As we delved into Carl Jung's archetype of the wounded healer last Monday, it reminded us of something

we learned about the serotonin transported gene. Has modern genetics discovered a pathway to the

archetype? You be the judge in this throwback to a 2021 episode.

The serotonin transported gene is one of the most popular genes on a pharmacogenetic panel.

Supposedly, it predicts whether someone will respond to an SSRI, but there's a whole other side of this gene that doesn't get told.

Welcome to the Carlythe Psychiatry podcast, keeping psychiatry honest since 2003.

I'm Chris Saken, the editor-in-chief of the Carlat Psychiatry Report.

And I'm Kelly Newsom, a psychiatric MP and a dedicated reader of every issue.

Why do some people get depressed under stress, but not others?

Many people have taken a stab at this question, but in 2003, psychologist Avshalom Kasby came upon a particularly eloquent answer.

He and a team of researchers have been following a cohort of babies born in Dunedin, New Zealand, around 1972. You may know it

as the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. The 1,037 children that took part in it

have given us around 300 papers on everything from heart

disease to ADHD. But mainly the study has focused on how the environment shapes a child's

physical and mental health for years to come. And by the time of 2003, the human genome had just

been mapped, and Dr. Caspi was able to test how a certain gene interacted with the

environment to shape the development of depression. That gene was the serotonin transporter

gene, also known as 5HTT, SLC-6A-4, or the CERT gene. We'll call it CERT in this podcast.

The gene codes for the serotonin transporter, which, as the name implies, helps transport serotonin back into the neuron in the brain.

The gene comes in two major alleles, or forms. The short arm or SS allele and the long arm,

or LL allele.

Technically there is a third as some people have one of each allele,

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