Statistics and depression?
Q.i myself suffer severely from clinical depression. My mother was diagnosed with this three days ago and i'm wondering whether suffering from another form of illness can increase your vulnerability to this one? I ask most of this out of curiosity - i do not feel this is a likely danger for me, but i was wondering quite how these things developed, both individually and genetically
A.I have not done extensive reading on the subject but I do believe it is commonly accepted that there is a genetic link with schizophrenia (sz). There was even a post here a few months ago about researchers closing in on the gene in question in a Canadian research facility. I have also read that having people in your immediate family with this illness increases your chances of developing it. I have read statistics where having a parent with it increased your chances by so much and having both parents with it increases your chances further. I can't remember where I read those stats or I would quote the source for you. I do believe it is possible to be a "carrier" (i.e have the sz gene) and not develop sz. It seems that sz is a complex illness that has many causal factors. Some of these that I have read about are: possible illness of the mother in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy that causes brain development abnormalities, stress, viral infections and illicit drug use. Depending on what causal factors you experience in your life you may have the gene for sz but never develop it. I have not read about any relationships between other mental illnesses (like clinical depression) and sz so I wouldn't worry too much there. Psychotic symptoms (sz symptoms) can go hand-in-hand with mania and depression in schizoaffective disorder (a kind of sz/bipolar combination) but I doubt if that's what you have if you only experience depressive symptoms with no psychosis. I think some simple numbers might help. One % is the common population number. I think 3% for nephews and nieces of someone so diagnosed. About 5% for a child about 25% when both parents have it. But I am not sure being a statistics student I should produce better stats I know. It is something like the above.
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