Wednesday, April 27, 2016

If You're Happy and You Know it Thank Your Parents

                       A study published in Nature Genetics talks about research done on the genetic influence for depression, neuroticism, and happiness. We all know the connection of these feelings and mental states with our brain, but this study shows that we may be genetically pre-disposed for them as well. Unfortunately, with everything related to genetics, nothing is clear cut and simple. What we experience and how our genes present themselves are going to be a combination of millions of factors. In the article they talk about how a lot of people find it useless to keep investigating these types of discoveries because of how many "if-then" scenarios there could be. They relate it to Huntington's Disease and how even though we know how it works, we are still no closer to knowing how to treat this devastating disease. So even though they may have been able to identify where we have a genetic pre-disposition, that small fragment may have not been the cause of depression, neuroticism, or happiness. Basically....what's the point?
                    I believe the important part here that some people may miss is that yes we may not be able to control anything(outside and biological factors), but we are understanding little by little what makes us, us. To be able to understand something so complex is a miracle on its own. Hundreds of years ago, they blamed depression on a curse or witchcraft. Today we have a better understanding of these things and can raise awareness to help instead of attack people with metal health issues. Everyday we learn more and can share this knowledge with others.

original source:

http://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3552.epdf?referrer_access_token=p_nZWIN8MKm4WdTdgkI93tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0ORr0VpftrpquMSV6SE5YbtOMgTrxQhCyoILSKEUJcMuPUEOxja6OOd-tzEUsFcDO2qSphqC3DBfA2c9caTFSu3aBr5o9HdHglajAERuN0tMvG5jgKLwkOCWKSfC_Qfv_opOYrL9ByZ1VFjkFERbeM5CXk5cLfpvYGUZHUXFiRT3Pgwdxne4k2_oDK3CctE9vR0_6bZHFCoQCYoQI1ZsGrb&tracking_referrer=arstechnica.com

4 comments:

  1. Wow! It is so interesting to read that depression may be genetically pre-disposed. I personally know people who battled depression and although I have had speculation that it had something to do with genetics due to multiple people in a family battling the disease, I also thought that it may have had something to do with he devastating events that often take place in a depressed person's life. Again like you said there are many different factors that have to get taken into consideration with literally everything, but again interesting read!

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  2. I find it interesting and yet understandable that some people may feel there is no point of studying something if we cannot improve the problem being studied. However, I agree with you that studies help us understand the function and affects of a disease and believe as well that these studies will lead to a cure one day. I mean, science is progressing steadily and look how far we've come.

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  3. I understand people's frustration because patients who have diseases that we can link to genetics but have no cure is frustrating to family members. This is where the question arises "what's the point" because if my family member can't be helped than what is the point.
    However, I do believe research is very helpful and takes us a long way. If it wasn't for the research than we would not have cures for a lot of curable disease.

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  4. It is interesting to hear that research suggests depression may be written in the genes. Like many things, though, it is nature and nurture--not one or the other. I agree that while there is no known cure for a long of things, knowing more about them is a good start at finding those cures. It may take some time, but at least we are started to understand it better.

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