Did you know it’s estimated that one in ten people will experience clinical depression at some point in their lives? 

Many things can cause depression. There are environmental factors—like experiencing the death of a loved one—and genetic factors. If you have a relative with depression, you’re five times as likely to get it. 

But does that necessarily mean that depression is 100% hereditary? Let’s look at the research.

Studying Depression Through Genes 

Scientists have been able to isolate a gene that appears in several family lines who have depression. While this suggests that depression can be hereditary, it does not mean that every family member will experience it.

About 40% of people with depression can trace it back to genetics, but environmental factors are assumed to make up the other 60% chance of getting it.

If someone in your immediate family has depression (a parent or sibling), then you may have a two to three-times greater risk of developing it compared to the average person. 

Factors Outside of Genetics That Cause Depression

Simply being related to someone with depression may not spark it in you. However, if you lived with this relative, your chances are more likely. That’s because if they were a parent or a relative you looked up to, while you were aging, you began modeling your behaviors after theirs.

That’s how people learn! Watching your parents is exactly how you learned to do things like holding a fork or using a TV remote, and how you learned to handle conflict, and be in relationship.

If your parent struggled to cook a healthy meal or get up off the couch after work, or didn’t have the energy to be present for you, you probably don’t find it unusual to do something similar.  It has been said that living with a parent who has depression is like breathing in the depression like the air you breathed in your family home. 

If you’re a woman, you have an even higher chance of developing hereditary depression than men.

Serotonin Levels and Depression

High serotonin levels are linked to feeling happier and upbeat. Low levels, however, have been linked to depression-like symptoms like feeling sad and low. Even if you don’t have depression, you’ve definitely felt a drop in serotonin before. 

If you’ve ever drank alcohol or tried drugs, you may have experienced a “come down” that left you feeling blue. Alcohol and drugs are known to cause a peak in serotonin (hence why people enjoy using them) followed by a sudden drop. This gloomy feeling is what people with depression experience daily.

There is certainly a link between feeling sad and having low levels of serotonin, but it’s still unclear which one caused the other.

Did depression cause low serotonin levels, or did the low serotonin levels cause the depression? That’s a question scientists are still working out.

How to Live with Depression in Your Family

Think of the family members you know have depression. Chances are you’ve seen them happy one day, then sullen and depressed another. Depression is a complex condition that has its ebbs and flows, and it can last anywhere from a few months to a lifetime.

It all depends on how you manage your symptoms. (Expect your tools to change over time, just as you and your depression do.)

One popular treatment option is taking Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). This medication keeps serotonin levels high in the brain by preventing the body from reabsorbing them.

You should also attempt to build a healthy life around you. (Even if your parents or other immediate family members failed to model it for you.) 

Practice meditation, get 30-60 minutes of exercise each day, and eat mood-boosting foods like eggs, spinach, salmon, bananas, and chickpeas. Love more, stress less, move more and practice healthy self care. 

To improve your quality of life further, start counseling today. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) works to improve your emotional regulation by acknowledging how it’s affected by your relationships. 

Don’t go through depression alone—I would be happy to work with you to help you overcome depression.  

Click here to learn more about therapy for depression.