Is Depression Inherited?
I don't usually do the Sunday morning New York Times thing, but Dinah is away and doesn't have a laptop so she asked one of us to put something up about this for her.
Today on the New York Times, a piece entitled "Is Depression Inherited?"
The story, by Daphne Merkin, is about her lifelong struggle with depression and the role it has played in her life as a mother.
She was first hospitalized when her daughter was six months old and at least twice more after that during her child's adolescence. She talks about the guilt she felt when her daughter once ran into her bedroom and threatened to kill herself with a knife at the age of six. She worries that her child will learn her previous maladaptive ways of coping and end up dealing with a depressive disorder dealt her by a quirk of genetics.
She discusses the heritability of depression---about 40 percent---but qualifies this with the unknown factors of unexpected traumatic events and factors related to resiliency, like having loving and consistent parents.
In the end, genetics are not destiny and just being aware of the risk may be enough to protect the children of depressed parents.
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10 comments:
I would be interested to read a true review of the scientific literature re to what extent depression (or any psychiatric illness) is inheritable and to what extent having the genes results in having the illness. I'm a bit tired of these NYTimes Op-Ed pieces that seem as though they're passed off as fact but are really nothing more than an advertisement for someone's upcoming memoir.
this one scares me, too. i try (now, at least) to model healthy coping skills for my little boy. he's a lot like me personality-wise, though, which might be to his detriment! still, we thank god every day for keeping him safe, healthy, and emotionally well. believing in yourself is half the battle, to me!
Heritable, or bad modeling? I think the adoption studies show some link, but nothing overwhelming. On the other hand, there is enough fragility kicking around my family to make me expect some trouble.
Heritability of the psychotic illnesses is what I find terrifying.
Genetics is not destiny, indeed, Clink. That is the punch-line of this post and of the NYT article. Let us all repeat it, mantra-style.
If something like my early arthritis due to bad genes (how they put it, and other family members have it) can be inherited no matter what you do, so can these other things that they've shown to have a genetic, inheritable component. No matter how good the environment. The environment being good will help, but some stuff is just written in your genes, like it or not.
Perhaps some stuff is only a tendency, if circumstances aren't good, but I've seen too many things inherited, to think that sometimes it is your fate from the time the sperm and egg combined.
That sucks, but for some people, that's how the cookie crumbles.
Likely lots of logical and argumentative fallacies in there but I'm not a debate expert. This is just MHO, and YMMV.
Kid is raised by depressed mother and alcoholic father in an environment of neglect and sometimes "abuse", that to mean what you will. Kid somehow survives, makes a life and goes on to have kids of their own. Grown up kid has periods of being"not so well" yet same grown up kid has, through their own childhood, learned how to take care of other people and their needs. Grown up kid is likely your shrink and if not, is probably the parent upo whom other parents call for a ride to school, a sleepover for their kid when there is a family crisis. Grown up kid may see a shrink, may have demons and may pop tranquilizers (not while driving) but grown up kid can be and is a very good parent, all things considered, and on a relative basis. Grown up kid keeps a list in her back pocket of things never to do and never does it. Grown up kid does not need to write a memoir or even to remind own kids how they have a much better life. Having a better life may help protect against some depressions. I bet a lot of depression in kids today is an outgrowth of hyper perfect parenting.It is okay not to be perfect. Be there most of the time for your kid and he or she will probably surprise you and runt out okay. Silverman and others like her make me sad.Since when was life perfect? Look around and thank all the grown up kids for all that they do.
That is a good question: is depression inherited? I could go on but perhaps it behooves us to ask whether if all depressed persons ceased to reproduce, we would eliminate depression. I rather doubt it.For anyone with any illness, mental or otherwise who imagines their non-biological children will have prefect lives, think again.Life is painful. We do not truly understand why some people get depressed or manic and others get cancer or heart disease.Sure, you could breed a child via sperm and egg donation, after carefully reviewing the health histories of the donors.That fails to account for all the things that can screw up a life. I recall that years ago I was tested for certain genetic defects and sent on for more tests. This was all to rule out two genetic conditions. I delivered a healthy child who stands as good a chance as anyone else of being trapped in a fire or sustaining a terrible injury. This whole business goes far beyond the concerns about being a good enough parent. We want to protect our children from everything and the truth that parents learn after a lifetime is that this is not possible.
Well they are getting close to finding some bio-markers for depression and genetics is making great strides in identifying possible genetics links to depression or at least a predisposition. I posted an interesting article on my website about how environmental stresses can turn on and off certain genes that are responsible for anxiety disorders and I am sure this is similar to depression - the research was conducted by Klaus Hansen and can be found at psychiatristscottsdale dot com under the mental health articles tab. The hyperlink in my name will be to the article I am referencing.
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