King Edward 111 and Whitethorn kid

I have been doing my genology for several years. While the first 10 generations or so were of very very modest beginnings, I have recently found that my line goes back to a King of England, Edward the third, born in the year 1312. Of course going back that far in the records I may have stumbled on some errors and will eventually find I am mistaken. But for now I am having great fun thinking about this possibility.

I also go back to a fellow named Garret Null who was convicted of treason by the Canadian government when he and his companions tried to claim a small bit of Canada for the United States. His companions were hung but he died in Jail. This event took place in the early 1800s.

And then of course there was Mary Johnson and her family who passed depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety and agoraphobia down to the present generation. The other day I received an E-mail from a distant cousin who desended from that family. She described the terrible agony her family endures because of this disease. When I read her E-mail I couldn't help but imagine myself as a tiny baby born unknowingly under the shadow of this inherited malady.

But cheer up folks. Here is a list of a few people who endured this terrible brain disorder while giving their wonderful gifts to the world: Winston Churchill (He called it his Black Dog), Leo Tolstoy (at the height of his success he reported that he couldn't keep a rope in his house for fear of hanging himself), Earnest Hemingway, Peter Tchaikovsky, Edgar Allan Poe, Michelangelo, Herman Melville, George Frideric Handel, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Cole Porter, Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf and many many more.

Researchers have found at least some connection with creativity and mood disorder. A study of children who were adopted at birth found that the level of creativity in the biological parent predicted illness in the children, but there was no corolation to the level of creativity in their adoptive home.

If you want to know if your children are at risk for mood disorder, do a chart of the family history. Look at symptoms of depression if there is no actual professional diagnosis. Symptoms would include mood swings, sleeplessness, irritability, feeling like a failure, loss of appetite, loss of interest in things that used to be interesting.

If you suspect bi polar disorder watch for periods of excessive talking, risk taking, sexual acting out, drug/alcohol use, or excessive anger when crossed. With kids in their late teens you might see psychosis, and paranoid delusions.

Of course you should check with professionals in the field of psychiatry to confirm and treat the person. This blog in no way seeks to take the place of identification and treatment by a mental health professional.

Copyright 2008 Sharon Porter Moxley