IS DEPRESSION GENETIC? 
Ask The Doctor Dr. Leland Heller Biological Unhappiness 
IS DEPRESSION GENETIC? 
Question: I was wondering if clinical depression is genetic. My grandmother has depression, my mother has depression, my mom’s brother is manic depressive, and one of his sons is also manic depressive. With all these connections it seems as if there may be a genetic link. My grandmother was raised in a orphanage, and none of her other siblings have depression. My mother was raised when her parents were stressed and pressed for money, but by the time my mom’s brother got there the family was financially stable and less stressed. He runs his family different than his parents, and my mom has been emotionally stable for years. I’m on Celexa, and have been in and out of therapy since I was six. So is it genetic or environmental? Is it something that I will pass onto my children? Thank you for your time. Dr. Heller’s Answer: Genetic factors play a role for many people with depression and bipolar disorder, but its not an absolute risk. Theres a genetic depression that isnt an official diagnosis. These individuals describe being oversensitive to rejection and criticism, difficulty being happy, pessimism, and spending most of their life between not quite depressed and not quite happy. I refer to it as “fractured enjoyment” in “BiologicalUnhappiness“. Its sometimes referred to as “dysthymia”. I subsequently found that this genetic depression was referred to as the “depressed personality” by Dr. Emil Kraepelin in the 1920’s. The cartoon characters Eeyore and Charlie Brown are examples. Prozac (fluoxetine) is remarkably effective for this type of depression, which usually gets profoundly better in 3-7 days. Other antidepressants are rarely as effective as Prozac for this genetic condition. 
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