Married couples likely to be diagnosed with 'same mental illnesses'...

"A study of nearly 15 million people across Europe and Asia found that individuals with a psychiatric disorder such as depression are more likely to look for someone with similar mental health issues than a spouse without them. The trend, identified by US researchers, appeared to be consistent across cultures and generations-for a range of psychiatric conditions-suggesting that it is a core pillar of human relationships."

"Interestingly, the researchers also noted that children with two parents who suffered from the same mental health condition were more than twice as likely to develop the same disorder in later life, in comparison to those with only one affected parent. This was particularly true of children to parents with schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders-conditions where genetics are thought to play a significant role."

"The sweeping study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, looked at nine different disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD), autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), substance abuse and anorexia nervosa. Professor Chun Chieh Fan from the Laureate Institute for Brain Research and lead author, said: 'The main result is that the pattern holds across countries, across cultures, and of course, generations.'"

Analysis of 14.8 million people born between the 1930s and 1990s across Taiwan, Denmark and Sweden examined nine psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, OCD, substance abuse and anorexia nervosa. Individuals with a psychiatric disorder were more likely to marry partners who also had psychiatric conditions, and often the same disorder, across cultures and generations. Children with two affected parents were more than twice as likely to develop the same disorder compared with those with one affected parent, particularly for schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and substance use disorders. The data were observational, so causality cannot be established.

Read at Mail Online