The Master organ: our wrinkly Brain HOW GENES AFFECT DEPRESSION

Author: Jaycie Nguyen

Editors: Emily Chen and Hwi-On Lee

Artist: Carys Chan

Depression is a major depressive disorder that negatively influences a person’s cognitive abilities As a result, every component of the person is negatively affected. This includes but is not limited to their physical body, mental health, and personality. The symptoms are categorized by sadness, hopelessness, and lack of interest in common activities. It is common to believe that depression is heavily dependent on external environments and circumstances, such as childhood experiences and life events (Mind, 2019) However, there are many causes of developing depression that many people are unaware of. For example genetics.

As an article by Harvard Health Publishing suggests, there are multiple ways depression can develop. Stressful life events, faulty mood regulation, and genetic vulnerability all result in a person developing depression (2022)

As with most diseases, genetics increase the risk of acquiring certain diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. However, when it comes to depression, the nature versus nurture debate only heightens.

For context, the nature versus nurture debate is a debate among psychologists estimating the impact and influence that either side has on a person’s biological makeup. Nature refers to innate biological factors such as genetics, while nurture refers to life experiences.

As it turns out, genetics do not play as big of a role in depression as it does with most other diseases. It is true that genetics is a factor in developing depression However, the influence that genetics has on developing depression is still unclear, and there is no single “depression gene” that would cause a person to automatically have depression, even if they had a family history of depression.