‘Depression Gene’ Linked to Response to Stress
Study Shows Gene Plays Role in the Ways People React to Stressful Events
WebMD News Archive
Gene Testing Not Advised continued...
George Tesar, MD, a psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, says this genetic variation “is not a cause of depression, but a factor that increases risk of depression in certain individuals.”
It is not a given that if you have this gene, you will develop depression when you experience a stressful situation, he says.
“This article resurrects [the depression gene,] in a fashion, but it never died,” Tesar says. “People still stand by this as a variable.”
When this gene was first discovered in 2003, people in the field wanted it to be the variable to help guide clinical decision making.
It is not the variable, but a variable, Tesar says.
Rudolf Uher, PhD, a clinical lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, says in a news release that the new study “gives a very clear answer: the 'short' variant of the serotonin transporter does make people more sensitive to the effects of adversity."