Hi. I was wondering if any of you have a history of mental disease in your family. My uncle was a hermit for most of his adult life and commited suicide a few years ago. He was never diagnosed. My mother suspects that my paternal grandmother also commited suicide. My parents were living in the US at the time (that happened about 30 years ago, so at the time I wasn't even in the works) and my father is very secretive about his side of the family, so we are not sure about what happened there.

Now, as I sit in my hospital bed, I wish I had some real medical history to look back on. My father refuses to believe that I have a genetic predisposition for mental illness, and I feel bad for him because I don't wan't him to blame himself. He had a difficult upbringing and came through it with flying colors, and he believes that I have to get "strong" and develop a "driving force". But for me it's very hard to ignore that two immediate members of my family were mentally ill. I know that there is the whole matter of nature vs nuture to take into consideration, and I can't immediately blame everything on genetics. If I do than I might as well throw in the towel (again). That would also negate the thousands who do have a family history of depression and are fine or have gotten through it. My brothers are perfectly functional people who have never had this problem, and they have the same genes as I do.