ONE of the risk-factors for schizophrenia
is that someone in the family has
developed the disease. Many other factors
than genetic factors are involved in its
pathogenesis (traumas, infections, social
environment). Having a genetic risk-factor
for schizophrenia, however, does not
necessarily mean that your girlfriend or
her progeny will develop the disease
automatically. Genetically, a fetus must
inherit the “schizophrenic” genes from
its parent(s). This may/may not happen
because a fetus receives only half of the
father’s and half of the mother’s
genes (23 chromosomes each). If
“schizophrenic” genes are not among
the randomly chosen halves, they won’t
be inherited. If “schizophrenic”
genes are among those that form the fetus,
they will be inherited.
It is important to note that sometimes
“schizophrenic” genes are not
inherited at all. Instead, genes can
become mutated from normal genes during
the early stages of embryogenesis.
Persons who carry “schizophrenic”
genes don’t have the illness
automatically, but only a predisposition
to have it. Schizophrenia is not a simple,
inheritable illness where only a presence
of “schizophrenic” genes is enough for
developing the disease. That’s why there
are a lot of patients with schizophrenia
who don’t have any relatives who have
also been diagnosed with the disease...
and a lot of people who don’t develop
schizophrenia although they do have
relatives with schizophrenia.
About your questions; I can’t validate
the statement about “skipping
generations” because I couldn’t find
any reliable data to confirm this.
Statistically, there are less chance that
people over 25 will develop schizophrenia.
Even if you screen her genes and find
“schizophrenic” genes, there are no
guarantees that she or her children
will/won’t develop schizophrenia.
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