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Reading 2 mins.
in collaboration with
Sabrina Philippe (Psychologist)
Medical validation:
January 18, 2023
According to a new American study, the support of friends and family could prevent the onset of depression in people with genetic predispositions.
If we already knew that being surrounded greatly helps to get through difficult times, we did not know, however, that social support could also protect people at “genetic risk” from depressive episodes. The results of this study, conducted by a team from the University of Michigan, are available in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Fewer depressive symptoms in well-supported participants
As part of this survey, the researchers relied on data from two studies: the Intern Health Study, which includes young doctors in their first year, and the UM Institute for Social Research, based on widows and widowers.
In total, the mental health of 1011 young doctors and 435 men and women, whose spouses recently died, was scrutinized.
During this work, the researchers took into account the results of the symptoms of depression, in correlation with the score of polygenic risk of depression of each participant, but also their “social support” – assessed using a questionnaire.
Result ? Among doctors in training, depressive symptoms had increased by +126% during their first year of study; among young widows and widowers, by +34% compared to before death.
However, among young widowers and doctors in the 1st year “at high genetic risk“, those who were most supported by friends and family “had significantly lower depressive symptoms” than the “low genetic risk” participants. This is what the researchers call “the cross effect“.
For the scientists, these results therefore reaffirm “theimportance of social connections, social support and individual sensitivity to the social environment as factors of well-being and prevention of depression.”
They now hope that this better understanding of the different genetic profiles associated with the loss of social support (…) could help them “to develop personalized advice for the prevention of depression.”
Depression: seeing loved ones is not always easy
While it is obvious that the social aspect “is essential to ward off depression“Seeing your loved ones during this period is not always easy, specifies Sabrina Phillipe, psychologist.
“Having friends, a social life, these are what we consider to be resources. However, a person who is depressed does not have access to these resources. She may not want to be depressed in front of her loved ones. As a first step, it is therefore necessary to consult to put these resources back in place. It will then be possible to find pleasure in the social bond.”