Gene variants shield against depression
By Bruce Bower
Not all child-abuse survivors are created equal. A minority possess specific variations in a stress-regulating gene that protect them from developing serious forms of depression as adults, a new study finds.
Adults who were abused as children physically, sexually, or emotionally, but hadn’t inherited the key gene variations, displayed twice as many symptoms of moderate or severe depression as did abuse survivors who carried the protective variations, says Kerry J. Ressler of Emory University in Atlanta.