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Nature And Nurture

Decent Essays

Mental illness has been a mystery seemingly unsolvable for thousands of years. Mental illness only became known as new brain imaging technologies were invented in the 20th century. In the present day depression and anxiety are commonplace, and they run rampant in our schools as adolescents face the challenges of becoming adults, working men and women put a smile on for innocent children while they internally panic at the thought of this week’s deadline, and the rich and famous can often be seen turning to drugs and alcohol only for the report to come out a week later, they have depression and anxiety, no one is surprised. We know what these illnesses do furthermore we know how to treat them but no answer has been put forward or accepted …show more content…

He backs this claim by first by asserting that evidence has shown familial components are present in affective disorders such as depression, manic depression, and anxiety disorders; then by examining twin studies focused on pairs which have one twin having a confirmed affective disorder, these studies show identical twins have a 70 percent chance of both having an affective disorder, 15 percent chance of sharing a disorder with siblings or parents and 7 percent chance among relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents); finally he cites studies on adopted children with affective disorders which states that 22 percent of parent/child pairs separated at birth shared an affective disorder while the chance of sharing an affective disorder with a stranger is only 10 percent. It is clear in Greenberg’s writing he hopes to convey that affective disorders cannot be written off as purely environmental in order to create understanding in a field which often seems unreasonable and irrational. Greenberg seems almost urgent, his concern and passions for these patients, future patients, and at-risk persons come through clearly but his writing remains …show more content…

The rats which were depressed were lethargic and lacked survival instincts when tested however with therapy in the form of a rat sized playground they began to show signs of recovery within a month despite their genes. This experiment was also reversed to try to cause depression and was successful “the stressed control rats displayed depressed behaviors when placed in a tank of water. They simply floated- despair behavior- and didn’t try to escape”(3). The science is improving nevertheless humans are complex creatures and hard to study; the experiments conducted on rats cannot be replicated in humans therefore the research has to take a path of observation and

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