Can mental illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia be passed on to children?

My fiance and I both of family members who suffer from these ailments, my sister has autism, and her mother has schizophrenia. When we decide to have children of our own, is their a higher chance that they might suffer from these conditions? Also, is my soon to be wife at risk of becoming schizophrenic herself? She is 19 and currently in good mental health.

i know that schizophrenia can be passed from parent to child,but autism is sketchy, no one really knows wheteher it is or not,there is some evidence however that it is possible,but there is also evidence that says it isn't.i hope this helps,and good luck with whatever you decide.

There are studies stating that genetics may play a part in schizophrenia. Others state that both genetics and environmental situations may be contributing factors. Have your wife talk with her doctor. I know of people who have a mental illness and have completely normal children. Remember that schizophrenia usually does not appear until early adulthood.

schizophrenia does pass on through generations. since the disease is on a chromosome that also contains bi-polar disorder, then that means that your children are susceptible to bi-polar, and schizoaffective disorder, which is a mixture of the two. There is not a whole lot known of autism, usually it is caused by external factors, it is not heritable.

It seems to skip every other generation, and appears more often in nieces/nephews than in grandsons/granddaughters. Usually the child of such a person will be careful in selection of a partner, whereas the person who has it will pick whoever. This doesn't mean one of your own kids won't get something else, like bipolar disorder or SAD. Those are on the same strain. The child (your fiance) will very likely NOT have schizophrenia. Your sister's child would likely have schizophrenia. (Sorry to say.) Your children likely will have some form of autism. But you could do a Venn diagram to figure it out, and could consult a geneticist to see for almost sure. I don't know how to explain how I know. But it's not wrong. Oh, and your fiance...would have started to show some kind of signs by now. But...if she were to get it and didn't show signs yet, she'd get it between 19-30 coz that's when women do stuff differently than planned and get stressed. I guess.Keep a good, happy, harmonic household, and keep busy.

Unfortunately neither of those conditions are particularly well understood.It is true that there are believed to be genetic influences in both of them, but there are also many other factors that researchers are looking at. Exactly how much genetic influence is not clear at all, and a genetic history certainly doesn't mean that children will develop them.On the positive side, there is no evidence whatsoever that autism is influenced by vaccinations - something which has become internet folklore and has been disproven by recent large-scale scientific studies. Also early diagnosis of autism is becoming better, and autistic children who get early intervention therapies are showing great improvements.Schizophrenia normally doesn't develop until adulthood. Its cause is pretty much a mystery but research is concentrating on brain development. It certainly seems to have a genetic component, but research suggests that its onset can be signficantly affected by environmental factors like psychological stress. With one known case in your family of each (and on different sides), and yourselves being presumably healthy, it doesn't sound like the genetic risk is very significant for any children you might have. Remember also that these two conditions, while both affecting the brain, are unrelated so the risk is not increased by having one of each in the family.

Autism is NOT a mental illness....do you have any idea how offensive this is?Please google autism to get the facts

I have a son with autism and yes it is a mental illness as well as developmental delay. I believe it is an inherited disorder and it is definitely not caused by immunizations. The overwhelming majority of people with autism are males if immunizations were the cause then male and female would be equally affected.There is a new theory that Autism is really schizophrenia with ADD layered on top. This was from an article in Scientific America magazine. Again this is just a theory. You do not need any Yahoo'ed or Googled answers you need an expert you need a Doctor who is genetic specialist.Here is how you find one:http://www.wikigenetics.org/index.php/How_to_Find_Qualified_Services