Maternal Transmission of Anxiety and Depression: To have Biological Kids or Not???

[whi]

I'm a female who used to suffer from depression and currently suffers from anxiety. I'm considering not having biological children. Help me weight out the pros and cons. Thanks.

 

[Daniel E.]

I'm a female who used to suffer from depression and currently suffers from anxiety. I'm considering not having biological children.

Regarding the genetic transmission of anxiety and depression, even happiness (narrowly defined) is now said in the popular media to have a 50% genetic component, so I find it all very confusing.

Maybe the ideal would be talking to a genetics counselor.

I did find this:

Anxiety Disorders

Lifetime prevalence for any anxiety disorder: 15-25%
Heritability estimated at about 40%

Major Depressive/Unipolar Disorder

Community samples provide lifetime risk of 10-25% for women and 5-12% for men
Heritability: Unclear (~20-80%); meta-analysis reports 31-42%

Empiric Risk Data

Regarding other factors as well:

A study of adopted children, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in September 2008, found a significantly higher risk of adolescent depression if the adoptive mother had major depression. Depression in the adoptive father, however, was not associated with increased risk of adolescent depression.

"up to 65 percent of children living with an anxious parent meet criteria for an anxiety disorder"

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/psycholo...l-transmission-of-anxiety-and-depression.html

Increased rates of anxiety in the children were found only when their mothers met three specific diagnostic criteria - considerable impairment in daily life; onset of anxiety before the age of 20; and at least 2 anxiety disorders. Thus only severe maternal anxiety disorder is associated with an increased rate of anxiety disorders in children.

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/anxiety-and-stress/11716-anxious-mother-anxious-children.html

A larger, more important point may be your own happiness. For example, depending on how one measures or defines happiness:

having children “has only a small effect on happiness, and it is a negative one”

The Science of Happiness | Harvard Magazine Jan-Feb 2007

 

[Cat Dancer]

I think it's also important to consider the type of support system you have. Are you in a stable relationship with someone who is supportive of you?

 

[Daniel E.]

Help me weight out the pros and cons.

By the way, a new article:

Why Parents Hate Parenting -- New York Magazine

Some similar points about the stress of having children have already been made by the childfree movement, e.g. The Childless by Choice Project and No Kids: 40 Good Reasons Not to Have Children (a very biased book). And a new book written by a proud mother discusses the common burdens of modern American motherhood: The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation.

On a lighter note:

"If things get too overwhelming, I just schedule myself a dentist appointment," writes Laura Bennett in Didn't I Feed You Yesterday: A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos. "There is nothing like a root canal to secure some guilt-free me time. One medicated hour in the chair with no disturbances can be pure bliss, and as a special bonus, I get to leave with a Vicodin prescription."

Forget flowers: What Mom needs this Mother's Day is a Vicodin - Los Angeles Times

 

[whi]

Thanks everybody for the replies. It's not so much that I question how anxiety/depression will affect my ability to be there for my kids, it's more that I wonder how it will effect them genetically? Hypothetically if by the time I decide to have kids I no longer have anxiety or depression (or control my mild anxiety with meds and therapy---again I no longer have depression), what then? Should I still think about the consequences of having children pre-disposed to anxiety and/or depression who may be (primarily) treatment resistant to medication the way I am?

I know there is a lot of 'ifs' there and I'm not a fan of hypothetical situations, but this is an enormous decision so I want to consider every possibility.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Vulnerability to anxiety or depression is in part genetically transmitted, whether or not the parent(s) show active symptoms.

On the other hand, that vulnerability is not all bad - it is associated with some positive traits as well. People prone to anxiety or depression tend to be more introspective, empathic, and even creative than those without these traits, i.e., the kind of people that many look for in close friendships or relationships. Thus, the fact that you may be transmitting vulnerability to your offspring is, in itself, not a reason to look at having children as off limits.

 

[Daniel E.]

Vulnberability to anxiety or depression is in part genetically transmitted, whether or not the parent(s) show active symptoms.

On the other hand, that vulnerability is not all bad - it is associated with some positive traits as well.

Similarly, Einstein did not have schizophrenia, but he passed such genes onto his son:

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/psycholo...ames-watson-creativity-and-schizophrenia.html