Psychotherapy
Myrna Weissman, Ph.D.
How should family members be involved in psychotherapy?
We encourage family involvement and meeting with families, but only with patients'
approval. We have done studies involving martial partners. We found that often
the marital partner was also depressed. For adolescents, we always have the
parent involved in the initial phase and may bring in the parent later.
What research are you conducting on depression
in families?
We are studying three generations of depression in families. We have grandparents,
parents, and children that we have followed for over 15 years. We also have
studied depressed children, now grown up, that we followed into adulthood
to study the likelihood that childhood depression leads to adult depression.
We are currently looking for siblings for our Genetics
of Major Depression Study, the largest study involving at least two siblings
that have major depression. This is a study of depression that starts before
the age of 30, which is considered to be the most severe with the most familialty.
We compare the genetic material of siblings (blood samples) to help us discover
the gene location for major depression.
What results have you found about families from
your studies?
We have confirmed that depression runs in families. It is not inevitable and
you are not doomed if you have depression in your family, but your risk is
increased. If the general population risk for depression is 10%, your risk
may be 30%. Also, depression runs in generations, so grandchildren can develop
depression. Usually the first signs are not depression, but anxiety disorders,
which occur before puberty.
© 2001 Families for Depression Awareness
