For six years, psychiatrists thought they had found a genetic clue as to what makes some people more prone to depression when they're hit with an emotional blow: a single gene. A 2003
study created a sensation among scientists and the public because it offered the first specific, plausible explanation of why some people bounce back after a stressful life event while others plunge into lasting despair [The New York Times].
But now a broader analysis of 14 studies has found no link between the gene and the risk of depression, and researchers argue that the 2003 findings were prematurely heralded as a breakthrough.
“I think what happened is that people who’d been working in this field for so long were desperate to have any solid finding” [The New York Times]
, says Kathleen R. Merikangas, one of the authors of the new study. The so-called "depression gene" that researchers ...
