Who looks alike, assembles? The adage is apparently true for people who suffer from a psychiatric disorder, without necessarily knowing it. It is in any case the observation of a vast study carried out in the world, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Couples often share the same psychiatric disorders, and this is not random.
Do you have a disorder? It is likely that your spouse too
So far, this phenomenon had mainly been studied in the Nordic countries (Sweden and Denmark). This time, the researchers extended their analysis to Asia (Taiwan), with surprisingly coherent results. Scientists were interested in nine pathologies present or not, in 14.8 million people. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit with hyperactivity (ADHD), mental anorexia and disorders linked to the use of substances.
With a must: overall, when one person has one of these disorders, their spouse is much more likely to be diagnosed with the same disease, or with another psychiatric condition. A result that also seems to increase every decade.
“The main teaching is that this trend is verified regardless of the country, culture and generation”adds Chie Chie Fan, study co-author and researcher at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (United States).
Why this resemblance between partners?
To the question of “why such a rapprochement”? Researchers do not designate a unique cause, but several hypotheses, which make sense. And can mingle.
- The people concerned could be attracted by each other because they share an experience of suffering and understand each other better;
- Living in the same environment and undergoing the same constraints could also promote the appearance of similar symptoms over time;
- Finally, social stigma and difficulty finding a partner could lead some people to turn to spouses who knowing comparable issues.
“It is possible that people attract themselves because they understand each other better, but also that common life accentuates their vulnerabilities” Summarizes Chun Chie Fan.
What consequences for children?
But with two parents affected by a disorder, what about descendants? According to the study, children whose two parents suffer from the same psychiatric disorder have twice as much risk of developing this disease compared to those of which only one parent is reached. This risk is particularly high for pathologies with high genetic component, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or addiction.
For Jan Fullerton, psychiatric geneticist at the University of New South Wales (Australia) “Environmental and social factors can also trigger or worsen symptoms in a hitherto unmatched partner.” This can amplify the risk of transmission to the following generations.
Towards a better taking into account the family context
These results should not however scare, prevent you from loving yourself, and do not lead to an immediate change in medical practice. But they strengthen the importance of taking into account the marital and family context in psychiatric monitoring. As William Reay, statistical geneticist at the Menzies Institute (Australia), “We will still need to research this data in discussions on genetic risk with patients”.
In the meantime, this study recalls how the links between couple life, mental health and inheritance are narrow. And deserve to be better understood to prevent risks in future generations.