Bipolar Disorder Statistics – Genetic Link To The Condition

As an illness, Bipolar Disorder or Bipolar Affective Disorder is said to be a psychiatric illness. This is a fact because the brain of victims of this illness is filled with disproportion of neurotransmitters. The cause of this chemical imbalance is still a source of concern to medical experts and researches up to the time of publishing this article.

Environmental changes, hormonal changes, intake of certain medications, insufficient sleep, nervousness, sudden life experiences etc are all common factors that have been identified as triggers or causes of the symptoms which bipolar patients exhibits. In this article, we are going to be looking at the link of genetics as a cause of Bipolar Disorder.

Many illnesses that affect people are said to be hereditary especially when it has been diagnosed that the genes from a sick person can be passed on to other members down the family history line. Bipolar disorder is among many other diseases like diabetes, asthma, cancer etc which cause can be attributed to heredity. There is a high chance of an individual whose relatives suffer from Bipolar Disorder to inherit the disease.

Statistics from the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation shows that between 15% and 30% of the cause of Bipolar Disorder can be attributable or hereditary. The risk of getting Bipolar Disorder is usually high when both parents of a child are victims of this illness. In such instances, the statistics rating will rise up to between 50% and 75%.

This is not to say that Bipolar Disorder is only caused by hereditary. Far from that assumption, bipolar affects people whose family has no history of the disease. It is therefore important that you check on your family history to see if the gene you inherited causes that bipolar disease affecting you is inherited from family members.