Posted on 02/25/2006 8:22:24 AM PST by oxcart
IN a world first, researchers from NSW have discovered the gene responsible for depression.
After 25 years' research, scientists have found that people who carry a particular gene are more likely to suffer depression regardless of their life experiences. The medical breakthrough will have major ramifications for diagnosis and treatment of the disease which affects one in four Australians.
The study, to be published in the prestigious British Journal of Psychiatry this week, shows that people who carry a short serotonin transporter gene are predisposed to depression.
Conversely, those who carry a long version of the serotonin transporter gene would be more resilient to whatever life throws at them.
Around 43per cent of the population is believed to carry the short version of the gene.
The breakthrough comes in the wake of a series of recent high-profile cases of depression, including former WA premier Geoff Gallop, the late rugby league legend Steve Rogers and former state opposition leader John Brogden.
Former Australian Olympic swimmer John Konrads and actor Garry McDonald were also sufferers. It is hoped the findings could be used to pre-warn carriers of their susceptibility and take early preventative treatment.
Mr Konrads described the breakthrough as exciting.
"I think it's wonderful to think that people who might have that doubt could confidentially find if they're conducive to depression or not, that would be fantastic," he said.
The serotonin transporter gene, which is responsible for our uptake of "feel good" serotonin and mood control, has been implicated in depression before - but this is the first and most conclusive evidence of its true role.
I think there are multiple types of depression. There is a "chemical depression" which appears to be long term and is helped by drugs. There is also a "behavioral depression" whose problems appear to be more psychological than physical and drugs only dull them, not help them.
I've had the chemical depression and been aided by the zoloft/paxil type medicines although I stopped them myself many years ago. I do think some of the people who are put on these drugs and then kill themselves or others were people who were not chemically depressed and the drugs only made their mood worse because they did not see themselves getting better even when drugged.
Treating both depressions the same way is like treating Type I and Type II diabetics the same way. There are similarities, yes, but the way to treat them might be totally different.
I say none of this as a doctor or a scientist. I say it only as a patient who went through hospitalization and therapy twice over my depression and observed many others while there. Medicine helped some but seemingly did nothing for others.
There seems to be an unusually high number of FReepers who claim to be depressed in one fashion or another. Are depressed people more attracted to FR or is it just a manifestation of a greater degree of depression in the cyber world?
Irony is depressing. ;)
The nature of clinical depression is that I could want to kill myself in the midst of perfection and paradise.
That's how I could tell there was a problem--things were great by any standard and I would lie awake each morning in a cold sweat shaking in anger and fear.
When things are crappy, and your unhappy, that's normal. When things are great and you feel like snuffing yourself out of some free-floating, nonsensical emotional pain, there is a problem.
At that point, there are two choices: you can get help or you can kill yourself.
I could've taken a pill or a bullet. I chose to take the pill. It doesn't matter at all if people criticize me for that. I'm still here. Heh!
Point taken.
warm regards.
Thanks Mrs VS. I'll check it out.
i'm not a psychiatrist (nor a medical doctor), but you might consider seeing one and trying an anti-depressant.
there are also non-drug therapies (e.g., cognitive therapy) that could possibly help, particularly if used in combination with an anti-depressant.
however, if you see a psychiatrist, just be sure he/she rules out bipolar disorder before you take an anti-depressant, because these meds can trigger manic episodes in (undiagnosed) bipolar people.
What's CBT?
That's an excellent way of describing it.
Perhaps not.
But I also believe absolutely that man and his spirit and intellect allows him, if he wishes, to rise above the anomaly in beasts.
As someone who has suffered depression from childhood, I can only hope it is a breakthrough.
I have gone through the therapy stuff, I tried the pills, neither were all that helpful. As I am now going through the process of menopause, I have found that I am having fewer and fewer bouts with the very deep depressions that I would experience. With me, it appears hormones had a lot to do with my depressions, although I still have depressive episodes, just not as severe.
Thanks for your posts and your pains to make your point. We agree with one another here. Sometimes drugs are prescribed that relieve the symptoms when there are actually other underlying causes. These causes may not be the sufferer's fault, like past trauma, or they may be the sufferer's fault, like a guilty conscience.Stingray: Conservative Christian News and Commentary
you might ask your doctor about possibly changing the dose or augmenting it with something else.
if none of that helps, your doctor might be able to try a different medication.
it's not "all" in the genes, but genes do play an important role in the vulnerability to depression. life events can also play a role.
it doesn't mean we have no power to change our lives, anymore than the role of genes in heart disease or cancer means we should just give up.
real depression is an illness (not just a feeling); joy and laughter are not illnesses.
Hugs, Naji!
Works for some. However, for me it definitely makes things worse, much worse, although SSRIs are highly beneficial. I'd advise caution for any of these and always try to have another person monitor your reaction.
i think you are right. if depression followed the pattern of single-gene inheritance, that fact would be in all the psych textbooks.
also, there are other neurotransmitters besides serotonin that play a role in depression and mood, such as dopamine and norepinephrine.
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