Is PTSD an inheritable trait?
There are many people who go through extremely traumatic events that do not develop PTSD and scientists have been wondering why some are resistant. A new study done on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, is suggesting that genetics has a large role in whether one will be plagued with the disorder. They found that women are more genetically susceptible to the disease than men. There is also a link between having schizophrenia, bipolar and depression disorders and a person’s genetic risk of developing PTSD after a trauma. Knowing more about PTSD and its genetic relationship could lead to research done in how to prevent it for soldiers if found they are susceptible.
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I think its a great idea that scientist are looking farther into how PTSD effects everyone differently. Like all psychological disorders, some are inherited, but I think its great they are looking to see if people are just predisposition to disordered like PTSD.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting finding indeed. However, after taking a course on culture and mental health, I am somewhat skeptical of PTSD having a genetic component; interestingly enough, this is a relatively new mental illness that arose about the Vietnam War, who's symptomatology was also developed about that point, and who's occurrence outside Westernized cultures has been brought into question. However, it has been linked with schizophrenia, which is known to occur globally. Thus, despite my skepticism, I am optimistic of further research working more on uncovering potential genetic influences on PTSD and hopefully test people like soldiers beforehand to prevent them from developing it.
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