Does Genetics cause Autism?

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If there is a family member who has Bi Polar Disorder, does that cause Autism in a child? (the cousin has Bi Polar Disorder, the other cousin has Autism.)

Put into simple terms I think the current scientific consensus is that yes autism does have a genetic element, but also has other elements too like epigenetics and environment and conditions in the womb. Basically genes play a part but are not the whole story, and it is very complicated.

Depression is a comorbid with autism spectrum disorders often, but I don't think there is a direct link.

I read an article once that those who have bipolar disorder have a slightly higher chance of having a child with ASD. However, I can't find it again, and cannot verify it's accuracy. Anecdotally, I have bipolar, and I have one son who is ASD and one son who is NT. But like I said, I have not found any known to be reliable definitive studies, so take that with a grain of salt.

Just to add some perspective to the above, everything about having a child involves odds, not absolutes. Some things increase the odds, some things decrease them. You are always rolling the dice when deciding to become a parent; you can't know what you will get; you can only make choices to improve the chances you give that baby. And when it comes to those choices and improving the odds, you will consider everything, from who you decide to become a parent with to what you eat and where you live. And on some items you cast your lot to the wind anyway and see what nature gives you; we love who we love, for example, and really aren't going to make that decision based on how we think their genes will perform.

It's so frustrating that "they" really actually know very little about autism. This is changing though.
I've looked into our family history after my son's diagnosis and after discovering very strong autistic traits in both myself and my husband. My father-in-law is most definitely an undiagnosed aspie. My father suffered from anxiety and depression and later schizophrenia. I've read somewhere that autism and schizophrenia are like two sides of the same coin in some way. I also suspect my young nephew will be diagnosed with an ASD although my sister is very unlike me and I don't see many autistic traits in her or her husband. My brother-in-law's father though, sounds like he has strong traits and like both my father and father-in-law he worked in a STEM field.

I read somewhere that males who work in STEM fields tend to produce autistic children and grandchildren (who also tend towards working in STEM). It's fascinating.

But yeah, genetics is definitely a factor. I don't know about environmental factors and womb conditions. I think maybe different kinds of ASDs are caused by different factors. In my family, it clearly seems genetic. Then there are those families where it seems like the child with ASD popped up out of nowhere- maybe that was due to environmental toxins or infection when the baby was in utero etc.

I don't like to think that something went "wrong" when I was pregnant. To me genetics makes more sense and I'm more comfortable with that. But that's just what I LIKE to think. Who knows? We'll find out for sure someday soon I'm pretty sure.

Problem is, our society is so ableist that it is constantly looking to blame someone for a baby that doesn't meet their criterion for "perfect," and that often winds up being the mother. I remember somebody asking me once if DS was a "good" baby...do people think there are "bad" babies, really? You can see it more clearly when they do the screening for down's syndrome: my doctor practically sighed over my age when recommending amnio. I also remember a friend whose son was a preemie being blamed for delivering early...as though she had control of that. So, IMO, your inclination to brush off something "going wrong" is a good one - since we can generalize from all the other instances where Moms (and Dads) are blamed when they should have been supported.

I'm with DW - it's a gamble no matter what you do; you have to set aside the variables you can't control and focus on the ones you can.

Well, if you can blame people for doing something "wrong" then it is much less likely to ever happen to you, right? I think that is the psychological reason for this line of thinking, at any rate. That is one of the many reasons I tend to bristle a little bit during some of the "What causes it?" discussions, b/c society is too anxious to pin autism on something than accommodate it.

Exactly - and, pertinent to the deleted troll's post, we're seeing this same tendency in the way people respond to mass shootings - if people can blame something - disability, mental state, divorce, job loss, race - then they don't have to face the idea that the only difference between themselves and a mass shooter is that the mass shooter got a gun out and decided to use it.

I do believe there is a genetic element to it, as I have seen it with my son, myself, my uncle, my grandmother, etc?HOWEVER, I also believe that the way kids are raised today (TV, very busy moms mostly working, etc) AND something in the environment is causing our kiddos to be more severe, i.e. losing speech, having more tantrums, more stims, etc. NOT that these would not exist without these outside influences, but not as severe.

PS if you read a bit you will notice that MANY kids diagnosed today have ear infections, allergies, gut problems, etc?these things are without a doubt GENETIC?put some very bad food, chemicals, vaccines, whatever and you have pushed them over the top

For my family yes it's genetic. I have it, my dad has it and his dad probably had it. So far we've been coping OK because the autism came with high intelligence and extremely logical brains. Our second son is the first in the family with autism who doesn't have high IQ. We're a bit stumped about what to do with him.

My brother doesn't have autism, but has severe depression. I'd take autism any day. It's the better "disorder" to have, even thought there are no pills for it.

There is a genetic component in autism to the extent that if there are family members with autism and Asperger Syndrome, then you're more likely to have child with autism. I think that bipolar also has a genetic component, however there is no link between bipolar and autism. They are not related.

I believe there are genetic components to the causes of autism--but I don't believe there's a Mendelian-type connection.

Most autism is probably of idiopathic origin--with some genetic predisposition passed through one or more generations. Some of this "predisposition," I believe, is 'activated" via environmental influences.

I'm the only one in my family--up to third cousins--who has any sort of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The son of the daughter of the sister of my sister-in-law is diagnosed with HFA--not a blood relative.

That's not exactly true: bipolar is a very common co-morbidity, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23842009

One way to think about this comorbidity and correlation is that there is a not insignificant possibility in a family with autism genetics that family members diagnosed with bipolar disorder may also have undiagnosed autism.