Delayed Depression Recovery in Adults Abused In Childhood.

New research from University of Toronto suggests remission from depression is slower in adults who were abused as children or had witnessed parental addictions.
Researchers studied a range of factors associated with remission in 1,128 depressed Canadian adults, drawn from the National Population Health Survey. These were followed every other year for twelve years, until remission finally occurred.
Three quarters of the adults were no longer depressed after two years, showing what the report describes as an ability to bounce back.
However for those adults who had witnessed parental addition, recovery time took an extra five months.
For those who had been abused in childhood, recovery time took an extra nine months
The study concludes that early adversaries have far reaching problems. They also say people abused in childhood or are children of parents who had an addiction, were more likely to suffer depression.

link to study:
http://media.utoronto.ca/media-rele...lower-in-adults-who-were-abused-in-childhood/

I would expect some of the depression problem to be genetic in nature. Kids can inherit genetic predisposition for depression from parents.
I guess you've already expected me to blame nature for this problem too.
I'm not negating nurture aspect of this problem. It's just most people think and blame overwhelmingly environment, that's why I'm stressing the other side at every occasion.

They also say people abused in childhood or are children of parents who had an addiction, were more likely to suffer depression

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Interesting. I guess many depressed people will escape into addiction, for this little bit of pleasure in life? I don't think addiction of parents will cause depression in children when being adults. It would point us to the fact that their parents were depressed, therefore more probable that kids would have same predisposition towards it. It's more likely that addiction is a correlation/indication and not causation.

My two cents.

Well for two cents, as you put it, you make good points LeBrok

LeBrok said:

I would expect some of the depression problem to be genetic in nature. Kids can inherit genetic
predisposition for depression from parents..

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I agree some people do indeed seem to be genetically vulnerable to depression. In twin studies, this seems to be evident in a high percentage of cases...but not all. So this leaves room for other factors at work, such as environment, it appears. [ I`m thinking here of Tim Spectors work with identical twins ]

LeBrok said:

Interesting. I guess many depressed people will escape into addiction, for this little bit of pleasure in life? I don't think addiction of parents will cause depression in children when being adults. It would point us to the fact that their parents were depressed, therefore more probable that kids would have same predisposition towards it. It's more likely that addiction is a correlation/indication and not causation..

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The addiction itself may not cause future depression, but the effects suffered because of the parental addiction, may well. For instance, the child could suffer physical or emotional neglect. Childhood abuse or neglect can underpin adult depression. It has been shown this type of childhood experience can sensitize the stress response system, causing heightened response to environmental pressures. Eventually even low level stress can provoke stress hormones on multiple sites, causing the behavioral symptoms of depression.

Yes, some people suffering depression will escape into addiction, but not all.

I think you make a very good point, Hope. People who are suffering from depression and all the other problems that often go with it are frequently not very good at parenting, no matter how good their intentions are, so their children are likely to experience things that would make any person depressed. And if those children already have a genetic predisposition toward depression, they may find it very difficult to escape the black dogs of depression themselves.

Aberdeen said:

And if those children already have a genetic predisposition toward depression, they may find it very difficult to escape the black dogs of depression themselves.

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Yes, those black dogs can often be very hard to outrun, Aberdeen.
And as this study suggests, within that one particular sample group they were working with, they seem to hang around snarling longer for some, over others.