Does depression run in the Watzke-Durling line?

Buster_Dog's " Santa Claus" prompted me to make the following request of family members. I am building a family tree for the Watzke-Durling line based on reports of depression from family members or from reports about family members. I have observed and heard from others of so many cases that I have decided to document the incidence of depression in this particular family line. Please feel free to contact me, and rest assured your correspondence will be held in the strictest confidence. I am especially interested in learning about your own experiences and in any approach that has been of help to you---counseling, psychotherapy, ' alternative' type treatments (e.g., yoga, tai chi, exercise programs, herbal remedies, etc.), in-patient/out-patient services, specific medications, etc. AND what you tried that didn't help.


My first experience with depression in the family was with my own mother, Bertha Durling Peck. She was a wonderful person, loved by many, who was two different people--one person in private, another in public. Most of her life as I knew her was spent suffering from depression that worsened significantly on anniversaries of births, marriages, deaths in the family. However, few people ever saw her in this state, for, with great effort, she could sometimes "pull herself together", always presenting a happy face to others. If she was unable to manage that, she simply stayed at home, usually lying down in a darkened room.

I have also learned of cousins, aunts, and uncles who say they have struggled with depression in their lives. I see this same pattern in my three 'birth' children, but not in any of my adopted children.

As for myself? Well, I was very well educated to recognize depression having earned a couple of degrees in clinical psychology and having worked for some years in that field. I was certain that I was well-trained to avoid suffering the same fate as my mother. Drop into a depression? Not ME! And for many years, I tooled along in my life without giving it a thought. But then somewhere along in my late 30's or early 40's, I dropped into a pit. I can't say exactly when that occurred, because I was so depressed I didn't even know I was depressed! I could point to the difficult life I was leading, and that surely was tough enough to account for any problems I had, wasn't it? Fortunately, I got excellent help through a combination of individual and group therapy and medication. It was a long 7-year haul, partly because I insisted, "I'm not leaving here until I'm sure I won't be coming back in a couple of months "in a basket." I've been very lucky since that black time---maybe I paid my dues with such a long stretch, I don't know. I'm 79 and I've only had a couple of patches since, one of which was brought on by an anesthetist's negligence. With that one, if my bed had been near a window, I'd have jumped for sure, and it caused scary flashbacks for almost a year.

Hoping to hear from you. My email address bettytegtmeier@volny.cz
Best regards to THE FAMILY,
Betty