Wondering does mental illness run in families?
Once we realised the nature of John’s illness – which was some time before he was actually diagnosed - a big issue for me was finding information about genetics. Being older than John, I already had two small children and I was keen to know whether they were at increased risk of developing mental health problems because of something that I may inadvertently passed on to them. There was very little information available and I didn’t really know where to start looking [this was in the days before Google]. So I went off to the GP. To be fair, he tried to be reassuring despite knowing almost nothing about mental illness risk factors. Then I came upon a Rethink fact sheet called ‘Does mental illness run in families?’ This leaflet provided reliable information in layperson’s terms, which was very helpful. [The fact sheet is currently being updated.] I have met other brothers and sisters who have had this same concern and want information about any heredity factors when, perhaps, deciding whether or not to have children.
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