Genetics or environment or both? What causes Bipolar Disorder?

I have always wondered about this. For me, my father was what they used to call "manic depressive" so the genetic link was strong. BUT I had a traumatic childhood with abuse. I believe I would have had bipolar regardless but I think the trauma actually altered my brain due to how young I was and made the bipolar worse or...more prevalent.

Yet I know people with strong genetic predispositions for Bipolar and they have had a perfectly fine childhood and grow up not exhibiting any symptoms of any mental illness.
I know people who have had normal childhoods end up with Bipolar disorder and its almost out of left field.

I also know people who have no mental illness in their genetics at all but they have had a traumatic childhood and they also have Bipolar disorder.

So I wonder how much environment plays into mental illness and how much genetics play into it.

If I had a normal happy childhood would I still be Bpolar?

What do you all think?

There is definitely a significant genetic component, that much is clear. I believe the scientific consensus at the moment is that the genetic component is much larger than the environmental component. I believe bipolar is a physical illness that you can't "cure" through talk therapy the way you can work through and heal from childhood issues.

The way I see it is you have a genetic predisposition towards being bipolar, and it may or may not manifest itself. This is true of many genes; the extent to which they express themselves is based on a myriad of factors. If you're unlucky, the bipolar tendencies may manifest even if you've had a perfectly fine childhood. But I believe a bad childhood increases the chance that it will manifest.

I've often wondered as well whether I would have been this messed up if my childhood had been less ******. At the very least I might have been better able to cope if I had grown up in a secure and loving environment. I've noticed when I'm depressed it amplifies all the other issues and they make it that much worse. Even though I try my best in life and often succeed, it still makes me sad to think about the "lost potential." I wonder how much more I could have done and how I might have made different choices had I had more self-esteem.

I'm going to say what I think; maybe I'm wrong. Genetics account for 80% (say); but environment, sadly, accounts for the remaining 20%. A healthy environment could have made your proneness more manageable.

I feel like it is something that can be unlocked in anyone under the right circumstances. I think of it like a series of doorways that end in disorder.

I feel like people who are genetically predisposed have some doorways that are already unlocked and they simply need a few life circumstances to force them through. For those without the genetic component, the doorways are locked and experiences like abuse and other forms of trauma unlock the doors.

I agree that it is both. I do think genetic predisposition is a particularly strong factor.

My family has many members with some form of mood disorder, including bipolar disorder/manic depression. Most seemed to have their first major episodes triggered by a major stressor. I did, as well, but it wasn't anything my parents really did.

I think bipolar is mostly genetic. I thought it was environmental giving my past and my husband's past but we tried really hard to change the environment for my son and he still has mi. I can't say he's better or worse then we are. I know he had early intervention but I don't think that mattered. Hopefully it has but only time will tell.

My mother grandfather great-grandfather all had it. Genetics is a big part. But i think of it like diabetes. You can have a heavy genetic component and do everything right but still end up diabetic. Or you could have a small genetic disposition but do everything wrong and end up diabetic. Stress (trauma) Anxiety and sleep is what need to be managed well early on. I think about that for my kids as they grow up.

I believe that BD is a brain disorder or perhaps just a different way for the brain to function. So I'd say that the genetic component is high. But a stressful childhood environment usually does reveal our proclivities.

Qué Sera Sera
Whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, Qué Sera Sera...

Hi have a BPD DX due to childhood abuse and an emotionally absent mother. That I get...

BP came out of left field.
2 parents 6 kids, a relatively normal extended family, and I hit the MH jackpot.

Qué Sera Sera

My father's DNA is strong because he received the original "manic depressive" diagnosis. So, I got it and one of my brother's got it. My sister has Depression. I'm sure of it.

Also, I grew up with a father that didn't take his diagnosis seriously and caused a lot of dysfunction/abuse in the house. So, I'd say most of my diagnosis is genetic and my environment played a part too, but maybe lesser.

I'm sure my mom has bpd but can't prove it. I grew up in an alcoholic household. The trauma of that is still with me. But then I got divorced at age 31 and moved myself and my kids into my mom and her husband's place . They used to be cruel to me. Yelling and screaming and swearing. Calling me a "bipolar b**ch". So many of my hospitalizations started because I felt at the end of sanity. I try hard not to be like my parents. I think its genetic too. I'm in a study at a major university about bipolar.. Its been going on for over 10 years. I'm not sure what they've found. But it does make me wonder if they're going to have me come in this year. They pay for the surveys and the 2 hour in person meeting around this time of year. I should call them tomorrow and find out. I think its both genetic and environment. Plus, I had an alcoholic dad and have the symptoms from that- like having to guess what behavior is normal.

You guys are great! This is fascinating. As an aside, I wonder how many of us had alcoholic parents. I wonder if those parents were alcoholic when we were in utero?

As for my mom being an alcoholic, she wasn't, although she did smoke while pregnant. My dad, he did drink a bit more than may have been good for him, but all in all he wasn't too bad. I now recognize he was depressed and irritable a lot of the time (the BD comes from his side of the family). He got very angry very often, and sometimes even violent, but in the end I don't really blame him because nothing of what he did was "personal," and I now know first hand how hard it is to keep all those emotions in check. He recognizes his mistakes and owns them and he is a stand up guy. I think the most damage was done by my mom. She has borderline but doesn't recognize it. She was extremely manipulative and full of hate towards me. That was much worse to me than the occasional angry outburst. It really undermines your entire sense of self in ways you may not even notice for a long time. She won't admit that she did anything wrong at all.

That's a great question! In fact, I just posted on the ACOA- Adult Children Of Alcoholics- board here at PC. How much do things like having an alcoholic parent play into bipolar- especially delayed bipolar? It was my dad who was the alcoholic, so I don't know how that affected my mom when she was pregnant with me, but I do know I was 9 weeks early and my dad was in the Air Force. I've always been the way I am- that's just who I am, you know? But as far as bipolar symptoms, those showed up in my teenage years but nobody knew it. I was taken to a psychiatrist at 16 but he just said I was a "normal teenager". When I look back, the threads of my personality all weave together nicely throughout the years. Where the bipolar weaves into that is hard to tell, but there are definitely two entities separated- one is me and one is the bipolar me, woven very tightly as one.

I wouldn't call my father an alcoholic. He drank, but not at the point where he would be called an alcoholic. However, unfortunately, he was a drug addict. A functioning one at that.

Same here, first major episodes in my teens. Was also forced to a psychiatrist when I was 17, who concluded that I was a "normal teenager." Then again, they had my mom in there with me the whole time, so it wasn't like I could answer honestly to any questions. Go figure. If they had just let me be in there alone I might have been diagnosed way sooner and it could have saved me a lot of misery. According to the very insightful teachers at school I was just a lazy problem child.

Neither of my siblings nor I believe our father was an alcoholic until much later in his life. When exactly that started, we are not sure. His drinking didn't seem problematic until his early 70s. Yes, 70s. But my sister said our late mother commented about his drinking soon before her death (making our father 62 at that time). He definitely has a mood disorder. We believe it's definitely bipolar disorder, which our paternal grandmother had. Recently, he has even started receiving treatment with bipolar medications, while he previously was only prescribed antidepressants and Buspar. He would never accept a bipolar diagnosis, because he hates its stigma. Depression and anxiety are OK, in his book.

Frankly, unlike my siblings, I think his "alcoholism" was self medication (out of control) of bipolar disorder. Of course his severe drinking was dangerous and problematic, but his psych issues are much worse and have been painfully clear almost his entire life. His psych issues are what have affected my siblings and my relationships with him. The heavy drinking was just part of the high crescendo of it all.

My siblings' and my relationships with our father were never strong. More superficial. His "Me, me, me" self-focused attitude in life was responsible for that. And it persists even despite him being "dry". He is hiding away in an assisted living facility for no good reason, avoiding. Avoiding and hiding. When we've encouraged him to return home, he threatens that if he does he will drink. He's become an elderly man-child, who never ever plans to do any work at recovery. I will be moving to Europe in the near future. It's hard to say how many more times I will even see him. I have little desire to. Even when I do, the interactions are brief and superficial, at best. Zero meaningful conversations. He is mostly disinterested in me or either of my siblings. Sad!

During my long period of multiple psych hospitalizations, my husband would call my dad to tell him I was hospitalized. The response was always the same. "Tell her to call me when she gets out and feels better." When my nephew lost his life to bipolar depression, my father acted like the main victim, even though he gave my nephew little attention during his life. And of course my father was the main victim when my mother died of cancer. Poor dude! Poor, poor, Dude!

So yes, my father's psych problems have affected my siblings and me. It's obviously not all due to his clear bipolar disorder. There are personality traits at work, as well. Not all people with bipolar disorder are self-centered. Probably most aren't.

It might be a combo of both--perhaps a predisposition, then brought about by life circumstances.

Neither of my parents was an alcoholic although they were both dysfunctional they tried their best and were products of there time. The silent generation. My father saw a lot in WW II and it made him a better man. I think humans are fortunate to be born “typical “ at all the great number of things that can go wrong genetically is enormous. I think some are born with a weaker lining and life events can trigger problems. I blame the measles. It was traumatic and left me deaf after I learned to speak but before I was of an age to articulate the loss of sound. It was my grandmother who noticed I could no longer hear. I was mainstreamed but without any special service except that I sit in the first row and have a speech therapist I was very isolated by this. Back then the expert advice was no sign language, forced speech. This was the alternative being sent away to boarding school. I believe both the devastation of the decease and the isolation from not hearing the little things that socialize us is part of my bipolar. Of course I have an aunt, cousins and a nephew that have bipolar too so there is that genetic component there,

My parents were staunch Christians growing up,never seen either with more than a celebratory glass of wine, so this too excludes me

I'm honestly starting to wonder about myself.

How did I just come out of nowhere?

Must be a brain wiring type of thing where I am concerned.

Neither of my parents were big drinkers and my mom abstained while pregnant.

I find it fascinating that folks w zero genetic basis for bp or sza but w plus-plus trauma history may develop profound anxiety and or psychosis on that basis alone. What we have is clearly different and I, myself, do not buy that environment slash nurture alone is sufficient for emergence of bp or sza. Otherwise, prevalence would be way higher than 2ish percent or so...

Well... I said she didn't drink, but she was definitely like me. We share the same breed of psychosis. The genetic component is a definite in my case.

I think it's some combination of genetics, environment, and issues surrounding social supports. And I don't believe you have to have all 3 of these to have the disorder.

I don't believe that it is as a result of childhood abuse. If that were the case, the incidence of the disorder would be much much higher. And it would, in effect, become some form of PTSD, which I don't believe it is.

At the end of the day, as BPcyclist said, the incidence of BP is at about 2%. That's very low.

Of course. I was just pointing out that environment-trauma can trigger facets of bipolar illness, but without the genetic component, not the full syndromes of bp or sz illness in my experience. I just find it fascinating that epigenetics is likely more critical than mendelian stuff for us. And trauma, bad stuff, can influence epigenetics. Wacky. Very complex.

I have: mgm w bp, dad w mdd, nephew w mdd, two 1st cousins w addiction, mom w addiction.