Depressive Disease: Familial Psychiatric Illness

Abstract

Data from families of 100 intensively studied patients with depressive disease (unipolar affective disorder) and a review of the literature suggest that genetic factors play a role in the etiology of depressive disease. It is also possible that this disease may in fact be a heterogeneous group of illnesses with different manifestations, for example, in males and females. The authors stress the need for further studies to test their hypothesis.