Insanity: Genetic?

These days very few things, including most kinds of mental illness, are considered to be purely genetic ("nature") or purely environmental (eg, "nurture" or upbringing). Almost everything seems to be caused by a complex interaction between both types of factors. Eg, even something like height, which has a strong genetic component, is affected by nutrition and other environmental influences. Just because your mom or dad has had a mental illness does NOT mean you or your children will!

I don't think the issue was that insanity was genetic, but that it was genetic, and incurable. Until certain drugs were used to treat mental illness, most people who were mentally ill were locked up, for life. In the forties and fifties drugs were introduced to treat the mentally ill, so the impact of this type of story now is not as great. At the time this film was made the daughter faced a hopeless future, she was facing a 50/50 change of ending up like her father, and the moral dilemma of having children at the risk of them becoming mentally ill. For a woman in the 1930’s, the expectation was that she would marry, raise children, etc. However because she just discovered that her father was insane, all of this was lost to her, as well as the man she loved.

Thank you! That was a very informative reply.