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Environmental Triggers
Gene/Environment Interaction
Virtually all human traits, including common, complex diseases such as bipolar disorder, result from interactions between genes and the environment. Genes and their products do not act in a vacuum. There is no gene expression independent of an environment, which includes carcinogens, teratogens, medications, infectious agents, the amount of exercise, or components of an individual's diet. (For example, SSRIs have been known to trigger manic episodes in persons with bipolar disorder.)
Factors in the Development of Bipolar Disorder
The development of bipolar disorder depends, in part, on the amount and type of environmental triggers a person experiences over time. A wide range of factors, including biological, environmental, psychological, and social, have been implicated. Support for all suspected factors is inconsistent and incomplete. Examples of likely environmental triggers for the onset of bipolar disorder include,
- prenatal and perinatal complications,
- stress, and
- substance abuse.
Bipolar Onset and the Home Environment
Research has indicated that the home environment shared by siblings is much less important to the onset of bipolar than are each sibling's unique genes and individual experiences.
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