nurture Come Hand In Hand
One thing you should always remember is that mental health disorders aren’t always fully caused by the genes you have. Sometimes it takes a certain type of environment to trigger the genes that can cause mental health problems. Nature and nurture as it is called is something that many people will be aware of when it comes to their personality. Depending on how they were raised and the environment they were exposed to, they may or may not develop certain disorders.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes mental health problems can be difficult to escape from. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t cope with the issues you’re experiencing. A great way to make sure that a one of these problems don’t severely affect your life is to make sure you get help as soon as possible.
CNS Center Arizona provides the best professional service to make sure that you have a means to take back control of your life from these mental health problems. Contact us today to get started!
