That's exactly my point that maybe I didn't get across too well.

I don't think we can divide depressed, or alcoholic, people into a) those who are at fault for having the disorder and b) those who are not.

People with genetic-loading for a disorder (and I accept that they exist) are not necessarily morally superior to those who might have a disorder, despite not being genetically predisposed (and I suspect they, too, exist.)

Certainly, as you describe, there is a moral duty incumbent on anyone with any disorder to try their best to manage it as well as they can. Some people take that duty more, or less, seriously than others.

Type II diabetes is often an outcome of the way a person has lived. Many people who wind up with Type II diabetes need never have gotten that disorder, if they had, over the years, made different choices (about diet and activity level.) I'll bet that's true of a lot of disorders, physical and mental.

I'm okay with the possibility that maybe I have genetic factors making me vulnerable to depression . . . or not. I don't need to believe it's genetic, in order to not hate myself.

I have been at support groups where I've heard individuals say, "I suffer from depression due to a chemical imbalance of my brain." That's getting theories mixed up with facts. I don't know, for sure, why I have this condition, and neither does anyone else.

In my case, there is am unbroken chain of mood disorder stretching from me back to my great-grandfather, who died in a state psychiatric hospital. That could mean there is genetic loading . . . or not. It could also mean that, when a person is too moody to be a very good parent, he or she is apt to create a home atmosphere that produces moody children. I'm equally interested in both possibilities. My suspicion is that both those dynamics come into play.

I don't know what the heck is in my chromosomes, but I do remember vividly how awfully stressful it was to have to tip-toe around my moody father. I think that living with a parent who could go from being the most fun guy in the world on Monday to not talking to anyone on Thursday may well have done little to foster a stable emotional affect in me.

It's all interesting, I think. And, as newgal said, "it makes me feel like somewhat of a victim", however the mental problems got passed along the family tree.