Is Bipolar Mood Disorder Genetic?
If there is a history of bipolar disorder, also know as manic depression, in your family, you are probably curious to know if it is a genetic disorder. The facts are that it is hereditary, and the amount of members in your family that have the disorder normally determine the chances you will have of inheriting bipolar disorder. Having one parent that is diagnosed puts your risks of inheritance at about 5-15 percent. You can also look at it as a 90-99 percent chance that you will not end up with bipolar illness. In rare cases where two parents have the illness, it raises the risks to about 40-60 percent. If you do not know of your parents medical history, but you have a sibling who has been diagnosed, your risks are about 20 percent. The general population that have no report of bipolar in their families genetic history are reported to only have about a 1 percent risk. And this illness does not affect men or women more greatly, as it affects them equally. Most all the sufferers of bipol
