(photo from online, women in pic are not bipolar)
“When I say twins you probably think of matching clothes.”
1.9% of the world’s population is comprised of twins. In America for every 1000 live births, approximately 32 are twins.
“I have countless people come up to me with a dreamy look in their eyes saying, “I wish I had a twin—I would love to have someone my own age to play with.” ”
Monozygotic twins are identical twins, meaning after conception one fertilized egg split. Dizygotic twins are made when two separate eggs are fertilized at the same time, therefore creating fraternal twins. Fifty percent of fraternal twins are of the boy/ girl combination. Next in birth popularity are boy/boy fraternal, girl/girl fraternal, girl/girl identical, and the least common twin combo is boy/boy identical.
Multiple births are rare the world over, but they’re presence provides medical researchers excellent opportunities for genetic comparisons. Twin studies are used to determine how much of certain traits are genetic or environmentally related. (The never ending nature versus nurture) They are compared for various medical and psychological characteristics as well.
Bipolar disorder is a mood disease that runs in the family. It’s a proven hereditary disease. Within first degree relatives, such as parents and siblings, the risks are relatively high regarding development. If both parents have a mood disorder, their children almost all the time will as well. If one parent does, then typically a quarter of the time their children do too. Previous research has indicated in identical twins pairings if one has it, the other has a 70% chance of developing it later in life. And fraternal twins have 23% odds. (The real life incident rates have statics of 40% of identical twins both developing and less than 10% from fraternal cases) Since research has failed to locate a single gene as the disorders’ cause, it’s assumed that multiple genes are involved, and therefore the reason why all both twin counterparts aren’t always affected.
And this lovely un-located cause gene is still without a cure. In case you forgot… (read further to learn what twin studies have revealed about this disorder)
Filed under: bi-polar, Eliza Barnett, bipolar, bipolar twins, fratneral twins, identica twins, twins, twins with mental illness
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