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Nature, nurture and depression: a twin study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Peter McGuffin ,
Randy Katz  and
Joan Rutherford
Peter McGuffin*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff; Department of Psychology, Toronto General Hospital and University of Toronto, Canada; Institute of Psychiatry, London
Randy Katz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff; Department of Psychology, Toronto General Hospital and University of Toronto, Canada; Institute of Psychiatry, London
Joan Rutherford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff; Department of Psychology, Toronto General Hospital and University of Toronto, Canada; Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor Peter McGuffin, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff.
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Synopsis

We studied a series of twins systematically ascertained through 214 probands (84 monozygotic, 130 dizygotic) who had had one or more episodes of hospital-treated major depression. A variety of definitions of depression were applied to the co-twins all of which resulted in (a) markedly higher rates of disorder than are found in the general population, (b) significantly higher monozygotic than dizygotic concordance. The results of applying a simple additive model in which depression is considered as a threshold trait suggested that both genetic factors and shared family environment make substantial and significant contributions to the familiality of depression.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 1991 , pp. 329 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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