Epigenetics and depression : a rabbit hole of discovery

Abstract

“After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I’m offering is the truth.” Epigenetics is a bit like the red pill—the more it is researched the further down the rabbit hole we are going—the realisation that my choices today as my parents’ and grandpar-ents’ choices yesterday influence who I am now and who I am going to be tomorrow. Through the study of gene influencers, scientists are discovering that it is not only the DNA that makes us but which portion of is selected for use that tells us who we are. In the field of depression, epigenetics is still in its infancy, nonetheless significant connections have been uncovered. This paper gives a brief overview on epigenetics and the different mechanisms correlated with it. It also discusses factors affecting an individual’s epigenetic patterns and the effect of epigenetics itself. It specifically delves into the epigenetic ef-fects on psychiatry, mainly depression, depressive symptoms and antidepres-sant treatments and the mediation of mechanism of action of the epigenetic modifications involved.