Just a note- for the sake of your health, always, always check your family's medical history.

Any history of psychosis at all? For the LOVE OF GOD stay away from marijuana. Cannabis psychosis can be life destroying. (That applies to all hallucinogenics- not a good idea)

If a lot of people have depression, OCD, anorexia nervousa, whatever, you may be fine but do pay attention in case the bad days or worries turn into something worse.

Of course, it's heavily dependent on external factors, but it's important to know your risk besides them. Particularly with more serious conditions, know the age they were diagnosed- late teens/university age is quite common for things to pop up

I posted this because everyone in my close family and at least one person in each generation going back three generations suffers from mental illness.

My cousin on dad's side is 19 and currently in an acute psychiatric ward for her bipolar and following psychosis. My maternal grandmother had same thing., although she coped better.

This means I have about a 1 in 10 chance of becoming psychotic- for my siblings it is even higher, as they also have autism, and people with autism generally have a higher risk of mental illness.

Whilst we all hope my cousin will recover as much as possible and lead a happy, fulfilled life, mental illness is horrible and it's important to know your risks. Mine is bad enough already. It could've been so much better if spotted sooner. Please keep an eye on yourselves and your loved ones. People with mental illness are still people. It's ok to talk. You are not defined by your illness 🖤

All asserted facts and statistics are from GP, sibling's OT, NHS website, my mum (a psychologist) and my dad (a psychiatrist of 30 years and a lead clinician at a hospital)