Genes, Experiences Determine A Person's Ability To Bounce Back

November 29, 2006

Long-term studies of child development indicate that some people

remain psychologically healthy despite years of severe deprivation

and trauma. Researchers are now studying the characteristics and

circumstances surrounding the ability to endure stress and bounce

back-a quality they call resilience, reports the December 2006 issue

of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Adapting to stress is a complex process that involves many

interacting influences. Social and family environment have received

most of the attention, but advances in genetics, psychopharmacology,

and brain imaging now permit closer study of the biological

underpinnings of resilience.

A promising line of research involves interactions between early

experience and genetically determined neurobiology. Low levels of

monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), an enzyme that breaks down several

neurotransmitters, have been linked to aggression in mice and

humans. The gene that produces this enzyme has short and long forms,

and the short form is less efficient. In a long-term study in New

Zealand, maltreated boys with the short gene were more likely than

those with the long variant to commit violent crimes and to score

high on measures of aggressive tendencies.

If the neurochemicals are important, then so are the brain circuits

in which they operate. Using brain imaging and other techniques,

researchers are now looking at how the brain's structure and

function, as well as a person's cognitive and neuropsychological

characteristics, are linked to resilience.

" Clinicians once were inclined to assume that resilience in

traumatic situations, especially chronic trauma, was exceptional and

required special explanations, " says Dr. , editor in

chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter. " Today, they are coming

to understand it as an especially effective form of normal

adaptation. "

Harvard Mental Health Letter

Harvard Health Publications Harvard Medical School 10 Shattuck St.,

Ste. 612

Cambridge, MA 02115

United States

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