Is there a link between depression and intelligence? The answer might be in your DNA

Historically an overlooked topic, recent studies have found a genetic link between intelligence, depression and other mood disorders. Increased research into raw DNA data could unlock the link between mental illness and intelligence while supporting those who struggle with mental illness. Overall, this could improve the lives of many based on a better understanding of your DNA.

In January 2021, Nature Human Behaviour published a report that investigated shared genomic architectures between major depression and general intelligence. They identified several common genetic variants that influence the onset of major depression alongside general cognitive ability. This suggests that there are genetic links found in raw DNA data between high intelligence and a predisposition to depression and mood disorders.

Let’s have a look at these new findings and what they can teach us about ourselves and the information found within raw DNA data.

The link between depression and intelligence

In 2017, Ruth Karpinski and other researchers at Pitzer College in California conducted a study to investigate the link between depression and intelligence. They sent an email survey to members of Mensa, a society whose members must have an IQ in the top two percent. Karpinski and her colleagues found that 26.7% of the sample reported that they had been formally diagnosed with a mood disorder, while 20% reported an anxiety disorder. By contrast, the rate within the general population average was 10% for each.

The researchers found that those with higher IQs tend to have a heightened response to stimuli, resulting in them feeling emotions — such as worry or other negative emotions — more intensely than the average individual. This would suggest that highly intelligent individuals are more prone to mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety.

In 2016, neuroscientist Joe Tsien described intelligence as ‘the ability to self-discover knowledge and patterns from a world full of uncertainties and infinite possibilities,’ whose mission it is to ‘solve various problems in their natural and social environments in order to survive and thrive.’ This suggests that individuals with higher IQ have a greater capacity for seeing and internalizing uncertainties, possibilities and problems. This can be a great benefit or a debilitating trait. These individuals will often experience the world in an intense way emotionally (thanks to a more hyper brain). As a result, they will often have intense physiological responses (via a hyper body) to these elements also, based on a concept that was introduced by Polish psychiatrist and psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski in the 1960s.

Karpinski and her colleagues came to the conclusion that there is a positive correlation between intelligence and psychological disorders, largely due to hyper body and hyper brain theory.

The research suggests that a high IQ is a potential risk factor for affective disorders, such as depression, and early findings support a hyper brain/hyper body association. Simply having a high IQ will not make you depressed, but being intelligent often means that you possess other qualities that can make you more likely to experience depression, such as over-analyzing, being hyper-critical, worrying and overthinking.

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Cause and effect

It should be noted that a variety of factors could influence an individual’s susceptibility to mental illness, such as environmental and biological factors. Therefore, it is difficult to come to a solid conclusion as to whether there is a positive or negative correlation between an individual’s intelligence and depression. Demonstrating that a disorder is more common in a sample of people with high IQs than in the general population does not prove cause and effect.

There could be other factors, outside of IQ, that contribute to the correlation. For example, physical exercise and social interactions have been proven to be beneficial for psychological and physical health, which is something that perhaps people who are busy with intellectual pursuits may spend less time doing.

In the most recent study undertaken in January 2021,Bahrami, Shadrin, Frei et al identified several common genetic variants in raw DNA data that influence major depression and general cognitive ability.

What does all this mean? It means that there are genetic links between high intelligence and a predisposition to depression and mood disorders.

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New and promising research into the link between depression and intelligence

Research into the link between depression and intelligence is new and promising. It certainly warrants further investigation, especially to demonstrate causation, as it could have fundamental individual and societal implications in the mental health field. Further studies will need to be carried out to understand the strengths and limitations of the hyper brain/hyper body theory.

Hopefully, these studies will provide a springboard for future research in the mental health field. With the pandemic putting a spotlight on depression and mental health issues, this is an exciting time for research into emotional wellbeing. In what used to be considered a taboo topic that was not often discussed, the hope is that this important area of study will be given the attention it deserves.

What other discoveries are hiding in your DNA?

The human genome holds the answers to all kinds of questions and technology is making it easier to uncover those answers. You can learn a lot from your raw DNA data, whether it be finding out more about your health, your predisposition to Alzheimers, mental illness or celiac disease. These findings can help you to learn about how you can best optimize your health for the future, based solely on your genetic makeup. 

Thanks to modern science, the ability to retrieve and understand information from your raw DNA data is becoming more accessible thanks to companies like 23andMe and Ancestry DNA. They  provide individuals with the ability to get raw DNA data, enabling them to find out more about their genetic makeup.

Together with Citochrome, harness the power of your raw DNA data to learn more about your health and start working towards a healthier you today.