How do you know if you have a genetic mental illness or a man-made one caused by environment in which one grew up in?

Answer 1

First of all does anyone else in your family (think extended family too) possibly have this disease(remember we have rather new diagnostic technology so if your grandparent had it they might not be diagnosed). Also if other family members in your immediately family have the same disease did they live in the same environment as you did(such as the same house,school,etc.) Just because no one else doesnt have it in your family doesnt mean that it isn't genetic, you could be the proband(the first person to present the disease to the doctor in a family). The best way to figure it out is to get a microarray test done to check for the recognized genes for that disease (but they tend to be a couple thousand dollars). Environmental factors are more of either a statistic (we noticed everyone in this neighborhood got sick) or a process of elimanation(well your genes are good so it must be environmental) if you think it was caused by lead specifically you can ask your doctor to give you medication that will bind to the lead and allow it to pass through your system (but again I think that cost about a hundred dollars a bottle, you'd have to ask your doctor). If you live in the city you generally do have higher lead concentrations so if you wanted to do the lead purification it wouldn't hurt you.