Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:43:35.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Major Depression and Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Same Genes, (Partly) Different Environments – Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Kenneth S. Kendler
Kenneth S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Box 980710, Richmond, VA 23298-0710, US
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In both clinical and epidemiological samples, major depression (MD) and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) display substantial comorbidity. In a prior analysis of lifetime MD and GAD in female twins, the same genetic factors were shown to influence the liability to MD and to GAD. A follow-up interview in the same twin cohort examined one-year prevalence for MD and GAD (diagnosed using a one-month minimum duration of illness). Bivariate twin models were fitted using the program Mx. High levels of comorbidity were observed between MD and GAD. The best-fitting twin models, when GAD was diagnosed with or without a diagnostic hierarchy, found a genetic correlation of unity between the two disorders. The correlation in environmental risk factors was +0.70 when GAD was diagnosed non-hierarchically, but zero when hierarchical diagnoses were used. Our findings provide further support for the hypothesis that in women, MD and GAD are the result of the same genetic factors. Environmental risk factors that predispose to ‘pure’ GAD episodes may be relatively distinct from those that increase risk for MD.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 168 , Issue S30: Comorbidity of Mood Disorders , June 1996 , pp. 68 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akaike, H. (1987) Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52, 317–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM–III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Barrett, J. E. (1979) The relationship of life events to the onset of neurotic disorders. In Stress and Mental Disorder (eds Barrett, J. E., Rose, R. M. & Klerman, G. L.), pp. 87–109. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Bedford, A., Foulds, G. A. & Sheffield, B. F. (1976) A new personal disturbance scale (DSSI/SAD). British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 387–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berkson, J. (1946) Limitations of the application of fourfold table analysis to hospital data. Biometrics Bulletin, 2, 47–53.Google Scholar
Breslau, N. & Davis, G. C. (1985) DSM–III generalized anxiety disorder: an empirical investigation of more stringent criteria. Psychiatry Research, 14, 231–238.Google Scholar
Breslau, N., Davis, G. C., Andreski, P., et al (1991) Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in an urban population of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 216–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, D. & Hole, D. (1983) The aetiological importance of stressful life events. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 397–400.Google Scholar
Eaves, L. J., Eysenck, H. J., Martin, N. G., et al (1989) Genes, Culture and Personality: An Empirical Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. & Brown, G. W. (1981) Types of stressful life events and the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders. Psychological Medicine, 11, 803–815.Google Scholar
Joreskog, K. G. & Sorbom, D. (1988) PRELIS: A Preprocessor for LISREL. Mooresville, IN: Scientific Software.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S. (1993) Twin studies of psychiatric illness: current status and future directions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 905–915.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Heath, A. C., Martin, N. G., et al (1987) Symptoms of anxiety and symptoms of depression: same genes, different environments? Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 451–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., et al (1992a) A population based twin study of major depression in women: the impact of varying definitions of illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 257–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., et al (1992b) Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder: same genes, (partly) different environments? Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 716–722.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., et al (1992c) Generalized anxiety disorder in women: a population based twin study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 267–272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., et al (1992d) The genetic epidemiology of phobias in women: the inter-relationship of agoraphobia, social phobia, situational phobia and simple phobia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 273–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., et al (1993) Major depression and phobias: the genetic and environmental sources of comorbidity. Psychological Medicine, 23, 361–371.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Walters, E. E., Neale, M. C., et al (1995) The structure of the genetic and environmental risk factors for six major psychiatric disorders in women: phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, bulimia, major depression and alcoholism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 374–383.Google Scholar
Martin, N. G., Eaves, L. J., Kearsey, M. J., et al (1978) The power of the classical twin study. Heredity, 40, 97–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maser, J. D. & Cloninger, C. R. (eds) (1990) Comorbidity of Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Washington, DC: APP.Google Scholar
Monroe, S. M. (1990) Psychosocial factors in anxiety and depression. In Comorbidity of Mood and Anxiety Disorders (eds Maser, J. D. & Cloninger, C. R.), pp. 463–497. Washington, DC: APP.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C. (1991) Statistical Modelling with Mx. Richmond, VA: Department of Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C. & Cardon, L. R. (1992) Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C., Eaves, L. J. & Kendler, K. S. (1994) The power of the classical twin study to resolve variation in threshold traits. Behavior Genetics, 24, 239–258.Google Scholar
Parker, G. (1979) Parental characteristics in relation to depressive disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 138–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, G. (1981) Parental representations of patients with anxiety neurosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 63, 33–36.Google Scholar
Plomin, R. (1994) Genetics and Experience: The Interplay between Nature and Nurture. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Robins, E. & Guze, S. B. (1970) Establishment of diagnostic validity in psychiatric illness: its application to schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 983–987.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N. & Helzer, J. E. (1985) Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS): Version III-A. St Louis, MO: Washington University School of Medicine.Google Scholar
Spence, J. E., Corey, L. A., Nance, W. E., et al (1988) Molecular analysis of twin zygosity using VNTR DNA probes. American Journal of Human Genetics, 43, A159.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. & Gibbon, M. (1987) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III–R. New York: Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Torgersen, S. (1985) Developmental differentiation of anxiety and affective neurosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 71, 304–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.