Mental Disorders That Run in Families: Inheritance or Education

  In the genealogical tree of many families, there are recurring mental disorders. In some cases, they’re the same conditions, and in others they’re different. This poses the question of whether these occurrences are coincidental. Do sufferers share specific genetics? Or is it the family environment and educational patterns that lie behind the mental disorders that run in families? This is a question that’s interested scientists for decades and on which significant research has been conducted. Currently, the findings point in the same direction: it’s a combination of heredity and education that gives rise to the appearance of mental disorders….