Offspring of Depressed Parents

Weissman, Myrna M.; Warner, Virginia; Wickramaratne, Priya; Moreau, Donna; Olfson, Mark

doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1997.01830220054009

Cited by 547 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

158

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Two lines of research support this perspective: family-based͞longitudinal studies and neurobiological studies. Family-based and longitudinal studies implicate developmental perturbations in a range of conditions, including behavior disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders, and psychoses (1)(2)(3). However, virtually all research on developmental neurobiology focuses on schizophrenia, where data implicate a neural circuit connecting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, striatum, and hippocampus (4,5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Limbic hyperactivation during processing of neutral facial expressions in children with bipolar disorder

Rich

Vinton

Roberson‐Nay

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

280

303

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reflecting a paradigm shift in clinical neuroscience, many chronic psychiatric illnesses are now hypothesized to result from perturbed neural development. However, most work in this area focuses on schizophrenia. Here, we extend this paradigm to pediatric bipolar disorder (BD), thus demonstrating traction in the developmental psychobiology perspective. To study amygdala dysfunction, we examined neural mechanisms mediating face processing in 22 youths (mean age 14.21 ؎ 3.11 yr) with BD and 21 controls of comparable age, gender, and IQ. Event-related functional MRI compared neural activation when attention was directed to emotional aspects of faces (hostility, subjects' fearfulness) vs. nonemotional aspects (nose width). Compared with controls, patients perceived greater hostility in neutral faces and reported more fear when viewing them. Also, compared with controls, patients had greater activation in the left amygdala, accumbens, putamen, and ventral prefrontal cortex when rating face hostility, and greater activation in the left amygdala and bilateral accumbens when rating their fear of the face. There were no between-group behavioral or neural differences in the nonemotional conditions. Results implicate deficient emotion-attention interactions in the pathophysiology of BD in youth and suggest that developmental psychobiology approaches to chronic mental illness have broad applicability.amygdala ͉ faces ͉ functional MRI R ecently, psychology and psychiatry have witnessed a major paradigm shift: virtually all chronic adult mental illnesses are now thought to result from long-term perturbations in neural development. Two lines of research support this perspective: family-based͞longitudinal studies and neurobiological studies. Family-based and longitudinal studies implicate developmental perturbations in a range of conditions, including behavior disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders, and psychoses (1-3). However, virtually all research on developmental neurobiology focuses on schizophrenia, where data implicate a neural circuit connecting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, striatum, and hippocampus (4, 5). Neurocognitive correlates of schizophrenia, such as deficient working memory, are thought to result from dysfunction in this circuit (6). An important next step is the extension of the developmental neurobiological approach to other mental illnesses and other neural systems associated with information processing and emotion regulation.For several reasons, bipolar disorder (BD) is an ideal illness in which to expand the emerging developmental paradigm by conducting neurobiologically oriented developmental research. BD causes marked disruption in social, academic, and family function. Major questions persist concerning the boundaries of the condition in children; neurobiological data might ultimately resolve them. Most importantly, research in adult patients and animals implicates a circuit encompassing the amygdala, striatum, and ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) in the pathophysiology of BD (7). This circu...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Limbic hyperactivation during processing of neutral facial expressions in children with bipolar disorder

Rich

Vinton

Roberson‐Nay

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

280

303

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…More specifically, the study was designed to contrast the psychological adjustment of adolescents who had parents with no history of psychopathology to those who had parents with alcohol dependence only and to those who had parents with alcohol dependence and a comorbid psychiatric disorder(s). Adolescents whose parents were depressed only were included as a separate psychiatric comparison group in this study because similar to COAs, children of depressed parents (CODs) have been found to be at an increased risk for the development of psychological problems (Chassin et al, 1991;Downey & Coyne, 1990;Fergusson & Lynskey, 1993;Johnson & Jacob, 1995;Weissman, Warner, Wickramaratne, & Olfson, 1997;Wickramaratne & Weissman, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Parental Alcoholism and Adolescent Psychopathology: A Systematic Examination of Parental Comorbid Psychopathology

Ohannessian

Hesselbrock

Kramer

et al. 2004

J Abnorm Child Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between parental alcohol dependence (with and without comorbid psychopathology) and adolescent psychopathology was examined in a sample of 665 13-17 year-old adolescents and their parents. Results indicated that adolescents who had parents diagnosed with alcohol dependence only did not significantly differ from adolescents who had parents with no psychopathology in regard to any of the measures of psychological symptomatology (substance use, conduct disorder, and depression) or clinical diagnoses (alcohol dependence, marijuana dependence, conduct disorder, or depression) assessed. In contrast, adolescents who had parents diagnosed with alcohol dependence and either comorbid drug dependence or depression were more likely to exhibit higher levels of psychological symptomatology. In addition, adolescents who had parents diagnosed with alcohol dependence, depression, and drug dependence were most likely to exhibit psychological problems. These findings underscore the importance of considering parental comorbid psychopathology when examining the relationship between parental alcoholism and offspring adjustment.KEY WORDS: comorbidity; substance abuse; conduct disorder; depression; COAs; adolescence.Previous research has indicated that children of alcoholic parents (COAs) are at an increased risk for many psychological problems during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. For example, COAs have been found to have an elevated risk for the development of externalizing problems such as conduct disorder, oppositional disorder, delinquency, and attention deficit disorder (Earls, Reich,

show abstract

“…Parental alcohol abuse and earlier onset of MDD further added to the increased the risk for MDD in the offspring [26]. As the offspring aged, there was also a greater incidence of medical problems, particularly cardiovascular, in the high-risk group [23]. Finally, as the third generation aged in to the study, similar patterns were found.…”

Section: Three-generation Family Studymentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The offspring of the depressed probands formed the high-risk group, by virtue of their familial loading for depression, and those of the non-depressed probands formed the low-risk group. The overall study design is illustrated in figure 1 and further details can be found in numerous previous publications [22,23]. These families have now been followed through five completed assessment waves (baseline, 2, 10, 20 and 25 years), with a sixth wave currently underway (figure 2).…”

Section: Three-generation Family Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Using the high-risk family design to identify biomarkers for major depression

Talati

Weissman

Hamilton

2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One contribution of 11 to a Theme Issue 'The neurobiology of depression-revisiting the serotonin hypothesis. II. Genetic, epigenetic and clinical studies'. The familial nature of major depressive disorder (MDD) is now well recognized. We followed children and grandchildren of probands with and without MDD to examine transmission of depression over generations, and to identify early vulnerability markers prior to the onset of disease. The study now includes three generations and five completed assessment waves spanning 25 years, with a sixth wave underway. Beginning with the fourth wave, we collected measures of brain structure (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) and physiology (electroencephalography, EEG) and DNA in order to examine at a biological level why the offspring of depressed parents were at higher risk. In this paper, we provide an overview of the study design, the main findings, including new data, and the role of the high-risk design in translational research. We demonstrate that offspring of depressed parents ('high-risk'), when compared with those of non-depressed parents ('low-risk'), were at increased risk for depressive and anxiety disorders, with anxiety appearing earlier and being a predisposing factor for MDD. Offspring with two generations previously affected were at greatest risk. Thinning of the cortical mantle (MRI) and reduced resting-state activity (EEG) within the right parieto-temporal hemisphere differentiated high-from low-risk offspring, regardless of whether the offspring had MDD, suggesting that these measures might serve as familial trait markers for depression and related syndromes. The high-and low-risk offspring also differed by serotonin transporter promoter length polymorphism genotypes, even though the same genotypes were not associated with the presence of MDD. The high-risk epidemiological design appears to be a particularly valuable asset in translational research as it allows targeting of biological processes that emerge prior to the onset of disease, and identifies individuals at high risk for the disorder who may carry the trait or marker but not yet be affected.

show abstract

Offspring of Depressed Parents

Abstract: The offspring of depressed parents are a high-risk group for onset of anxiety disorder and MDD in childhood, MDD in adolescence, and alcohol dependence in adolescence and early adulthood. The findings support the potential value of early detection in the offspring of depressed parents.

Cited by 547 publications

References 63 publications

Limbic hyperactivation during processing of neutral facial expressions in children with bipolar disorder

Limbic hyperactivation during processing of neutral facial expressions in children with bipolar disorder

The Relationship Between Parental Alcoholism and Adolescent Psychopathology: A Systematic Examination of Parental Comorbid Psychopathology

Using the high-risk family design to identify biomarkers for major depression

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About