Question

A recent study found that disorders, such as depression, can run in the same family. What valuable insight about mood disorders can be inferred from these results?

Health professionals should exclude family history when diagnosing mood disorders.
Both family history and external factors can trigger the onset of depression and bipolar disorder.
Children are unlikely to receive a mood disorder diagnosis if their parents were previously diagnosed.
When looking at a family tree, mood disorders rarely appear across several ancestral lineages

Answer 1

Both family history and external factors can trigger the onset of depression and bipolar disorder.

Explanation: The finding that these disorders "run in families" indicates a hereditary or familial risk (genetic and shared environment), but it does not rule out the role of external/individual stressors — mood disorders are typically caused by a combination of genetic vulnerability and environmental triggers.