My dad has got bi polar disorder, schizo effective disorder, schizophrenia and severe depression. is it hereditary? i've had severe depression too.

Increased risk: Many forms of mental illness share genetic overlap and can be passed down, although there is no one mental illness gene and even people with the same genetic makeup can have very different expressions of disease or be completely normal. Forms of autism, adhd, bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia have similar genetic variations in calcium channels such as cacna1c among other genes.

Just..: The terms you've used is a long way of saying schizoaffective disorder bipolar type. There is a genetic linkage with it , but that does not mean you are definitely going to get it. It means that your risk of getting it is greater then the general public.

You already have it: Since you already had depression, you don't just have a hereditary risk, you are already affected. Therefore, it is advisable that you control the depression as well as possible, and watch carefully for emergence of additional bipolar and psychotic symptoms. If you begin to experience these additional symptoms, let your psychiatrist know immediately so that their impact will be minimized.