Sadly, having a hard-knock life and being abused as a kid is not entirely uncommon. But only some people develop serious depression out of this, while others seem reasonably unscathed. How come? Researchers looked at genetic variations to see how regulation of the stress response could make a difference. If your nurture fails, can nature help you out?
Some adults had a genetic variation that seemed to protect them from developing moderate to severe depression, and it all comes back to stress hormones. Abuse can trigger a sort of tsunami of certain hormones, which makes folks more likely to be truly blue as grownups. However, some people had a variation that protected against the hormone rush, and that appeared to be a saving grace when it came to depression. Ideally this research will lead to individualized treatments for folks, but for now, there's always the hope that where family fails, genes will take over.
