John M. (Jack) Hettema, M.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, and serves as attending physician in the VCU Anxiety Disorders Specialty Clinic. His research interests include the genetic epidemiology and molecular genetics of anxiety and depressive disorders.
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Article
What is the genetic relationship between anxiety and depression?†
Article first published online: 15 APR 2008
DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.c.30171
Copyright © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Issue
American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C: Seminars in Medical Genetics
Special Issue: Genetics of Anxiety Disorders
Volume 148C, Issue 2, pages 140–146, 15 May 2008
Additional Information
How to Cite
Hettema, J. M. (2008), What is the genetic relationship between anxiety and depression?. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C: Seminars in Medical Genetics, 148C: 140–146. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.c.30171
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How to cite this article: Hettema JM. 2008. What is the genetic relationship between anxiety and depression? Am J Med Genet Part C Semin Med Genet 148C:140–147.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 22 APR 2008
- Article first published online: 15 APR 2008
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- genetics;
- anxiety disorders;
- major depression
Abstract
Anxiety and depression share a long, close history in psychiatric nosology and treatment. The anxiety disorders, individually and as a group, exhibit remarkably high rates of comorbidity with each other and with major depression. Analyses done in large-scale epidemiologic surveys have identified major patterns of phenomenological overlap between these conditions. Researchers have tested hypotheses of shared genetic etiologies as a potential basis of this relationship. In general, available family studies have found mixed evidence for co-aggregation of anxiety and depressive disorders, while twin studies more definitively indicate that shared genetic risk factors largely account for this comorbidity. Some of this appears to be accounted for by genetic variation in personality traits that broadly predispose to anxiety and depression. Molecular genetic studies of these conditions, though too early to draw firm conclusions, thus far provide tentative support for specific genetic loci that may generally influence susceptibility across the anxiety-depressive spectrum. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.