Isn’t family history fun!

I found out something interesting about my family (specifically my Dad’s). Apparently, his family (and of course myself) has a genetic predisposition to clinical depression. My parents never thought to tell me… I found out through a cousin who told me that my Dad was on anti-depressants (which I also didn’t know).

Of course I had to ask for how long… she said, “off an on for as long as I can remember.” My reaction was slightly less than knowing, and her response was, “you didn’t know?”
“Clearly not.”
“Oh. Our entire family takes anti-depressants every once in a while.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the doctors say our family is ‘genetically predisposed.'”
“Oh… thats nice.”
“It’s no big deal, really.”
“Unless you don’t know about it, then it kinda gets in the way of life.”
“Well, ya there’s that. Your Dad didn’t tell you?”
“Clearly not.”

For those of you keeping score… this is now 3 major life altering things that my parents haven’t told me about (albeit the only one that really effects me now). First, I had a better than most chance of having spinal or brain damage due to some unfortunate events in the womb. Second, in 3rd grade I had my brain tested for defects and toumors, the results of which put me on Ritalin and subsequently Aderol then Silert. And now I apparently have a genetic predisposition to a chemical imbalance in my head that makes me perpetually unhappy.

I have to say I’m less than enthused at this news… however, it does make a lot of things make a lot of sense. From what I’ve gathered from my cousin and somethings that I’ve been reading up on, the serotonin and noradrenaline levels in me (assuming I also have the condition, which is probably a safe bet) are only slightly out of balance making me more likely to enter a depressed state and remain there for a prolonged period of time. The levels aren’t so far off that my family is in a constant state of depression, its just easier for us to get that way and stay there. To me it reads like a mild form of bipolar disease, but I guess the mood swings aren’t severe enough.