Having at least one parent with major depression increases a child's risk for depression as well as substance abuse and anxiety disorders in late adolescence and early adulthood. What's more, the child's depression is likely to be more severe than the parent's.
The early detection of mental health problems in offspring of depressed parents seems to be crucial, as this would allow the treatment of early manifestation of mental problems before they cause clinical impairment.
The researchers found that those with at least one depressed parent had a roughly threefold greater risk of depression than their peers with non-affected parents.
Further, children of depressed parents had an earlier onset of depressive disorders and more severe depression than children of nonaffected parents. They also reported having more depressive episodes, being more impaired in their social and leisure activities and seeking more treatment for depression than did their peers.
What's more, in addition to a higher rate of depressive disorders, children of depressed parents also had higher rates of substance abuse and dependence disorders and anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, than did their peers with nondepressed parents. Those with one depressed parent were generally at similar risk for the various mental disorders to those with two depressed parents.
Those with at least one depressed parent were reportedly 40% more likely to have a substance abuse disorder and 60% more likely to have an anxiety disorder than individuals with nondepressed parents.
Archives of General Psychiatry April 2002;59:365-374
I am not a strong believer in a genetic basis for depression. I believe that we have more than enough things in our environment that can contribute to it.
It is likely the same factors in parents that cause depression will influence the development of depression in their children.
There are many variables that need to be considered. One of my primary foundations is in biochemistry so I would certainly recommend the basics such as eliminating sugar and optimizing your omega-3 oils.
Dr. Andrew Stoll is a psychiatrist from Harvard and his recent book, The Omega-3 Connection is an outstanding book detailing how fish fats can be enormously useful in treating depression.
Exercise, of course, would be another terrific method to treat depression.
Depression is one of the most devastating and common diseases on the planet. It exacts a toll far more significant in pain and suffering than just about any other disease.
The numbers are quite compelling. Treating depression with drugs is becoming quite common. The number of people treated over the ten-year period increased by over 300%.
By now over 8 million people are using antidepressants.
I used to be one of those drug prescribing doctors and in the late 80s I had put several thousand patients on these drugs.
They seemed to work well for many however; in not one single case did they solve the underlying foundation reason as to why the person was depressed.
Last year I learned how to use EFT to treat depression and it is very rare where I need to use antidepressants for any patient. I believe I can count the number of prescriptions I have written for them on one hand since I started using EFT.
If you are struggling with depression, one of the best things you could do would be to find a qualified EFT practitioner and once you are feeling better start following my eating plan. EFT can also be used for any food addiction problems such as sugar or bread.
Alternatively, you could consider purchasing the videos of a workshop that I recently did on EFT. The videos should provide you with a great foundation for helping those you love quickly, effectively and permanently resolve the misery of depression.
However, for serious depressive disorders you will want to consider seeking consultation with a trained therapist and use the video instruction to enhance the treatment as your homework.
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