Depression is one of the most common chronic illnesses found today. Depression isn't necessarily genetic but yes genetic depression does exist. Anybody in your family like your mother, father, siblings, uncle, aunt, etc facing depression automatically increases your chances of having this illness too. But these two statements are completely different!
When depression knocks on your door, it might seem to be incurable, you might feel mentally retatrded, hopeless and go through a sense of worthlessness. Many times the fact that from where these depressive vibes came from, remains hidden. But, as time passes by, with the proper mental health specialist, or a psychologist, you can find out the major reason for depression. Depression occurs due to different factors having unique treatments and ways of handling it.
You will get to know today whether depression is genetic or not and if it's curable. You need to stay connected and read everything to grab the right proficiency about it.
Is Depression Genetic?
The pattern of genetic depression from the family line is still unclear. Witnessing a situation where a close one in your family is going through a tough time having depression can be challenging for you as an individual. One of the most common types of depression is clinical depression or major depressive disorder.
According to the researchers of the Stanford School of Medicine, depression is sure to be experienced by at least 10% of Americans at some time in their entire life. A person having a relative or somebody staying with him in his house having depression can increase the chance of that individual to inherit it 5 times more compared to a person having nobody in the family line who faced depression.
Effect of an unbalanced Serotonin in causing depression
Recently researchers have found a direct connection between depression and serotonin. Scientists said that the level of unbalanced serotonin can lead to depression. Serotonin is the chemical that causes 'good feelings or happy feelings in your body. Multiple theories have shown the linkage between how serotonin indirectly leads to depression. As time passes by, the researchers continue to work on these theories.
Lacking that chemical can prove out to be highly negative for your body and lately lead to depressive episodes. This chemical enables healthy communication between the brain neurons. Having this chemical might also lead to mood disorders, mood swings, stress, obsessive compulsive disorder, feeling of threat, panic attacks, and anxiety.
Unseen Factors leading to depression
Several factors remain unnoticed that end up leading to depression. A toxic family culture where a child has always seen their parents fighting among themselves can be extremely painful leading to depression. A high school study or an education-related pressure of scoring high marks from a family can be extremely disappointing leading to depression. Gender biases can also be another reason for depression. Or we say that based on gender itself women are more likely to develop depression that is by 42% more as compared to the men I.e., by 29%.
Depression gene
As per the scientists, almost 40% of the depression you have is due to genetics where at least one of your close ones has had the depression problem. Another 60% of the depression manifests itself due to environment and unseen factors like studies pressure, breakups, etc. A few years back, a highly experienced team of British researchers isolated a gene that they found to be responsible for creating genetic and hereditary depression. This particular gene seems to be present in multiple family members. There were almost 800 plus families that were found to have the chromosome 3p25-26 and surprisingly all of them were the victims of recurrent depression.
Is genetic depression curable?
Defining a period or stating the curability factor of the genetic depression isn't stated yet in research. Based on the depth of the depression, and traumas you had encountered previously, your doctors can define the curability factor along with the timeline. It is so because, in your family line itself, people who had depression might have taken different time frames to get it cured I.e, some of them might have faced the temporary clinical depression, and some would have fully got well through illness within a period of 6 to 12 months, well others might be still going through it.
For those, who experience depression as a lifelong illness, cognitive behavioral therapy is the best-recommended option to overall improve your life for the betterment. Apart from this the commitment & acceptance therapy and psychodynamic therapy are also used for such kind people to cure depression.
Key Takeaways
Depression of all types is curable today! The only thing to note here is to be aware of your symptoms and consult your mental health specialist as soon as possible before it gets worse. The time frame to get a full cure might vary for all based on their cases. The specialist also reveals that a single gene is not responsible for creating depression. The bundle of genes comes together to form depression. More than 70% of cases when treated on time are curable in the very short term rather than the cases which have gone out of hand.
Be brave, tell your loved one or family member first, and if you feel like nobody is there to help you out, then straight away go for professional mental health treatment. Tell everything you feel and how it started, when it started. Don't hide anything from your counselor. There is nothing to worry about, just get treated on time.
The bottom line is that if somebody in your family line has had or is suffering through this illness, then it isn't an assured reason for you to catch depression. Don't wait for a point where you are no longer able to feel alright or experience a sense of threat from yourself. As soon as you encounter something disrupting your daily routine, something very unusual, step out of your home and seek professional help.
References
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/genetic