My diagnoses of MDD, PTSD & anxiety are a combination of genetics and environment.
I was born into hell. I talked to a girl I grew up with the other day and my father got mentioned. She said I remember 2 instances in particular with your father- when I was 12 and was spending the night. He came home and threw me out in the middle of the night I had to walk home alone in the dark. The other was when the dogs pooped and your father grabbed you & your brother and put your faces in the dogs poop. She said I cannot imagine everything that went on. I did not have a good start to life. He died when I was 15. About 6 months later I met a boyfriend who would be more evil than my father. I spent about a year and a half maybe being his punching bag. I was picked on in elementary school because I preferred to play with lizards, frogs, snakes vs people because at home my safety was my stuffed animals. I still to this day prefer animals to people. I have a mini zoo at home around me and no friends that are human. Anyway, so yes I did not have a good start. I had my first suicide attempt at 12. I thought taking an entire bottle of vitamins would kill me. It just got me some negative attention from my abusive father. About 16 1/2 - 18 I spent in and out of psych hospital. I cut my wrists 3x & I took an entire prescription 90 pills of codeine 3. 18 I was diagnosed with cancer. 20 I had my son and despite the bad start I had in life I became a pretty good mom. The depression and suicidal thoughts were over powered by my love and devotion to my son. When my son died Oct 2017 all the depression and suicidal thoughts I had suppressed for 25 years all hit me plus new.
My mothers side of my family has mental illness. Schizophrenia, depression, anxiety.
I can't say in my case how much of my environment vs genetics are there.
My kids. My older son died at 25 in a car accident on his way to work. I totally devoted my life to him when he was born. He grew up to be a hard worker- supervisor, people tell me they still look for his silly morning facebook posts, he was that guy who made everyone laugh. He was the one who was there for anyone who needed anything. His ex girl friends and current one all told me he treated them better than anyone ever has. He was a true gentleman. He had no anxiety or depression. He was a happy man. My younger son is going through depression. He is going to be 20 soon. He was 3 months short of 16 when he came home from school to be told his brother died in an accident on his way to work. My older son was the only man in my younger sons life. He lost his big brother, man figure and his mother that day. I became a basket case. Almost a yr and a half to the day his brother died he RAN to my ex in laws, he was now 18. He just told me about 2-3 weeks ago he is having depression and thinks he should see someone. He has asked me to come stay at my ex in laws with him. He has a job he's a department manager so he wants to stay over where he is. I can't say his depression is genetic- I think having the genes that pre dispose him to depression play a part in him developing it. The loss of his brother, the loss of the mom I was and watching me be a basket case for a yr and a half caused his depression.
developingchild.harvard.edu
