Child Abuse: A Major Cause of Major Depression
Child Abuse: A Major Cause of Major Depression
According to a study just published by an international team of researchers, people who have suffered childhood abuse are more likely to be diagnosed with major depression after reaching adulthood, even more likely if they have inherited genes which cause a predisposition to the disorder.
Adult patients who hailed from various regions in Spain – with genetic predispositions to depression – were especially prone to the devastating and confusing after-effects of child abuse, regardless of the type of abuse suffered (psychological, physical or sexual).
Dr. Blanca Gutiérrez, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Granada and the head researcher behind this investigation, says that the results — published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience — are extremely important:
“Our results present a fundamental genetic-environmental model to explain this sort of therapeutic response.”