Stress-Generative Effects of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Transactional Associations Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Stressful Life Events in a Longitudinal Sample.

Longitudinal studies have demonstrated transactional associations between psychopathology and stressful life events (SLEs), such that psychopathology predicts the occurrence of new SLEs, and SLEs in turn predict increasing symptom severity. The association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically, and stress generation remains unclear. This study used temporally sequenced data from 116 veterans (87.

Spit for Science: launching a longitudinal study of genetic and environmental influences on substance use and emotional health at a large US university.

Finding genes involved in complex behavioral outcomes, and understanding the pathways by which they confer risk, is a challenging task, necessitating large samples that are phenotypically well characterized across time. We describe an effort to create a university-wide research project aimed at understanding how genes and environments impact alcohol use and related substance use and mental health outcomes across time in college students. Nearly 70% of the incoming freshman class (N = 2715) completed on-line surveys, with 80% of the students from the fall completing spring follow-ups.

Neuropsychological deficits in major depression reflect genetic/familial risk more than clinical history: a monozygotic discordant twin-pair study.

Neuropsychological deficits have been associated with major depression (MD) and persist in some individuals even after symptom remission. However, it is unclear if the deficits are a consequence of MD or are pre-existing and reflect MD vulnerability. We addressed this issue by studying 117 twins from monozygotic (MZ) pairs discordant for lifetime history of DSM-III-R defined MD and 41 twins from MZ pairs in which neither twin had experienced MD.

The road not taken: life experiences in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for major depression.

In an effort to understand how environmental experiences contribute to risk for major depression (MD), we conducted joint autobiographical interviews with 14 pairs of monozygotic twins (mean age 51.2) rigorously discordant for a lifetime history of MD. Twelve of the pairs could be sorted into four broad categories.

Blue again: perturbational effects of antidepressants suggest monoaminergic homeostasis in major depression.

Some evolutionary researchers have argued that current diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) may not accurately distinguish true instances of disorder from a normal, adaptive stress response. According to disorder advocates, neurochemicals like the monoamine neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) are dysregulated in major depression. Monoamines are normally under homeostatic control, so the monoamine disorder hypothesis implies a breakdown in homeostatic mechanisms.