• Question: Can you be born with mental illnesses

    Asked by 376menb42 to Psychiatry Ward Team, Neel - Psychiatrist, Home Treatment Team, Early Intervention Team, Ed - Mental Health Nurse, Arts Therapy Team, Annabel - Head of HR on 29 Jan 2019. This question was also asked by random :).
    • Photo: Sheffield Psychiatry Ward Team

      Sheffield Psychiatry Ward Team answered on 29 Jan 2019: last edited 29 Jan 2019 3:03 pm

      Emma here 🙂

      Some people are more likely to develop certain mental illnesses if their parents have them, as there is a genetic component.
      Some disorders can be seen very early in life, for example autistic spectrum disorders or learning difficulties, other disorders won’t become apparent until much later, such as dementia.

      The age old ‘nature vs nurture’ is at play in psychiatry as it is usually a mix of genetic predisposition and environmental factors that can cause some people to be unwell.

    • Photo: Arts Therapy Team

      Arts Therapy Team answered on 29 Jan 2019:

      all complicated stuff… and much we don’t … know you can be genetically pre- disposed to some eg psychosis but there are also important factors about stress – it s important for us all to manage that
      some people are very sensitive to cannabis

    • Photo: Home Treatment Team

      Home Treatment Team answered on 30 Jan 2019:

      When i studied my nurse training i was advised that you generally are not born with a mental illness. However the brain is a very unique and complex organ and there are many factors that can contribute to developing mental illness and there may well be some genetics factors linked to it. But also if a child grows up in a family home with parents with mental illness then exposure to this can also impact on the child’s own mental well-being as this can be quite stressful and worrying for the child if they see their parents unwell. In the home treatment team we often do see mental illness can run in families.

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