Revealed: The mental illness you're most likely to have, depending on your job, intriguing analysis finds
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Your choice of career could indicate your risk of a variety of mental conditions, a fascinating study suggests. Scientists examining data from over 400,000 Brits and Americans found a link between genes that raise the risk of disorders like ADHD, autism, depression and schizophrenia and their job.
![[Another finding of the study was that people with certain genetic predispositions were less likely to go into certain industries]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/17/16/94195207-14297027-Workers_under_the_age_of_25_were_more_likely_to_need_time_off_be-a-20_1737132786985.jpg)
They suggested these quirks could push some people down certain career paths. Those working in arts and design were the most likely to have a genetic predisposition to mental illness in general — including anorexia, bipolar disorder disorder, autism, schizophrenia and depression.
People working with computers were more likely to be genetically predisposed to autism, and were less vulnerable to depression and ADHD. Teachers were more likely to have signs of anorexia and ADHD, compared to the 21 other professional categories studied.
People working in social work were more likely to have genetic traits of depression and farmers, fisher and lumberjacks were more likely to have ADHD. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was the condition most often linked to professions with increased odds among cleaners, chefs and waiters, factory workers, builders, police, those working in transport like bus drivers, and hairdressers.
This chart, taken from the study, shows how genetic predispositions for mental health problems were more likely to appear among certain professions. A red to pink shade in a box indicates predispositions were more likely, while cooler blue shades meant it was less likely. Squares with asterisks were deemed by the authors to be statistically significant.
