Can you inherit schizophrenia from a family member? 

Dr. Ileana Berman, cognitive researcher, discusses how genetic predisposition can impact an individual’s likelihood of developing schizophrenia:

The simple answer to ‘is schizophrenia hereditary?’ is simple: Yes.  Years of confirmed research suggest that yes, you can inherit schizophrenia from a family member.  But it’s not that simple.

In Dr. Ileana Berman’s research, as well as medically reviewed publications from numerous neuroscience researchers, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia typically inherited the gene.  Schizophrenia may run in the individual’s family.  However, there are environmental, biological and behavioral factors that impact the severity or overall experience of the individual’s schizophrenia.

For example, trauma from experiences in childhood, familial disputes or other difficult situations may ‘trigger’ schizophrenia to develop.  This is because of an emotional and mental response to trauma, which initiates the disorder to present.  However, this does not mean that the individual’s schizophrenia gene would have otherwise remained dormant in the brain.