Professor Simon Baron-Cohen reports on advances in helping children with autism to understand feelings

Autism comes by degrees. People with the milder form, Asperger’s syndrome, display communication difficulties and “obsessional” interests. In severe cases, however, it can be as if your child is locked in a glass bubble, staring vacantly past you as you desperately try to make eye-contact. (…)

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES?

According to a study in The Lancet last year, an estimated 1 per cent of the population lie somewhere on the autistic spectrum. This figure represents an increase over earlier ones but this rise is likely to be due to better diagnosis and awareness of the condition. Autism spectrum conditions result from alterations in brain development, affecting how an individual perceives, learns and communicates. The two main subgroups are autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Using the latest brain scanning methods such as fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), studies from labs in Cambridge and London, and confirmed in labs around the world, have revealed that certain brain areas are underactive in people with autism. The amygdala (sometimes thought of as the emotion centre) and the medial prefrontal cortex (involved in social behaviour) are underactive in people with autism spectrum conditions when they are trying to decode another person’s facial expression.

Studies from San Diego suggest that the autistic brain is also growing too fast in early childhood, and researchers in Carnegie Mellon University have found that different regions of the brain are not connected in the usual way. New work from Cambridge suggests that elevated testosterone levels in the foetus, in the second trimester of pregnancy, is associated with a greater number of autistic traits. This finding may help to explain why many more boys than girls develop an autism spectrum condition. In New York, researchers are experimenting with boosting levels of a different hormone, oxytocin. This is sometimes called the “love hormone”, as levels increase in intimate relationships. Elevated levels of the hormone are associated with being more trusting and better able to read emotional expressions. It may be relevant that women produce twice as much oxytocin as men.

Autism and Asperger’s syndrome run in families. If there is one child who has a diagnosis on the autistic spectrum, the likelihood of another child also having a diagnosis is about 5-10 per cent, which is higher than the general population rate. Molecular genetic studies are focused on identifying the key genes that might play a role in increasing the risk of a diagnosis. Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown. (…)

WHAT HELPS?

(…) The message is that a diagnosis of autism does not mean there is no hope for learning and development. Parents, therapists and teachers wanting to know which methods to try should visit a wonderful new website (www.researchautism.net) that provides impartial summaries of the evidence for or against a different method.

MYTHS ABOUT AUTISM

The MMR vaccination causes autism

There is no strong evidence for this claim. In Japan, for example, although the rates of autism were rising (as they have been worldwide), they continued to rise even after the withdrawal of the MMR public health programme.

Autism is caused by poor parenting

This idea has been disproved. Autism is found in families where other children have been raised successfully, and the fact that autism involves atypical neurological development from the earliest stage shows that it is not a reaction to parental behaviour. (…)

Source: Times Online, UK
http://tinyurl.com/yt8k6d

When he was in the throes of his worst tantrums, Daniel Fletcher would rip wallpaper off the walls at home and hit and kick anyone who came near him.

Once, he put his pet mouse in the microwave. On another occasion he jumped out of a moving car.

He was first diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at the age of two, and just three years later the little boy was prescribed the amphetamine-like drug Ritalin.

The effect, says his mother Hayley, was a loss of appetite but no difference in his behaviour.

“So the doctor kept upping the doses until he was on six times the normal dose, yet he was still hyperactive.”

Eight months ago, Daniel, now 14, was put on Risperdal - an antipsychotic drug usually given to schizophrenics.

“It was as if my son had been replaced by a doped-up zombie,’ says Hayley, 35, who took him off it a month later.

“I could hardly wake him in the morning. It was as if all his personality was disappearing, like a patient in a mental institution.”

Last week, it emerged that around 8,000 British youngsters are being treated with this powerful tranquilliser and another, similar drug called Zyprexa - despite the fact that their dangerous side-effects range from diabetes to brain tumours.

Hundreds of thousands of others are still being prescribed Ritalin, an amphetamine-like stimulant which has the same effect as “speed” and cocaine, and which, according to new evidence from the U.S., doesn’t even work in the long-term.

Ritalin is a methylphenidate which acts in a similar way to cocaine by stimulating the central nervous system, which, paradoxically, can have a calming and focusing effect.

Scientists are unclear why it works in this way, although there is some evidence that the effect is achieved by the slow release of the hormone dopamine, which controls behaviour, attention and learning.

Recent findings also suggest that Ritalin can stunt growth as well as causing heart problems, insomnia and weight problems.

In the U.S., there have been 51 deaths among children and adults taking Ritalin since 1999.

According to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, 11 British children on Ritalin have died.

The cause of two deaths was heart-related: one had a heart attack, the other an enlarged heart.

One was recorded as a “sudden death”. One died of a brain haemorrhage; another of a swelling in the brain.

Two committed suicide, and the last died of neo-natal respiratory distress syndrome.

Not surprisingly, experts fear that inappropriate drugs are not only being used to control children’s behaviour, but are being massively over-prescribed to some children who are simply naughty.

ADHD, they say, is nothing more than a symptom of Britain’s time-poor society, where children of parents working long hours are cracking under the strain of family life.

There are criticisms, too, that some doctors dole out pills when therapy would be a safer option.

In the U.S., where one in ten children takes Ritalin and where doctors write two million prescriptions a month, the situation is even worse.

A growing body of experts is even questioning whether ADHD exists at all.

“As a society, we are quick to reach for a pill,” says David Healy, one of the world’s leading psycho-pharmacology experts, and Professor of Psychiatry at Cardiff University.

“There’s much less willingness on the part of the medical profession to say to parents: ‘You have an awkward child. You must discipline them.’

“So we prescribe pills instead.

“The drugs used to treat ADHD are the same as speed and cocaine.

“We react with horror to the idea that our kids would use such drugs, but don’t react about drugs such as Ritalin being given to them.

“There’s a risk that your child won’t grow as well.

“There are high risks that children will go on to use street drugs, too, because they will have grown used to their effects.”

Professor Healy says anti-psychotic drugs such as Risperdal were used in the Soviet Union to extract information from political prisoners.

“People who took them would tell anything to anyone,” he says.

“When you think about giving these drugs to kids, it’s a whole new ball game.”

Dr Tim Kendall of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who is heading a team drawing up new NHS guidelines for ADHD, insists there is a place for drugs in treatment, but admits: “We have a situation where GPs prescribe anti-psychotics inappropriately.

“There is no real excuse for prescribing drugs which are associated with such severe side-effects.”

But even where Ritalin is used, Dr Kendall says guidelines do not make it clear when doctors should diagnose ADHD and when they should prescribe drugs.

“If you diagnose people loosely, you could end up with 16 per cent of the child population with ADHD.

“Under tight criteria, only 1.6 per cent would be diagnosed,” he says.

“A generous understanding would be to say that doctors have reached a point where they don’t know what else to offer, and they haven’t got the right support to help parents.”

Of course, the ADHD debate inevitably arouses enormous passions.

While some question the disorder’s very existence and say medicating has simply replaced good parenting, for others, the idea that “bad parenting” is behind their child’s problems is almost too much to bear.

Linda Shepherd, from Ipswich, whose son Zaque, 15, has been taking Risperdal since he was nine, describes the drug as a “life-saver”.

“Without it, he’s unmanageable,” she says. “It controls his ADHD and gives us both peace of mind.

“I know there are side-effects, but for me it’s a calculated risk.

“He’s put on a lot of weight and is now obese because the drug makes him hungry all the time, but I think that’s the lesser of two evils.”

A spokeswoman for ADDISS, the Attention Deficit Disorder Information & Support Service, which believes medication has a valuable role to play, says: “Every child needs a proper evaluation and a treatment programme tailored to their problem.

“It’s not one issue. It’s a collection of factors. The problem is that people don’t have access to comprehensive evaluation and treatment.

“But not giving them medication is worse.”

Although there is no consensus on what ADHD is and, if it exists, what causes it, there is no doubt it has become a fashionable diagnosis for a host of behavioural issues.

In 1993, just 3,500 prescriptions were written for Ritalin in Britain. By 1998, there were 26,500. Last year, around 250,000 prescriptions were handed out on the NHS alone.

Such figures are underpinned by a study in 1999, which appeared to confirm Ritalin’s benefits.

But eight years on, the original researchers have re-examined the children involved in the study and there is evidence the initial effects of Ritalin wore off after three years.

Ritalin was also found to stunt the growth of some of the children.

Professor William Pelham, of the University of Buffalo, New York, who was involved in the first study, says: “They had a substantial decrease in their rate of growth in terms of both height and weight.

“In the short-term, medication will help the child behave better.

“But in the long run it won’t. And that information should be made very clear to parents.”

Perhaps most disturbing, however, is the suggestion that ADHD is nothing more than the invention of pharmaceutical companies who have used clinical trials to create a disease that can be treated with their drugs.

Last year, the NHS spent £28 million on Ritalin alone.

Professor Healy says: “There is an active campaign by pharmaceutical companies to convince people that there’s adult ADHD.

“Adults having problems are being told they have adult ADHD and are being offered drugs for it.

“Pharmaceutical companies market these drugs aggressively. How can GPs refuse to prescribe a drug ‘clinically proven’ to work?”

It is hardly surprising, then, that parents encouraged to give drugs to their children, rather than face up to the causes of their behaviour, usually take the easy way out.

Hayley Fletcher, who lives with her husband Andrew and their son Daniel in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, remembers the moment her son’s psychiatrist handed her a prescription for Risperdal.

“You assume the experts know best,” she says. “But within a month, I knew something was terribly wrong.

“I couldn’t wake him in the mornings. It was as if my son was disappearing before my eyes.

“I did some research and found they give this brain-altering drug to adults in mental institutions.

“Why did they give it to my son?

“He has severe problems, there is no doubt about that, but I cannot agree with the philosophy that these children should be drugged up to the eyeballs so they cannot be a threat to society.

“That isn’t what I want for my son.”

Instead, Hayley persuaded Daniel’s doctor to change his medication to the weaker drug Concerta, a slow-release version of Ritalin, and improved his diet with natural produce and fish oils. She also removed him from his special school and teaches him at home.

“It’s been a very long, hard path,” she says, “but Daniel is a different boy. The difference is amazing.

“Initially, I trusted the doctors. But really all they are doing is turning these children into zombies.

“Now that Daniel is virtually drug free he is taking the supplement Eye Q Fish Oils as part of a trial, and it has made such a difference to his concentration levels.”

Her son’s story echoes that of Craig Buxton, 14, who featured on last week’s Panorama, which exposed the use of anti-psychotic drugs on children with behavioural problems.

Craig, who lives with his parents, Alan and Sharon, in Stoke-on-Trent, was given both Risperdal and Zyprexa.

“The effects were dramatic and awful,” says Sharon. “Within a month, he had started self-harming, cutting himself.

“Then he attempted suicide by cutting his wrist.

“He’s taking Concerta now, and is much more stable and happy.”

John Tyson, 39, a businessman from Yarm, Teesside, didn’t question the paediatrician who put his ‘ restless, bouncy, fidgety’ son John, now 15, on Ritalin two years ago.

“When it’s a doctor you just smile and nod,” he says.

“I knew nothing about the drug or how toxic it was. But things rapidly went downhill once John started taking it.

“He became aggressive and he couldn’t cope with the word ‘no’.

He became a horrible person. The doctors increased the dose and he turned into a monster.

He was headbutting walls and throwing things out of the window. The doctors said: ‘You need more Ritalin.’”

Eventually, Mr Tyson turned for help to the Cactus Clinic at the University of Teesside’s school of social sciences.

“Attention disorders are not diseases, but patterns of inappropriate behaviour,” says clinic manager Amanda Clarkson.

According to Mr Tyson, who cut gluten, wheat and dairy out of his son’s diet and gave him mineral supplements: “After six weeks, the benefits were noticeable.

“After three months, I knew I was getting my boy back. I think it’s wicked how children are being doped when there are alternatives.”

The treatment, however, is not free. Parents can pay up to £600.

Money well spent, according to Mr Tyson, but he says it should be available to all on the NHS.

For the time being, however, it seems the medical consensus is that drugs do have a place in controlling children’s behaviour, although next year could see dramatic changes.

NHS guidelines on ADHD and its treatment are being revised after concerns were raised that current treatment is not consistent.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has spent two years investigating the disorder and its treatment and will deliver its preliminary findings in January.

Experts led by Dr Tim Kendall are looking at the criteria under which ADHD should be diagnosed and, if it exists, the best treatment.

Most likely, the guidelines will be aimed at reducing the over-prescription of drugs, while recognising their usefulness in extreme cases.

“We are looking at dietary interventions,” says Dr Kendall.

“There is some evidence that coal tar derivatives found in things such as diet colas increase hyperactivity.

“There is some evidence that fish oils improve things.

“There is evidence that education can help teachers deal better with hyperactive children, and that parent training programmes are helpful.”

The final NICE guidelines are not likely to be released until next summer.

Until then, the only winners are the pharmaceutical companies.

According to a spokesman for Janssen-Cilag, maker of Risperdal: “We don’t recommend the use of Risperdal for children.

“Doctors are free to prescribe the drugs they feel are most appropriate.”

Eli Lilly, U.S.-based maker of Zyprexa, says it has never promoted its use for ADHD.

And Novartis, which makes Ritalin, says: “Ritalin has a long record as a safe and effective medication.

“It is important that medication is only one part of a total treatment programme that should include psychological, social and educational measures.”

For parents and children still baffled by the ADHD debate, such words bring little comfort.

“I’m not sure my son ever had anything called ADHD,” says John Tyson.

“He just needed a bit of help. He didn’t need to be doped.”

Source: Daily Mail, UK
http://tinyurl.com/2bl6hc

Scientists have found that the brain development of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is delayed but otherwise typical, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Comparing brain scans of children aged 6 to 16 who had the common psychiatric disorder with scans of those who did not, researchers found that some areas in the ADHD brain — particularly those involved in thinking, attention and planning — matured an average of three years later than “healthy” brains, but otherwise followed normal patterns of development.

The results, which were published today in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offer new insight into why kids usually seem to outgrow their ADHD, says Dr. Philip Shaw, who led the research team at the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “It doesn’t mean we can just sit back and do nothing,” Shaw says, but the findings complement “what psychiatrists have been telling parents for years,” that most kids with ADHD do get better…

Aside from the timing of maturation, the brains of children with ADHD appear to develop the same way typical brains do, from back to front. “Do [kids with ADHD] have basically have the same sequence of brain development? That’s a yes,” says Shaw. “Do they completely catch up with other kids? That’s what we’re looking at now.” …

Though the new study may eventually help scientists identify why ADHD causes the brain to develop slower and how kids can get better sooner, Shaw says it won’t help doctors diagnose the disorder today. ADHD diagnoses still have to made through clinical evaluations, and for now, treatment still means the widely used psycho-stimulant drugs, like Ritalin, and behavioral therapy.

As doctors continue learning about the ADHD brain, however, more and more alternative treatments, such as attention training and psychotherapy, are gaining traction. Research shows that the brain is not static — that it can physically change with experience. Studies reveal that the brains of some piano players, for instance, are more developed in the areas responsible for finger movement, while in the brains of people who have practiced meditation long-term, the attention centers are physically larger than average…

Source: TIME
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1683069,00.html

Not all children can harness the full goodness of their mother’s milk.

Does breast-feeding a child boost its brain development and raise its intelligence? Only if the child carries a version of a gene that can harness the goodness of breast-milk, say researchers.

The results add to the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate over intelligence, by showing how the two effects can interact.

The question of whether people are born intelligent or made intelligent by their environment has been debated for decades. Research with identical twins separated at birth has shown that both genetics and rearing conditions are important in determining intelligence.

One of the important environmental effects seems to be breast-feeding. Children who are breast-fed generally perform better in IQ tests than do those fed on other types of milk. Researchers think that this might be because specific fatty acids found in human milk, but not in cow’s milk or infant formulas, improve brain development.

Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt, psychologists at King’s College, London, and their colleagues looked at the relationship between breast-feeding and intelligence to explore the possibility that in this case nature and nurture might be intimately linked…

Mother care

The result will help to settle the debate over whether breast-feeding is linked to intelligence because of the nutritional quality of the milk, or because mothers who breast-feed are the sorts of mothers who encourage child learning. “I think this research will settle that debate, or at the very least bring it near a close,” says epidemiologist Jean Golding at the University of Bristol, UK…

Source: Nature.com, UK
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071105/full/news.2007.217.html

New Zealand babies and toddlers are missing out on mental health care because of staff shortages and lack of awareness, say experts. They warn disturbed babies as young as a few months old can become seriously troubled adolescents.

Denise Guy, a Wellington child and adolescent psychiatrist with 20 years’ experience, told the Herald on Sunday New Zealand lagged most countries in providing psychiatric treatment for very young children and their families…

Guy said babies who needed help weren’t “mad”. “We’re just talking about babies and toddlers whose social and emotional health is compromised, most often because they’re in compromised relationships. And it’s not because the parents don’t want the best for them.”

She said mental health problems could affect babies “under 6 months”. Basic training in how to read a baby’s signals “should just be available to every parent“.

Guy stressed treatment always involved the baby’s family. “It’s not about taking the baby or toddler off and doing something with them separately.” …

Auckland child and adolescent psychiatrist Craig Immelman said the idea of babies having mental health issues shocked some people, but he pointed out that “up until maybe 30 years ago there was the view that children and teenagers didn’t get depressed”, and 50 years ago it was thought infants too young to talk didn’t feel pain.

Source: New Zealand Herald, New Zealand
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10473867

As Halloween approaches, the latest research into fear suggests that the neurological systems in our brains that are stimulated by fear are the same as those associated with pleasure. So while you’re watching Saw IV or playing Resident Evil, you get the gratification of real fear without any of the danger.

Scientists say that while watching a scary movie, or playing popular games like Bioshock and Dementium, information runs from your eyes and ears to an almond-shaped clump of neurons called the amygdala. Located front-and-center in your brain, the amygdala has long been understood as vital to instantaneous emotional processing, especially of love and pleasure…

So as the zombie breaks through the door or the murderer leaps from the closet, your amygdala gets juiced just as it would by a home run in the bottom of the ninth, unleashing a brain- and body-energizing cocktail of hormones. But while this is happening, information also travels to your prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for consciously evaluating danger. It tells you that the movie is just a movie…

Scientists also admit that the focus on basic neurobiology doesn’t explain other aspects of pleasurable fear. As Ressler noted, experiencing fear and coming out unscathed is itself satisfying — an observation that stems more from psychology than neuroscience.

Psychologists say that watching scary movies is a way of testing and overcoming our limitations, similar to bungee jumping and other extreme sports.

“That could be why scary movies and games are so popular with children. They’re at a point in their lives when they’re testing their boundaries,” said Kansas State University psychologist Leon Rappoport. “By the time they get to college age or later, they’ve had enough of them. Their development proceeds in more substantial directions.” …

Source: Wired News
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/fear_neurology

It could be one of the best-kept secrets of the surly adolescent: it may look as if they are turning away from their family in favor of their friends, but what their family thinks matters to them. A lot.

A study led by Simmons School of Social Work Professor Helen Reinherz shows that it is of paramount importance to adolescents that they feel valued by their family, and is an important factor in their optimal mental health. Knowing that their family values their opinions promotes an adolescent’s self-esteem, and reduces the risk for major depression, suicidal thoughts and other mental health maladjustments, according to the study.

The study also shows that adolescents who believe that they can rely on family members for advice, or who have parents or siblings they can view as confidants, have significantly increased chances for good academic achievement and overall healthy social and psychological adjustment…

“The common belief is that the adolescent is turning away from the family — that their peers suddenly become the major influence in their lives,” Reinherz said. “But in reality, it is of paramount importance to most adolescents that they feel valued as a family member and that their opinions count…

Source: Earthtimes, UK
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,198859.shtml

For a year, a kitchen timer went everywhere 3-year-old Eddie Fitzgerald did - home, playground, day care.

Counting down the time before he had to switch activities, fun ones or not so fun, helped the Pennsylvania youngster control outbursts spurred by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, known as ADHD.

New research suggests simple techniques that give more structure to a preschooler’s day can offer a nondrug alternative to help the tiniest sufferers of ADHD.

The research highlights a poorly understood problem. Yes, frazzled parents know it’s normal for preschoolers to be hyperactive, impulsive and have problems paying attention. But some are too hyperactive, too impulsive, and too inattentive - they can develop hallmark ADHD symptoms that young.

“We looked at the preschool years as an important window of time in the development of these children,” says Lehigh University psychologist George DuPaul, who co-authored the work.

“We know ADHD carries long-term risks,” including difficulty in school and making friends, he said. “Wouldn’t it make sense to intervene as early as possible?” …

“Do not be too quick to jump on the bandwagon in making early diagnoses,” says Dr. Louis Kraus, child psychiatry chief at Chicago’s Rush University Hospital. He cautions that even when a preschooler’s unruliness really is abnormal, other causes must be ruled out.

This is not routine temper tantrums or a fidgety 4-year-old. To be diagnosed with ADHD, a preschooler must have extreme symptoms when compared with youngsters of the same age. These are kids so out of control they may be kicked out of preschool…

ADHD drugs are not formally approved for use in preschoolers, and while they may help some, side effects are more common in younger children, including a worrisome slowing of growth.

Thus Lehigh’s hunt for alternatives is sparking interest. The five-year study, paid for by the National Institutes of Health, provided a range of behavioral-only therapies to 135 preschoolers with severe ADHD…

What helped? Stressing consistent rules and routines, and more praise for good behavior than punishment for bad. Surprisingly, both groups fared equally well, raising questions about how to tell which children need more intense aid.

Preschoolers with ADHD learn more through repeated practice than through observing social cues like other youngsters, DuPaul says. So the study stressed role-playing things like how to ask to share a toy…

Parents were taught to reserve stronger punishments for worst cases, and to try reward systems where children gain or lose “points” for behavior instead. Even the time-out standby was to be used sparingly.

“If they end up in time-out a lot of time, they’re not learning social skills,” Kern says. “We want parents and teachers to implement strategies that prevent the behavior and teach children skills.” …

Tips to help kids with ADHD…

Source: Bradenton Herald, United States
http://www.bradenton.com/health/story/169136.html

Jill (Kneen) Stamm, a 1968 graduate of DePauw University, has authored Bright From the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3. Dr. Stamm is an associate clinical professor of psychology in education at Arizona State University and co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development. She also lectures across the nation on infant learning and cognition…

An article on Stamm’s book in the News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, states: “Attention, bonding and communication are the cornerstones of what any bright, happy baby or toddler needs, she writes. Not videos, baby software and language lessons, but consistent care, face-to-face interactions and bonding to develop security. You can help wire a healthy brain by playing with your child, responding quickly, touching and cuddling, providing routines, talking, reading and singing to your child.”

Source: DePauw University, IN
http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=20174

Among biology’s more riveting inquiries is the investigation of gene-environment interactions — the demonstration that a person’s genes constantly react to experience in a way that changes behavior, which in turn shapes environment, which in turn alters gene expression and so on. As David Olds described a few weeks ago, this new subdiscipline is yielding startling insights about how nature and nurture mix to help determine one’s health and character.

Gene-Environment Interactions: When Nurture Wears a White Hat

The importance and challenge of the nature-nurture debate in behavior has recently spawned a new area of research that looks at the interaction between genetic risk factors and experience in the development of psychopathology. A study led by Joan Kaufman and Joel Gelernter, both of Yale, and published in Biological Psychiatry, has demonstrated what many of us have intuitively concluded, which is that both nature and nurture contribute to who we are. In this particular study, genetic and environmental factors interact to determine risk for depression…

As with any behavioral genetic study, one must be careful not to overinterpret these findings, because virtually no study in behavioral genetics is consistently or completely replicated. Nonetheless, some additional points about this paper can help inform us on the nature-nurture debate. First, depression scores and categorical diagnoses of depression were significantly higher in children with a history of maltreatment versus controls even before any genetic analysis was factored in. In a similar vein, the highest average depression score of any genotype category in the unabused control children was lower than the average depression score for any genotype category in the maltreated children; genes alone weren’t likely to make the child depressed, but maltreatment alone could.

These findings suggest that, at least regarding these specific polymorphisms, nurture beats nature. This conclusion will come as a relief to believers in human free will. It also argues strongly for the identification of children at risk for maltreatment and strong actions to reverse the negative effects of this experience.

Source: Scientific American
http://tinyurl.com/38jfk4