Lesson 3 Genetics- Family History

Psychological and genetical interactions

Mental health can be influenced by specific stresses, but not all who are exposed to the same stresses fall ill. This means that whether certain life events are physically or mentally stressful depends on the very specific package:

• biological, above all neurobiological, basic constitution
• genetic susceptibility from the person´s family e.g. the genes that have been passed from the person´s parents

Experts call this the psychobiological pre-disposition and mean by it a psychological and biological readiness for disease.