Posted by Silly Brain on September 19, 2002, at 15:09:03
In reply to Re: Bipolar and genetics, posted by cybercafe on September 1, 2002, at 22:47:20
Hi Folks,
I'm a student of genetics. Almost all diseases with
a genetic componenet rely on a specific environments
to activate them. This is true for all genetic
traits. For instance, we all are genetically
programmed to learn a language. But for those
awful cases where kids are locked in closets and
such, they do not learn to speak. The brain is ready
to learn to speak, but only in a speech-promoting
environment.Think of this for mental disorders as well. You need
to be in a disorder-promoting environment for the
"disorder" genes to express themselves. We know that
quite a lot of people with the "gene for bipolar"
(I can't remember which one now, but I do think it
is on chromosome 18) DO NOT HAVE bipolar. However,
most people with the disorder, have the gene, so we know it
is involved - but not by itself causitive.Just like there are environments that promote
physical diseases, there are environments that
promote mental ones. Which is why the best treatment
for any mental illness is both therapy (to change
one's lifestyle to a less disease promoting one)
and medication (to fix the resulting neurological
changes resulting from living a disease promoting
lifestyle).Of course, sometimes one's lifestyle isn't one's choice,
especially in the case of children. So in terms of
bipolar being "mother linked" it may be that a mentally
unwell mother is unable to provide a healthy environment
for a growing child, which in turn promotes development
of disorders in the child.Hope this helps,
Silly
poster:Silly Brain
thread:1022
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20020829/msgs/1090.html