Have you ever experienced depression? Do you know someone who has? A family member maybe, grandparent, mother, brother, or aunt? In some of the articles I found it says that the most common type of depression is Clinical depression. About 10 percent of Americans will experience this type of depression in their lifetime.
For a long time scientists have been trying to figure out if depression is hereditary and so far they have found a gene that is present in multiple family members with depression. A British research team says this, “The chromosome 3p25-26 was found in more than 800 families with recurrent depression. Scientists believe as much as 40 percent of those with depression can trace it to a genetic link. Environmental and other factors make up the other 60 percent.” They have done research with identical twins because they share the same DNA. Findings conclude that when one identical twin gets depression the other will get the illness three-fourths of the time. But since when one twin gets the illness the other doesn’t always get it tells researchers that other things play a role in someone developing depression. Persons that have grown up with close family members that have the disease are more likely to copy their behavior and be influenced based on some environmental factors. Scientists also think that the chemical serotonin if imbalanced can lead to depression. Studies suggest that it is not just a single gene that contributes to depression but a combination of genes. Research still hasn’t found a strong enough link between a single a gene that applies to everyone. But also just because you have inherited the genes that are linked to developing this illness doesn’t mean that you will definitely get the illness. A child that’s parent has depression is three times more likely to be at risk of developing the illness, and if a grandparents also has depression the child is at an even higher risk of getting the illness.
In conclusion there are many factors that play a role in whether or not someone will get depression. Close family members make that chance of getting the illness go up, but there are no specific genes that have been proven to be a cause of inheriting depression.
Sources: http://www.healthline.com/health/depression/genetic#Outlook5
http://www.allaboutdepression.com/cau_03.html
http://www.webmd.com/depression/features/depression-when-its-all-in-the-family
I find this topic very interesting because I know a couple of people that have depression or that have suffered from it at one point in their lives. I read online that, research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, depression has many possible causes, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. Many chemicals in your body are involved in this feeling or transition from being happy to depressed. However, studies are still incomplete because scientists still haven’t found the direct cause of depression. It’s been said that nerve cell connections, nerve cell growth, and the functioning of nerve circuits have a major impact on depression. I go both ways with the idea that it could somehow be genetic and that it merely has to do with chemicals in your body.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression.htm