My kids have 1 grandfather with ADD and the other side has a grandmother with severe, medicated depression and anxiety. How at risk do you think my kids are? My DH and I do not have these conditions.
FYI, You may not have depression now, but you could later.
Almost every person will have some sort of depression at some point in their lives.
The ADD, in my husbands family when we look back at some of the ancestors we wonder if they also had ADD.. Some of them had very interesting jobs, careers and where known for their ability to handle certain jobs that take a multitasker, but also struggled to learn the "Typical way"..
It's not something you can predict. I don't think anyone could give you a real statistical risk assessment but the fact is that because you know your family has at least one member with ADD and at least one with depression and anxiety then your children would be at higher risk than if there weren't any family history.
Rather than worry about it, just keep it in the back of your mind and as their hormones change and their behaviors change, pay attention to which ones are concerning and they don't outgrow. They would be behaviors that permeate their entire lives ie. home, school, social lives, family relationships, etc. If you're not sure but you have a gut feeling then the good news is that your pediatrician can refer you to someone who can perform an evaluation.
Take particular note of this: don't worry until and unless you see behaviors that concern you or someone brings those behaviors to your attention because they're concerned for your child.
In our case, I knew depression and anxiety ran on all sides of our family. What I didn't know was that Fibromyalgia runs on both sides of my family. On my mom's side, there's Bi-Polar (which I recently found out) and different forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. There's also ADD and ADHD. There have always been signs of it, which I didn't really recognize until having a child with Autism, such as Sensory Processing Disorder and some "eccentric" behaviors in my mom and her brothers and a couple of my cousins on that side. Then on my husband's side, there are seizure disorders in a prevalent way. My sweet autist also has seizures. There's mental illness on his side too... I believe one of his first cousins has severe Bi-Polar, Anxiety, and Depression. He may also have Autism. I believe one of my husband's nieces has Autism, and I see strong signs of it in his one year old nephew. I heavily suspect that sweet boy and his older brother both have severe ADHD. Our eldest nephew has some neurological issues that are still being figured out. Not to mention I have depression and anxiety on top of my Fibromyalgia.
So really, had I known all of this prior to having children, I would placed the "risks" at 50/50 or, if I'm honest, 75/25.
Brilliant people, all of them. Absolutely brilliant. I often wonder if they're the next stage of evolution. ;-)
Well, contrary to what others are saying, ADHD often does fall under the larger mental health umbrella. Psychiatrists are the ones who treat it. A more accurate description is a brain disorder, but it can be lumped under the larger mental health label. In fact, ADHD usually has comorbid mental health disorders, like depression, anxiety and OCD.
I would check the website for CHADD, the advocacy group for those dealing with ADHD. It may have the stat you're seeking. I know the odds are extremely high if the parent has ADHD that a child will also get it; grandparents, I'm not sure. It's highly genetic, so the risk is there. However, our son has severe ADHD and we can't find an obvious genetic connection. We think it may even be the comorbid to OCD instead, since my husband has that.
You just never know. I was completely unprepared to have a child with special needs and had one. Knowing ahead of time you're in a risky group can help you prepare. You'll know the warning signs far earlier than we did and not beat yourself up as much as we did in the beginning. Knowledge is power.
ADD isn't a mental health issue. It can be a challenge to learning and organization, but it doesn't cause depression, anxiety, paranoia, psychosis, or other related conditions.
Depression and anxiety can be inherited where caused by hormonal imbalances. However, life experiences can provoke both of these in individuals born with normal hormone levels. If neither you nor your husband have these conditions, you may have inherited a working set of genes. Or maybe your upbringing and life experiences have nurtured mental health. Either way, don't let it color your expectations of and hopes for your children. With therapy and sometimes meds, many people with these 3 conditions go on to lead meaningful lives.
A former coworker lost her mother. She learned two weeks after the funeral that she had been adopted by her father who had committed suicide when she was in college. This was devastating for two reasons: she lost a potential source of answers about her birth father and she had not had children because she feared passing on genes for mental illness that it turned out she never even carried.
Some mental illnesses are inherited and some are learned from childhood of living in the home with certain behaviors.
Such things as Schizophrenia can be inherited. There's a chance many actual physically based mental illnesses can be inherited.
For instance, if a person has a serotonin issue that contributes to them being depressed that's a biological issue. Biology is inherited.
If a person has a lot of death and loss in their life and has depression that is due to having environmental depression then chances are a kid could learn to have a dismal outlook and have a negative outlook.
Such things that are biological can be passed on because we are genetic material.
Mental illness that comes from living life can be passed on by the way we influence those that live with us but it's not genetic in any way.
ADD not a mental condition Who knows what they ca inherit. Certainly something is would not lose sleep over. You have no control over it
I would check my MTHFR mutation status (several different genetic mutations that can affect folate absorption, homocysteine and other issues).
My mother had severe depression, but she was also an alcoholic, which of course can make depression worse, so it's hard to say what came first... the depression or the drink.. That said, I worried for years that I would inherit her depression because for a long time I did suffer from a light case of the blues which I feared that as I got older, it would become worse.. What I eventually realized as I did a lot of self-help is that while some depression can be inherited, what I think we also inherit are the depressed person's coping skills OR lack there of... My mother never coped or communicated well, was very mean and being an addict only made matters worse. I guess my point is, unless it's clinically diagnosed as bipolar or something, I tend to believe that depression doesn't have to happen... that it's the coping skills that can be worked on. again, I am not suggesting there isn't an inherent possibility of depression but honestly before I did self-help and moreover practiced a 12 step (that helped me the most) I NEVER dreamed that I didn't have to walk around feeling blue...or even just slightly.. now, I might feel down here and there but nothing like before whereby I felt bad for days. now, it's seldom and when I do it passes..
so no....... my opinion is that not all depression need be inherited.. external factors and coping play a huge role... deal with those and I think some types of depression can be handled...
best to you
What we're learning is that epigenetics is a determining factor much more than genetics. Epigenetics is an emerging area of scientific research showing that many health problems are due NOT to "bad genes" but to genes that improperly switch on and off within the cell. We all know what happens when cells go completely haywire - cancer cells for example. But there are many smaller "misfires" that go on within the body, causing a whole host of problems including inflammation, autoimmune issues (MS, lupus, RA, fibromyalgia, and many more), allergies and many mental health issues such as depression and ADD. The damage to the epigenome (which is the covering of the genetic material) is influenced by a variety of factors, including foods, lifestyle choices, disease, and the environment. Research is showing that our food growing techniques (including but not limited to GMOs - genetically modified foods), environmental toxins (what we breathe, touch and ingest), and what is added to or stripped away from our foods during processing have a HUGE effect on how our genes function. Every cell has the same genetic material, but the switching on and off of certain genes is what allows cells to diversify (nerve cells do something very different from skin cells, muscle cells from bone cells, etc.) When they switch on and off improperly, the cell doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Over the past generation, the huge increase in things like food allergies, ADD and autism, plus the conditions I listed above, have to do with the spread of this damage.
The good news is that the epigenome can be repaired and influenced. If you do nothing, I'd say your kids are not so likely to "inherit" these problems from grandpa as they are to develop them because of other factors. However, with the discovery some 16 years ago of a natural peptide that is the first superfood proven to influence gene expression, these problems can be prevented and often reversed after they get started. In my work, I've seen tremendous reductions in ADD/ADHD symptoms/behaviors, for example, as well as the virtual elimination of food allergies (which is the body's abnormal reaction to what should be a harmless item). In my personal life, I've virtually eliminated all disease, haven't been sick for 6 years, and no longer require antidepressants.
So, again, doing nothing will not protect your kids, but they are not the helpless victims of their DNA. Lots of people have conditions now that have nothing to do with a family history, and that includes the mental health issues you list.
You can certainly take a few simple steps to supply the necessary nutritional elements to ward off a whole host of problems and give their bodies and minds the tools to do what the body really wants to do - which is to be whole and healthy and fully functioning.
ADD is a mental issue that can lead to depression, anxiety etc because it is a lack of dopamine reuptake, which is why some stimulants (which work on dopamine) also help depression. it really can be random- like, 1 sister has 3 kids. sister has anxiety.. only 1 kid does, 2 have ADD as well.. Out of my sisters, 3 of 11 (me included) have ADD with anxiety, but parents don't. Grandparents don't. but as more relatives start having it, the more occurance. for yours, I'd say low chancs.
