Version June 2024
| Key messages to convey in psychiatric genetic counseling |
| Genetic factors work together with environmental factors (or our experiences) to contribute to the development of a mental illness. |
| We cannot control the genes that we pass along to our children. |
| We all have some genetic vulnerability to mental illness,[1] but we vary in how much. |
| Those with higher genetic vulnerability to mental illness can thrive under the right circumstances.[2] |
| Mental illness is not genetically determined. Indeed, there is no single factor that is necessary and sufficient to cause someone to develop a psychiatric disorder. |
| We do not inherit mental illness itself, but we can inherit a vulnerability to mental illness. |
| There are things that we can do to protect mental health: sleep, nutrition, exercise, social support, finding effective ways to manage stress, and avoiding street drugs,[3-6] but there is no such thing as "perfect parenting" and at present, there are no known ways to definitively prevent mental illness. |
| Stress is a subjective experience that (a) is not always negative in valence (eg, a planned and wanted pregnancy can still be stressful) and (b) need not be classifiable as trauma to contribute to mental illness vulnerability. |
| Mental illness is not a moral failing, and it is not anyone's fault. |
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