By Mylika Scatliffe,
AFRO Women’s Health Writer,
mscatliffe@afro.com
Tracing family genealogical roots and examining lineage through DNA testing have become all the rave in recent years. Companies like AncestryDNA and 23 and Me make finding your roots as simple as a mouth swab.
The United States population is a melting pot of citizens, many who identify with multiple cultural backgrounds – Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, Mexican- Americans– just to name a few. Many can trace their family history for centuries. Genealogical research opens doors to confirming lineage, uncovering medical history, validating oft told family stories, even making connections to celebrities.
For African Americans, the task is not so simple.
According to the National Institutes for Health, “scientists recognized long ago that psychiatric disorders tend to run in families, suggesting potential genetic roots, according to the National Institutes for Health. These disorders include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia.”
The Transatlantic Slave trade disrupted the record books for millions of Black Americans, and the myriad of effects are still felt today.
Being able to discover family roots and lineage plants a firmer sense of self when there is a connection to family origins, achievements, hardships, traumas, and aspirations.
“We as medical institutions are getting better about patients’ family health histories and screening for symptoms of anything that might be amiss mentally when they come in for care,”
said Dr. Erica Richards, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
It is common to consider family health history when diagnosing physical conditions like heart disease or cancer but connecting to one’s roots can also be vital for mental health– both for emotional and pragmatic reasons.
“There are lots of studies that show genetic predisposition in some families for mental illness, although not necessarily one-to-one correlations. Just because your mother may have depression doesn’t mean you will, but if there is a genetic link of mental illness in your family, another family member may experience something different like bipolar disorder,” said Richards.
Discovering family roots and history is especially vital now that the stigma surrounding mental illness among Black people is reduced. Candid, open, and accepting conversations surrounding family mental health history can normalize the topic and break down barriers to gathering much needed information.
“Family predisposition to mental illness is important to know because it might affect future generations,” said Richards.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), collecting information about chronic diseases that run in families, including mental disorders, is an important first step.
Keeping records of them and disclosing to family doctors is another imperative step. Sharing a mental health diagnosis, and genetic testing results particularly with younger family members empowers entire families to take charge of the future. Having this information can provide heightened awareness to seek medical help if symptoms present themselves.
This is imperative particularly since Black people experience disparities in seeking and receiving mental health treatment. When patients and practitioners are on alert, they can have the benefit of seeking treatment as soon as possible.
Mental health screening no longer just applies to mental health practitioners. It is becoming more common for pregnant women and new mothers to be screened for postpartum depression, another disorder that often affects members of the same family, according to Richards.
“We know that if you have a relative that experiences postpartum depression, and you’re now expecting a baby, it does increase factors– not 100 percent– it’s not a guarantee you’ll experience it, but we want to know because we do think there is some sort of genetic link in post-partum depression which falls under the umbrella of depressive disorders,” said Richards.
In the future, the ability to find out information about the potential to develop disorders may allow individuals to make choices and decisions about the future and how they wish to live their lives.
“There are now some questions only in science and research stages, where it is often asked that if a gene could be found to identify a condition or disorder, Alzheimer’s disease for example, would you want to know or not know if you have it so you could perhaps change the way you live your life? Or if there were interventions available to change outcomes, would you want to know so you could change something,” continued Richards.
Though she stresses the importance of knowing your family’s mental health background, Richards said she has come across patients who didn’t want to delve into a dark past.
“I’ve seen some patients who don’t know their family background because of issues like adoption, abandonment, or being orphaned and really want to know their history,” she said. “I’ve also seen instances where people feel like knowing their family history would cause too much anxiety.”
There is a higher branch of research that looks at the effects of trauma on generations and whether or not there is a relationship with genetics and if traumas from one generation cause trauma, or post-traumatic stress in future generations, according to Richards.
“If an individual has been exposed to trauma, and is able to know and understand that they have been exposed, they can discuss it with a therapist and determine if it is really affecting them–possibly changing how they might parent a future generation,” she said.
These are the kinds of questions about our roots that can be asked and answered on an individual basis and discussed with a therapist, and that we all eventually may have to individually ask ourselves in an effort to empower and take charge of our mental health, break generational curses, and ensure the mental health of future generations.
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