Mental- Genetically transferred?

 

Mental-

Genetically transferred?

Certain knowledge in Psychology had made me distressed or disturbed. Here is a real story: during my pre-degree days, though I was in Humanities group, I had a friend in Science group who was with avid interest in Biology. Once, out of a thrill of finding a new concept, Mentel’s Theory on Genetics, he explained me the idea with the help of a diagram that he drew in my presence, from which I got an appreciation about him and his learning of Science.

He shared Gregor Mendel’s theory (1865) to me as a discovery, how traits were inherited through discrete units called genes, which had been passed from parents to offspring in predictable patterns.  Gregor Mendel, basically a Catholic priest experimented on pea plants, who applied his principles to traits in plants and animals. He could explain how the humans inherit their eye colour, hair colour and even tongue-rolling ability. That means, physiological traits including certain diseases would also be transferred from one generation to other generation/s: e.g. vitiligo (an autoimmune disease where pigment cells are destroyed).

This knowledge that dermatological problems like, vitiligo would be carried over to the offspring, was something disturbing me throughout those days, because I had seen a case of vitiligo affected to one of my neighbours, whose marriage was suspended due to her grandpa’s above said skin disease. Suspending marriages was a nightmare for that family for years!

Somewhat ten years after this event, while learning the analogy of heredity and environment in my Educational Psychology class, our Professor repeated the transfer-possibility of mental diseases and ill-health to the next generation/s from the parents to offspring. What the Psychology Professor was describing to us, with appropriate examples was more shocking and disturbing me throughout several days. Because, those days I would visit along with my father, a distant-relative who was also a district level government official in service, showed uncontrollable behaviour of periodical lunatic. Our concern was that, whether his lunatic nature, mental problem would be genetically transferred to any of the five daughters who were passing through the corridor of girlhood and womanhood. There is some other knowledge from Psychology that distressed and disturbed me more than the above said events.

Thanks.

Dr K. J. James