Question about suicide in pregnancy. *trigger warning*
*TRIGGER WARNING: the topic of suicide* (just putting in it just in case)
I have a question, is it possible for suicidal thoughts and depression pass to another generation?
My mother just confessed me she has been suicidal and depressed before, when she was in her 20's to 30's, only got better when she met my dad.
I am diagnosed with depression, anxiety and a panic disorder. Also IBS that directly is influenciated by mental health. I was rather happy as a kid, and yes many things in life took me to be mentally ill, but is it possible I'm more "mentally weak" due to my mother's mental health too? Could she passed it to me when she was pregnant?
My sister also is mentally ill, just not as much, and from what I know she never went through something very traumatic, which also makes me make this thread.
I haven't heard of depression being passed on in the sense that if you're specifically depressed during the time you are pregnant your child may end up with depression, but there is evidence that suggests that there is some hereditary component to depression and that it can run in families.
@Pleiades20
Yes is that, the heraditary component that I was wondering.
As a kid I was perfectly fine, well at least until 10.
@Booklover95
Yeah, it definitely can run in families. Researchers think it's partly hereditary and partly environmental (which could potentially include being raised by someone with depressive tendencies).
@Booklover95 I think there's a lot of factors at play. For example, being in the same home as someone with a mental illness like depression could influence your own mental health (not that they caused it, but just that it plays into that "nurture" part of our development). Plus, depression and anxiety are just...really common. But it also does appear that depression and anxiety can run in a family, in that you're typically not the only person in your family that has it. It's tough to say which causes what (as the common saying, "correlation doesn't equal causation"). Some think that depressive tendencies/vulnerability can be passed down, which will either be activated or not depending on your environment, your support network, your coping skills, etc. It's hard to say for sure, but in the end I don't think that it's ever anyone's fault, and there's usually not one solid cause for these things that we can say "oh yup that's why".
@TaranWanderer
thank you for the answer. It does make sense