bipolar family members
Bipolar disorder is a difficult disease to manage and treat. Many who have it may ask "Why me? What caused this?" There are great differences as to the causes of bipolar disorder. They tend to return to the old nature / nurture controversy. In other words, does one thing happens to a person because he or she is, or environmental or she grew up?
The nature side of bipolar disorder causes has always been seen in the stories family. This, however, can be misleading. Families often pass behaviors on from one generation to the next, regardless of whether family members are the natural parents or adopted.
The scientific concept of correlation without causation may account for shared histories of bipolar disorder in siblings biologically related. This concept is easy to understand. For example, a man could state that all summer, every time he got a burn sun eating fish. So the cause of sunburn that man eating fish? No, but the act of fishing both caused the man's skin to burn, and you allowed catch a fish, then ate. Similarly, bipolar disorder can occur in families with nothing in bipolar disorder of a family member who is bipolar disorder causing the other.
Also, for whatever reason, people with bipolar disorder are often attracted to each other. In this case there is unclear whether the families formed come together because of their shared genetically similar predisposition towards bipolar disorder, or if some family members are genetically more prone to bipolar disorder but the illness of family members is exaggerated more than in another environment.
Research into the genetic causes Bipolar disorder is often done through studies of twins. It is assumed that twins will have environments that are as close as possible. Identical twins are used to show the effects of genetics, and will share the same genetic material. Fraternal twins are used as controls. While these twins share the environments nearly identical twins, the twins have less genetic material in common.
It has been shown through these twin studies, and other studies in identical twins are compared to adopted siblings, that does not seem to be a genetic basis for bipolar disorder. Only one percent of the population has disorder bipolar. Fraternal twins, who share certain genetic information, are 20 percent more likely to have the disease if one has it. The percentage of identical twins is even higher, around 60 to 80 percent chance of one having it if the other does not.
Environmental causes of bipolar disorder are more difficult to assess. Bipolar disorder has been shown to have a basis in brain chemistry, but chemical reactions can be caused by any number of factors. A history losses early in life may be a contributing factor, like any other significant source of stress. Physical illnesses such as cancer and others can lead to a depressive state, which is then often followed by mania.
Neither genetics nor environment can explain the causes of bipolar disorder. Research Is constantly being undertaken in both areas. Meanwhile, the nature / nurture controversy is just beginning to heat up.
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What are the Causes of Bipolar Disorder?
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