Most of the great aunts on my paternal grandmother's side had "stuff", untreated. Paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, periods of depressions and severe reclusion. One was institutionalized with supposed schizophrenia. I don't think the diagnostic criteria is like what we have now but it all sounds like Bipolar to me.

My mother suffers from bipolar and my cousin does as well.

Both sides of my family self medicate and the couple cousins that went to hospital are kept well hidden. I gather from my own experiences that my father has it. my family has a host of other 'stuff' anxiety and what not, but no one is diagnosed with anything worse than anxiety and S.A.D.

my mom , and several other people on her side of the family

Honestly, I am not sure anyone in my family has it. In part because no one talks about it. I have four siblings and they seem to be fine. I know that depression is something that many people in my family struggle with. However, they have never really had to seek medical help. Unlike me, I have been in an out of hospitals and it is hard to go home and be around them when I feel like an alien due to my bipolar.

my mother has bp, her sister, mother and sisters mother were schizophrenic. i was doomed to start with. i have bp, major depressive disorder with SA disorder.

No one officially diagnosed except me but I suspect my father has it and self medicates with alcohol. Two of my great uncles were reported as having depression and both commited suicide and my great grandfather commited suicide.

Yeah i have cousins with schizophrenia, both my parents and siblings have had problems with depression too, although i sometimes wonder if my mum has Something like bipolar or borderline personality disorder.

I've been told by my pdoc it can go 2 ways... sexual and physcial abuse or anything that fucks u up mentally in the head when your still growing..or genetics. nobody is diagnosed with anything in my family accept my mum with anxiety..
i seem to think my dad has it.. he has some of the symptoms..
but with my mums dad something was definatly up with him.. he never got diagnosed with anything because the way it was back than..is u just get locked up.. but he went into a mental wards a lot apparently..so i don't know how i got mine.

Although my siblings all suffer from various addictions, I am the first to be diagnosed. My son has been diagnosed Bipolar, his son (at 9) is beginning to show symptoms already and I suspect that my youngest granddaughter will be diagnosed as well--though I haven't told her mother that!! LOL

Several of my cousins were diagnosed with BP, 3 other cousins committed suicide and my grandmother suffered from major depression so I also feel as if I was doomed from the beginning.

I have bipolar and my mother had it. They say it is passed over to children at a rate of about 25%.

I was diagnosed in 1996 and one of my sisters was just recently diagnosed but I have to say it really came as no surprise to me.