Same genes could make us prone to both happiness and depression
Professors Elaine Fox, from Oxford University, and Chris Beevers from the University of Texas at Austin reviewed a number of studies for their paper in Molecular Psychiatry . They say that there is a need to combine studies in mental health genetics with those that look at cognitive biases. Professor Beevers said: ' Cognitive biases are when people consistently interpret situations though particular mental 'filters' -- when people have a cognitive bias that emphasises negative aspects or thoughts, they are more at risk of mental health disorders. There is a lot of research about these biases, and a lot of research about genes that may make people susceptible to mental ill health. However, we suggest that it could make more sense to bring together these two areas of research.' Professor Fox said: 'If you take a gene that is linked to mental illness, and compare people who have the same genetic variant, it becomes clear that what happens to their mental health ...