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Genetic Me - UK med narrator
DVT/LF/OG/LF/TG/ALA
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<I remember, some years ago, I met>
<this man at a science conference.>
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<He wrote for The Wall Street Journal.>
<He was talented.>
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<There was a strong mutual attraction.>
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<A few weeks went by, and we met>
<in London over a weekend.>
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<We walked the city, hung out>
<at small cafes and galleries ->
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<- and we had this wonderful>
<intellectual banter going.>
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<He'd mention his favourite novel>
<or some work of art ->
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<- and I would challenge everything>
<with a subtle sarcasm.>
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<I was enjoying myself and began>
<to imagine us together in the future.>
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<On our last night, I asked him when>
<he wanted to visit me in Copenhagen.>
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<There was silence. This wonderful>
<man just looked at his feet and said ->
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<- that actually, he didn't>
<wanna see me again. Ever.>
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<I was just too angry a person.>
<Too aggressive.>
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<I was shocked. The whole time>
<I'd felt I was at my most charming.>
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<When really, I'd just been unbearable.>
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GENETIC ME
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<I often feel I'm on a collision course>
<with the world around me.>
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<I think: If only I weren't me>
<but someone else.>
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<It's as if I have my personality>
<against me. I'd like to change it.>
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<My name is Lone Frank.>
<I'm an author and journalist ->
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<- and I have a Ph.D. in neurobiology.>
<I don't believe in a soul.>
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<Or rather, I believe that>
<what we call a soul is pure biology.>
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<The starting point is our genome.>
<It plays a decisive role ->
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<- in how we function>
<and what goes on in our brains.>
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<We human beings are>
<complex biological machines ->
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<- and I'd like to tamper>
<with the machinery.>
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<To find a way to change through>
<knowledge about my inner being.>
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<I've decided to take a journey.>
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<I'll visit some of the world's leading>
<geneticists to get an understanding ->
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<- of my own genetic inheritance.>
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<But first I need an overview of who>
<I am. What my personality looks like.>
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<I'll use the leading scientific tool:>
<The five-factor model.>
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<It's a test that measures aspects>
<and dimensions of a personality.>
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<I answer 200 questions about myself>
<on the internet ->
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<- and then meet with a psychologist>
<who gives me the lay of the land.>
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The personality can be described
by way of five domains.
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We all have these five domains.
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The first we call Emotional Reactions.
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It measures negative emotions.
How big their impact is.
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Your score is high.
How do you feel about that?
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That is something
I was already aware of.
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If I notice anything about myself,
that would be it.
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A focus on negative things.
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The next dimension is Extroversion,
and here your score is low.
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Those who are at the high end
of the scale like to be around people.
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I honestly feel
people drain me of energy.
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- So it corresponds to ...
- Yes, I don't like people much.
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Right.
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And certainly not,
if they get too close.
50
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The next dimension is Agreeableness.
Your score is very low.
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It could hardly be any lower.
It's about how you meet people.
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People with a high score
approach other people -
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- and those with a low score deflect.
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And you've already expressed
that this is familiar to you.
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Yes, but I didn't necessarily think
I would be at the very bottom.
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I doubt people perceive you
as decidedly unfriendly.
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I think some people might feel:
Oh, she's not a warm person.
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How is it for you
seeing it laid out like this?
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Looking at it from the outside.
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Well, when I see it like this
it doesn't look ...
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... very pleasant.
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It reflects negative expectations
of life and of the world as a whole.
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And a negative ...
A critical approach to things.
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And I suppose that is why
I get this feeling of carrying a burden:
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"Argh, the world is out of joint."
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- "Living is hard."
- It is?
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Yes, I sometimes feel like that.
That it's like swimming in syrup.
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It's just hard.
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<My father was an alcoholic.>
<My mother was depressed.>
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<I grew up with stories about great->
<grandfathers and distant uncles ->
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<- who killed themselves, and I've>
<struggled with the darkness myself.>
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<But how much of this is genetic? >
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<How much of who I am today was>
<already there from the beginning? >
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<Are our lives for the most part>
<predetermined from birth ->
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<- because of the way>
<we're put together? >
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<How much can we determine>
<and change for ourselves? >
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<How are we to understand>
<this thing inheritance? >
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<Our DNA is a little alphabet>
<with only four letters.>
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<A, T, G and C.>
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<You could say that human beings>
<are created from information.>
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<A string of letters.>
<They form sentences.>
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<These sentences are our genes.>
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<I think of them as sentences in a book.>
<A sort of inner blueprint.>
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<This book describes our possibilities.>
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<I've read whole chapters in my book.>
<We're in a genetic revolution ->
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<- and genetic tests>
<can be accessed by anyone.>
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<I've sent a saliva test to Iceland>
<to a lab that mapped out ->
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<- the most important of the 25,000>
<genes that are found in all my cells.>
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<These days, anyone can delve>
<into their own genetic material.>
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<The sentences in your genetic book>
<will reveal secrets about ->
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<- why you look the way you do, what>
<diseases you're likely to develop.>
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<But will they also provide hints about>
<what goes on inside your head? >
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<Who you are as a person? >
<Or who you can become? >
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<I see the world through fairly dark>
<glasses, so it's appropriate in a way ->
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<- that I'm here in gloomy Newcastle>
<to meet an expert on personality.>
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<Daniel Nettle is>
<a professor of psychology.>
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<He's interested in>
<the mechanisms of personality.>
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<And why we become who we are.>
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I have this five-factor model
personality test.
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Take a look at it.
What kind of person do you see there?
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Give me a second.
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Hm ... I don't see a big people person,
I have to say.
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But I see a very creative person,
potentially.
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Which ... you know.
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I see someone
who loses sleep sometimes.
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But who does a lot of
very interesting things along the way.
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But these things tell you what you
already know because after all -
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- it's based on what you say
about yourself, so ...
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I think we all wonder: What is
personality? It's a very fluffy thing.
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Well ...
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There are some people ... You just
know how they're gonna react.
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Let's say you've got some friends.
You go up behind them -
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- and make a loud noise.
They're gonna jump out of their skins.
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And some of the others will say:
"Why did you do that?"
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So it's like there's some basic
difference in our nervous systems.
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It determines how they'll react
in a general way.
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Are they easily scared,
or is it difficult to scare them?
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This is consistent through life.
If as a kid you're easily scared -
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- you're gonna turn into an adult
who's easily scared, too.
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I was interested in happiness,
and I did a lot of research.
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It turns out that the biggest predictor
of how happy, say a 40-year-old is -
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- is not how much they earn
or how beautiful their wife is -
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- or how successful they are.
It's how happy they were at 15.
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That's amazing.
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It's shocking.
A terrible finding.
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But ... there are these continuities
in people's lives.
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Anxious children
grow up to be anxious adults.
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Smiling children turn out to be happy
adults. These things stay with us.
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Many people, if you ask them,
will have the notion -
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- and it might be an illusion, that
they can change their personality.
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You can change your life.
There's a difference between -
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- changing your personality
and changing your life.
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If people have problems with anxiety
or sadness there's a lot you can do.
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You'll still be a person who's prone
to respond in an anxious way.
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But you can really change the way
it affects you.
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You say we can change the way
we live our lives -
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- but we can't really change
our personality.
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It's pretty stable
over our lifetime.
139
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Would you say that
you're a happier individual -
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- after having studied personality
and understanding these things?
141
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I've spent a lot of time agonizing
why I'm not the kind of scientist -
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- who stays with the same experiment
again and again and gets it perfect.
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Well, that's just not what I do.
There are other people who do that.
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If you can accept that your strengths
are not the same as someone else's ...
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Rather than beating yourself up
you just say: "This is who I am."
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It's a really liberating thing.
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We are who we are. But that would
seem, to a lot of people, quite crazy.
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People keep saying that until they
have their 2nd child. Then they say:
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"I did nothing different, and this kid is
as different from the first one -
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- as a Martian is from someone
who grew up on Earth.
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They're totally different.
They respond in a different way.
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If I behave differently towards them,
it's because they're different."
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You've got to conclude
that the shuffling of the genetic pack -
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- is pretty powerful business.
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It made me think back.
How was I when I was 15?
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I was no joke.
I was an awful teenager.
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Really hard to get along with. He said:
You're obviously not a people person.
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Which is true. But still, I think I've
changed an awful lot since I was 15.
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<Nettle says that I should>
<just accept myself the way I am.>
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<And forget about changing.>
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<That sounds like old-fashioned fate.>
<I feel it can't be the whole story.>
162
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<That I just have to accept>
<the dark sides I'm struggling with.>
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<I want a deeper understanding>
<of what has shaped me.>
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<It's strange, but when I think back>
<on my childhood ->
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<- it's never the early years>
<I remember.>
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<Being a kindergartener, loved>
<by parents and grandparents.>
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<Playing with kids>
<in the neighbourhood.>
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<That whole warm and safe>
<middle-class existence.>
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<No, for me childhood crystalized>
<around the disaster that came later.>
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<A time that I have no pictures of ->
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<- because no one had>
<the desire to capture it.>
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<My father was drinking heavily.>
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<And when I was 12 my parents>
<went through a nasty divorce.>
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<The family was split up.>
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<Not long after, my mother>
<was diagnosed with cancer.>
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<While I was in high school, she died.>
<That's what I think of as my childhood.>
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<That's what I feel>
<must have shaped me.>
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<In London, I'm going to visit>
<psychologist Robert Plomin ->
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<- who's used identical twins>
<- to investigate ->
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<- whether family environment>
<influences our personality growing up.>
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Can we say how much our parents
and the way they bring us up -
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- matter to our personality
as adults?
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It's reasonable to think
that nurture's important.
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Kids grow up with their parents who
have a lot of influence over them.
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There's one thing I noticed
with my father.
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He's always been quick-tempered
You can say hot-blooded.
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Normally, a sane person, but when
he allows himself to get angry -
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- he goes ballistic.
And I do see that tendency in myself.
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So it's reasonable to think
I'm modelling his way, bad way -
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- of dealing with
these difficult situations.
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All of psychology assumes -
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00:14:02:06
- that nurture is basically the reason
why things run in families.
193
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Like me and my father's
proneness to being angry.
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Or mental illness or cognitive abilities
or personalities.
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But when we started doing
the genetic studies -
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- we found a lot of influence
of genetics.
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In the 70’s John Loehlin,
whose book I have here ...
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This dog-eared book because it's out
of print ... This book is called:
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'Heredity, Environment
and Personality.
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A study of 850 pairs of twins.'
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It was the first time someone put
these things together.
202
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To say the genetics is so strong -
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- that it actually accounts
for the familial resemblance.
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Things run in families for reasons
of nature and nurture.
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But it looks like nature is accounting
for the familial resemblance.
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He was the first one to say:
"As weird as this sounds -
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- what must be important
are environmental influences -
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- specific to the individual -
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- and not shared by children
growing up in the same family.
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<When I was 7 1/2,>
<my brother was born.>
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<We share half our genes, and>
<on the outside we seem a lot alike.>
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<But on the inside>
<we couldn't be more different.>
213
00:15:34:05
00:15:39:15
<Our parents and everyone else always>
<told us how different we were.>
214
00:15:39:18
00:15:43:18
<I remember myself as a shy,>
<withdrawn and sulky kid.>
215
00:15:43:21
00:15:47:13
<Well, I smile in the snapshots,>
<but we all do.>
216
00:15:47:16
00:15:51:13
<My brother, on the other hand,>
<was an exuberant baby.>
217
00:15:51:16
00:15:54:16
<One of those kids>
<who always gets people's attention.>
218
00:15:54:19
00:15:57:15
This is very counterintuitive.
219
00:15:57:18
00:16:01:06
The old Freudian story is that
our parents basically shape us.
220
00:16:01:09
00:16:06:20
What is the most convincing evidence
that they don't have that influence?
221
00:16:06:23
00:16:09:24
Identical twins reared apart -
222
00:16:10:02
00:16:13:14
- are very powerful
for getting at genetic influence.
223
00:16:13:17
00:16:17:20
Genetically identical people
reared in uncorrelated environments.
224
00:16:17:23
00:16:20:18
The converse of that
on the environmental side -
225
00:16:20:21
00:16:24:20
- is adopted children, who are
adopted into the same home.
226
00:16:24:23
00:16:30:21
Two genetically unrelated children
growing up in the same family.
227
00:16:31:00
00:16:35:12
To the extent that growing up in
the same family makes you similar -
228
00:16:35:15
00:16:38:16
- they ought to be similar.
229
00:16:38:19
00:16:44:01
But adopted siblings are correlated
zero. They're not at all similar.
230
00:16:44:04
00:16:50:09
It doesn't mean family doesn't matter,
it just means that in personality ...
231
00:16:50:12
00:16:54:10
The personality of your parents
doesn't affect -
232
00:16:54:13
00:16:58:20
- the personality
that you become environmentally.
233
00:16:58:23
00:17:01:13
That relationship is genetic.
234
00:17:01:16
00:17:08:22
But your parents have a lot to do
in terms of how happy you are -
235
00:17:09:00
00:17:13:16
- the resources you get to develop
your genetic propensities.
236
00:17:35:08
00:17:41:03
I think it's incredibly interesting
to think about that -
237
00:17:41:06
00:17:46:02
- the only environment that doesn't
seem to affect your personality -
238
00:17:46:05
00:17:51:10
- your basic psychology, is the
environment you think did everything.
239
00:17:51:13
00:17:56:05
The environment at home.
Your mother and father.
240
00:17:56:08
00:18:00:13
It's so counterintuitive.
Kind of impossible.
241
00:18:00:16
00:18:06:10
But, as he said,
you look at kids, little kids -
242
00:18:06:13
00:18:10:24
- you can even look
at foetuses and see -
243
00:18:11:02
00:18:17:04
- that they react differently
and characteristically to stimuli.
244
00:18:17:07
00:18:24:11
So yeah, we do have a personality,
and it's laid down very early.
245
00:18:26:09
00:18:30:15
<If genes shape us more>
<than our parents do, as Plomin says ->
246
00:18:30:18
00:18:35:19
<- I need to know more about them.>
247
00:18:35:22
00:18:39:15
<I call for an appointment>
<at Duke University in North Carolina.>
248
00:18:39:18
00:18:44:15
<There's an expert whose research>
<is shifting the boundaries.>
249
00:18:44:18
00:18:49:03
<On my trip across the Atlantic>
<I dive into the first studies ->
250
00:18:49:06
00:18:53:23
<- that showed how genes and>
<environment work together.>
251
00:18:54:01
00:18:57:04
<We know of a handful of genes>
<that work in the brain ->
252
00:18:57:07
00:19:00:21
<- and fundamentally influence>
<our psyche and personality.>
253
00:19:01:00
00:19:04:15
<Two of these genes are called>
<MAOA and SERT.>
254
00:19:04:18
00:19:07:10
<They're found in>
<two different variants ->
255
00:19:07:13
00:19:10:11
<- that affect the chemistry>
<of the brain differently.>
256
00:19:10:14
00:19:13:21
<A robust variant>
<and a sensitive variant.>
257
00:19:14:00
00:19:16:22
<Psychologists>
<Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi ->
258
00:19:17:00
00:19:20:03
<- were studying these variants>
<ten years ago when they made ->
259
00:19:20:06
00:19:23:02
<- a major scientific breakthrough.>
260
00:19:23:05
00:19:27:04
<Caspi and Moffitt gene tested more>
<than 1000 people and discovered ->
261
00:19:27:07
00:19:31:03
<- that the combination of gene>
<variants and childhood environment ->
262
00:19:31:06
00:19:33:17
<- was crucial for>
<their behaviour as adults.>
263
00:19:33:20
00:19:37:23
<A sensitive variant of the MAOA gene>
<and a traumatic childhood ->
264
00:19:38:01
00:19:42:18
<- resulted in higher risk>
<for aggression, even criminality.>
265
00:19:42:21
00:19:47:16
<A sensitive variant of the SERT gene>
<and childhood trauma ->
266
00:19:47:19
00:19:51:13
<- resulted in a higher risk of>
<depression. So the message was:>
267
00:19:51:16
00:19:53:10
<It's not genes alone ->
268
00:19:53:13
00:19:57:07
<- or childhood traumas alone>
<that determine our development.>
269
00:19:57:10
00:20:01:04
<It's about how our personal cocktail>
<of genes and environment is shaken.>
270
00:20:01:07
00:20:06:01
<My own little gene experiment>
<has given me an unpleasant surprise.>
271
00:20:06:04
00:20:10:18
<It turns out that I only have>
<risk variants. No robustness at all.>
272
00:20:10:21
00:20:14:14
<It feels a little like losing>
<in the great genetic lottery.>
273
00:20:14:17
00:20:17:15
<Should I see myself>
<as a terrible train wreck?>
274
00:20:17:18
00:20:21:02
<As someone who needs pampering>
<and to be packed in cotton? >
275
00:20:21:05
00:20:24:05
<I need to understand>
<the connection between ->
276
00:20:24:08
00:20:26:14
<- what these genes do in my brain ->
277
00:20:26:17
00:20:29:18
<- and how it affects>
<the way I experience the world.>
278
00:20:29:21
00:20:34:20
<Ahmad Hariri has studied how you get>
<from pure genetic knowledge ->
279
00:20:34:23
00:20:38:09
<- to a sense of life>
<as it's actually lived.>
280
00:20:38:12
00:20:43:16
The simple theme of our research is
to understand individual differences.
281
00:20:43:19
00:20:48:17
Meaning, why is it that when two
people encounter the same thing -
282
00:20:48:20
00:20:53:06
- they respond to it very differently?
And more specifically:
283
00:20:53:09
00:20:57:10
What is it about our biology
that makes us respond differently?
284
00:20:57:13
00:21:02:01
That creates individual differences
we all see in each other.
285
00:21:08:02
00:21:13:16
Two siblings can respond very
differently to the death of a parent.
286
00:21:13:19
00:21:17:04
One can be resilient,
plan the funeral -
287
00:21:17:07
00:21:20:22
- and help all the other family
grieve and mourn -
288
00:21:21:00
00:21:24:00
- while the other unravels, falls apart.
289
00:21:24:03
00:21:29:21
Why is that? It's the same experience.
The death of a mom or a dad.
290
00:21:30:00
00:21:34:14
But a completely different
almost polar-opposite response.
291
00:21:34:17
00:21:38:21
And this is of two individuals
who are largely genetically related.
292
00:21:38:24
00:21:43:06
But not genetically identical.
Genetic differences can influence -
293
00:21:43:09
00:21:47:18
- the way that brains are processing
this information and in turn -
294
00:21:47:21
00:21:54:13
- whether one is resilient to stress
or susceptible to stress.
295
00:21:58:07
00:22:01:13
<I remember when our mother died,>
<I broke down completely.>
296
00:22:01:16
00:22:04:06
<And for a long time>
<I couldn't function ->
297
00:22:04:09
00:22:07:18
<- but it seemed like>
<my brother took it in stride.>
298
00:22:07:21
00:22:13:19
<I don't know whether it was because>
<he was younger or more robust.>
299
00:22:13:22
00:22:16:23
<But even today>
<he's one of those people ->
300
00:22:17:01
00:22:21:15
<- who can handle any form of stress.>
<Completely the opposite of me.>
301
00:22:21:18
00:22:24:23
There's a structure in the brain
called the amygdala.
302
00:22:25:01
00:22:28:07
It exists in every animal
with a backbone -
303
00:22:28:10
00:22:32:13
- and really does the same thing
in all of those animals -
304
00:22:32:16
00:22:37:00
- whether it's a lizard, a bird,
a monkey or a man.
305
00:22:37:03
00:22:43:01
One of the core jobs of the amygdala
is to process threat.
306
00:22:43:04
00:22:47:04
To let us know
when something could harm us.
307
00:22:54:13
00:23:00:17
We need stress. It's critical
to the survival of every species.
308
00:23:00:20
00:23:04:19
Without stress
we would've died off aeons ago.
309
00:23:04:22
00:23:10:01
Because nothing fazes us.
We just walk around blindly -
310
00:23:10:04
00:23:14:04
- and then boom.
The lion gets us. You don't want that!
311
00:23:15:08
00:23:18:05
But it has to be regulated.
312
00:23:18:08
00:23:20:22
You need to have a stress response -
313
00:23:21:00
00:23:24:21
- and once you've dealt
with that stress -
314
00:23:24:24
00:23:30:06
- you need to be able to quieten it down,
to inhibit that stress response.
315
00:23:30:09
00:23:33:03
And that's another region of the brain?
316
00:23:33:06
00:23:37:00
Yes. The amygdala doesn't care
what happens afterwards.
317
00:23:37:03
00:23:41:11
I like to say it's like a watchdog.
318
00:23:41:14
00:23:48:11
When we're at home in our beds,
and our dog starts to bark loudly -
319
00:23:48:14
00:23:52:16
- the amygdala is sensing something.
"There's something outside the house.
320
00:23:52:19
00:23:56:07
I don't like it.
It's different. It's strange.
321
00:23:56:10
00:24:01:21
I am going to let my owner know
that I am not happy."
322
00:24:05:07
00:24:08:17
The owner in our brain
is the prefrontal cortex.
323
00:24:08:20
00:24:14:02
It's the seat of our rather unique
human abilities.
324
00:24:14:05
00:24:19:08
To create, to predict,
to identify patterns in our world -
325
00:24:19:11
00:24:23:22
- and to, in this context,
very carefully control our behaviour.
326
00:24:24:00
00:24:27:13
- So it's an executive director?
- Exactly.
327
00:24:30:14
00:24:36:06
"The dog is barking, I'm up.
I'm gonna figure out what's wrong."
328
00:24:36:09
00:24:39:05
I get to my dog,
look out the window -
329
00:24:39:08
00:24:44:06
- and I notice it's just a group
of kids passing by, being loud.
330
00:24:44:09
00:24:48:23
It's my job as the responsible party
to tell my dog:
331
00:24:49:01
00:24:51:05
"It's okay.
Let's go back to bed."
332
00:24:54:11
00:24:57:22
If I don't do that,
the dog is gonna continue barking -
333
00:24:58:00
00:25:01:10
- and continue barking
and continue barking.
334
00:25:01:13
00:25:05:09
This is what we find to be
the problem in the brain -
335
00:25:05:12
00:25:08:12
- when we have an anxiety disorder.
336
00:25:08:15
00:25:12:17
Even to a certain extent with
depression. When we think about -
337
00:25:12:20
00:25:17:10
- a depressed person, we think about
someone closed off from the world.
338
00:25:17:13
00:25:21:00
Retreated to a more inward focus.
339
00:25:21:03
00:25:26:16
That's in many ways the consequence
of having been over-reactive.
340
00:25:26:19
00:25:29:16
Having been bombarded
by stimulation -
341
00:25:29:19
00:25:33:03
- and by an excessive amygdala
response in the absence -
342
00:25:33:06
00:25:37:10
- of proper prefrontal control
and then shutting down.
343
00:25:37:13
00:25:42:03
<Talk about a big dog. I can easily>
<imagine my own amygdala ->
344
00:25:42:06
00:25:46:00
<- as a growling German shepherd>
<snapping at my heels.>
345
00:25:46:03
00:25:50:18
<Stress is like a cloud>
<always hanging over my head.>
346
00:25:50:21
00:25:57:04
<Everyone else can relax and enjoy life>
<while I'm like a tightly wound coil.>
347
00:25:57:07
00:26:02:13
So genes have a direct influence
on how tense my personality is?
348
00:26:02:16
00:26:07:09
Yes. At one level we have genetics,
that help us understand -
349
00:26:07:12
00:26:12:05
- how big and how loud that dog is.
350
00:26:12:08
00:26:15:09
There are also genes that influence -
351
00:26:15:12
00:26:19:19
- how capable the prefrontal cortex is
of regulating the amygdala.
352
00:26:19:22
00:26:22:23
Are you a good owner,
or are you a bad owner?
353
00:26:23:01
00:26:26:11
One of those variants is
in a gene called COMT.
354
00:26:26:14
00:26:30:09
COMT contributes to
dopamine signalling.
355
00:26:30:12
00:26:34:09
And very uniquely
in the prefrontal cortex.
356
00:26:34:12
00:26:37:07
There are two common versions.
357
00:26:37:10
00:26:40:06
We call one the VAL
and the other the MET.
358
00:26:40:09
00:26:45:06
What that means is that when a person
with a MET Allele background ...
359
00:26:45:09
00:26:47:23
- Let's say you're MET-MET ...
- I am.
360
00:26:48:01
00:26:51:16
So you have relatively more dopamine
in your prefrontal cortex.
361
00:26:51:19
00:26:57:01
Which means, when you're asked
to do something you're very focused.
362
00:26:57:04
00:27:01:13
You're able to lock into that
and just get the job done.
363
00:27:01:16
00:27:05:11
The problem is in something
we call perseveration.
364
00:27:05:14
00:27:10:11
Meaning that even though
you've quietened the dog -
365
00:27:10:14
00:27:14:22
- and the people have passed by the
house, everything is quiet and safe -
366
00:27:15:00
00:27:19:14
- when you go back to bed you're
gonna constantly think about that.
367
00:27:19:17
00:27:22:09
- Rumination.
- You're gonna ruminate.
368
00:27:22:12
00:27:27:15
Think about: "Oh, man,
the dog barked, it was so scary.
369
00:27:27:18
00:27:31:09
Next thing you know it's eight o'clock
and you're still thinking about it.
370
00:27:31:12
00:27:34:12
- That's like hearing about myself.
- Yeah, so that's ...
371
00:27:34:15
00:27:38:21
You can imagine that this is
a very dangerous type of thinking.
372
00:27:39:00
00:27:44:05
Rumination and perseveration
are core symptoms of depression.
373
00:27:51:15
00:27:57:01
<I know we are biological machinery,>
<but still it's a strange sensation ->
374
00:27:57:04
00:28:00:06
<- to be able to relate>
<this abstract knowledge ->
375
00:28:00:09
00:28:03:09
<- to something that can be felt>
<deep within the body.>
376
00:28:03:12
00:28:07:04
<The chemical mechanisms, Hariri>
<is talking about, fit perfectly ->
377
00:28:07:07
00:28:12:22
<- with my own experience of>
<the world. How I see it. How I feel it.>
378
00:28:13:00
00:28:19:00
<I'm very familiar with rumination.>
<It takes a chance remark to set it off.>
379
00:28:19:03
00:28:23:07
<To get me to wake up at four>
<in the morning obsessively thinking:>
380
00:28:23:10
00:28:25:18
<What did he mean by that? >
381
00:28:25:21
00:28:30:00
<I'm the sort of person who worries>
<about everything.>
382
00:28:30:03
00:28:33:19
<Am I doing okay at my job? >
<Is it even the right job for me? >
383
00:28:33:22
00:28:36:08
<Will I ever amount to anything? >
384
00:28:36:11
00:28:41:04
<It corresponds to something they've>
<discovered about the COMT gene.>
385
00:28:41:07
00:28:46:05
<Scientists speak of people like me who>
<carry two copies of the MET variant ->
386
00:28:46:08
00:28:50:22
<- as worriers, as opposed to people>
<with two copies of the VAL variant ->
387
00:28:51:00
00:28:54:21
<- whom they call warriors.>
<Warriors act and react.>
388
00:28:54:24
00:28:58:12
<While we worriers think.>
<We ruminate.>
389
00:29:01:00
00:29:05:00
Knowing about these genetic facts,
is there anything I can do about that?
390
00:29:05:03
00:29:13:12
I have all these so-called risk alleles
and I also have personality problems -
391
00:29:13:15
00:29:17:15
- with high neuroticism
and very, very low agreeableness.
392
00:29:17:18
00:29:24:16
As surprised as people often are
when they ask me: What do we do? ...
393
00:29:24:19
00:29:28:21
I think most people expect me to say:
We're gonna develop a drug for that.
394
00:29:29:00
00:29:36:06
The reality is we have the tools
behaviourally to retrain the brain.
395
00:29:36:09
00:29:41:21
We can apply behavioural strategies
based on genetic background.
396
00:29:41:24
00:29:46:16
This is the idea that
through systematic retraining -
397
00:29:46:19
00:29:49:05
- you can quieten down
the watchdog.
398
00:29:49:08
00:29:53:07
That's one thing you can do. The
other is a more top-down approach -
399
00:29:53:10
00:29:57:17
- which is retraining the prefrontal
cortex to be more flexible.
400
00:29:57:20
00:30:04:08
And that's a more conscious decision
to focus on the good.
401
00:30:05:11
00:30:08:16
But as a short-short and a MET-MET,
what would you do?
402
00:30:08:19
00:30:12:10
I would probably do a combination.
What we're suggesting is -
403
00:30:12:13
00:30:15:12
- you need to ...
You know what might work with this?
404
00:30:15:15
00:30:18:12
Have a stiff drink
at the end of the day.
405
00:30:18:15
00:30:22:04
I do have two glasses of red wine
every day.
406
00:30:22:07
00:30:28:01
I do it for my heart ... But now I can
say I do it for my prefrontal cortex.
407
00:30:28:04
00:30:31:05
You want ...
This is gonna sound a little strange -
408
00:30:31:08
00:30:36:16
- but someone like you needs
to check out. It's just to stop thinking.
409
00:30:36:19
00:30:41:10
One of the best ways to reduce the
efficiency of the prefrontal cortex -
410
00:30:41:13
00:30:44:08
- is through alcohol.
411
00:30:44:11
00:30:50:08
Do your attentional modification and
have two glasses of wine every day.
412
00:30:50:11
00:30:53:09
And you should be fine.
413
00:31:05:00
00:31:09:14
<My meeting with Hariri is>
<the high point of the journey so far.>
414
00:31:09:17
00:31:12:14
<He tells me>
<that there is something I can do.>
415
00:31:12:17
00:31:16:10
<When we know about our genes,>
<it says something about our brains.>
416
00:31:16:13
00:31:20:18
<And the brain we can shape.>
<It's plastic. It can be changed.>
417
00:31:20:21
00:31:23:20
<So maybe there>
<are possibilities ->
418
00:31:23:23
00:31:27:14
<- even for someone>
<with my sensitive equipment.>
419
00:31:33:16
00:31:37:03
<What if you've taken a really>
<hard hit, biologically speaking? >
420
00:31:37:06
00:31:39:12
<What sort of person do you get ->
421
00:31:39:15
00:31:43:13
<- with the worst possible combination>
<of genes and brain activity? >
422
00:31:43:16
00:31:46:20
<From North Caroline,>
<I've driven to Albany, New York ->
423
00:31:46:23
00:31:51:06
<- to meet a man who's spent years>
<looking a brain scans of criminals.>
424
00:31:51:09
00:31:53:15
<We're not talking pickpockets ->
425
00:31:53:18
00:31:57:08
<- but people who've committed>
<the most horrific crimes.>
426
00:31:57:11
00:32:01:21
<James Fallon studies>
<the inner workings of mass murderers.>
427
00:32:02:00
00:32:05:23
What I noticed, after going through
about 20 of these is -
428
00:32:06:01
00:32:09:15
- that they may have had damaged
different parts of the brain -
429
00:32:09:18
00:32:14:00
- but they all had an underlying
pattern of very low activity -
430
00:32:14:03
00:32:19:05
- in the base of their frontal lobe and
in the amygdala, the temporal lobes.
431
00:32:19:08
00:32:24:17
The areas of the brain that
control pleasure and violence etc. -
432
00:32:24:20
00:32:27:19
- the id, the amygdala,
was down.
433
00:32:27:22
00:32:32:02
But also, the area that has
to do with control of behaviour -
434
00:32:32:05
00:32:36:10
- inhibiting behaviour, but also codes
for ethics and morality.
435
00:32:36:13
00:32:40:08
That was also turned off.
These people that I was looking for ...
436
00:32:40:11
00:32:45:15
The area of the brain that says: I think
this might be wrong, was turned off.
437
00:32:50:07
00:32:55:22
I was sitting in my office,
and I had this pile of scans.
438
00:32:56:00
00:32:58:18
A lot of murderers.
Some impulsive murderers -
439
00:32:58:21
00:33:01:17
- some psychopathic murderers,
and some were normal.
440
00:33:01:20
00:33:07:21
And I got a knock at the door.
In comes Dave, our main technician.
441
00:33:07:24
00:33:11:17
"I've got your family scans."
I said: "Just put them here."
442
00:33:11:20
00:33:14:23
Couldn't do a full analysis,
I just went through ...
443
00:33:15:01
00:33:20:02
I've done this long enough to quickly
see if there's something wrong.
444
00:33:20:05
00:33:24:08
I said: "That's very normal." I went to
the second one, the third one.
445
00:33:24:11
00:33:27:10
Looked at it.
It looked very good.
446
00:33:27:13
00:33:33:07
I got to the bottom of the pile and
the last one jumped right out at me.
447
00:33:33:10
00:33:38:13
I said: "That's a psychopathic
murderer." Or at least a psychopath.
448
00:33:38:16
00:33:42:02
You can't tell by a scan, if somebody's
a murderer. But they have traits.
449
00:33:42:05
00:33:45:16
I said: "This must be
in the wrong pile."
450
00:33:45:19
00:33:50:08
It looked like all these other scans
of the murderers in the other pile.
451
00:33:50:11
00:33:55:16
So I called Dave: "You've gotta help
me. You've misplaced the pile."
452
00:33:55:19
00:34:01:18
So I had him check. He came back:
"No, it's one of your family members."
453
00:34:01:21
00:34:06:04
I said: "Okay, we've gotta find out
who this is." We pealed off the code.
454
00:34:06:07
00:34:10:00
And there was James H. Fallon.
It was me!
455
00:34:10:03
00:34:13:15
I immediately started laughing.
456
00:34:21:08
00:34:24:20
It threw me for a loop,
but it didn't bother me.
457
00:34:24:23
00:34:29:01
I knew that I hadn't killed anybody
or done anything really bad.
458
00:34:29:04
00:34:32:15
I was just a regular little bad boy,
but that's it.
459
00:34:32:18
00:34:36:17
But didn't it make you question why,
with the same brain pattern -
460
00:34:36:20
00:34:40:21
- as all these murderers, am I not
a murderer, but a fairly good guy?
461
00:34:40:24
00:34:45:13
Yeah, it set up several years of a hunt.
462
00:34:52:04
00:34:54:17
<Fallon and I>
<are chasing the same thing.>
463
00:34:54:20
00:34:57:14
<A molecular understanding>
<of ourselves.>
464
00:34:57:17
00:35:00:06
<Not only do we have>
<a common fascination.>
465
00:35:00:09
00:35:02:16
<He's incredibly good company.>
466
00:35:02:19
00:35:06:03
<He's fun.>
<He embraces everyone around him.>
467
00:35:06:06
00:35:09:02
<Even a snail like me>
<is drawn out of my shell.>
468
00:35:09:05
00:35:13:20
<I'm invited to a barbecue with Fallon's>
<three brothers in Saratoga Springs.>
469
00:35:13:23
00:35:18:02
<I'm sitting here surrounded>
<by a family with warm relations.>
470
00:35:18:05
00:35:20:19
<I'm reminded that I almost have none.>
471
00:35:20:22
00:35:24:03
<I think about how strange>
<this biological connection is.>
472
00:35:24:06
00:35:29:18
<The brothers are very different, but>
<also have deep features in common.>
473
00:35:29:21
00:35:35:04
<Their great energy, extrovertedness>
<and a need to feel life.>
474
00:35:35:07
00:35:38:02
We have barbecues.
Family parties.
475
00:35:38:05
00:35:42:18
My mother loves these, because she
always had parties here at this house.
476
00:35:42:21
00:35:45:22
I could tell by the twinkle in her eye,
that she had something.
477
00:35:46:00
00:35:49:14
"Have you seen this book
about your father's family?"
478
00:35:49:17
00:35:55:14
It was called 'Killed Strangely", and
it's the story about the Cornell family.
479
00:35:55:17
00:35:59:16
My grandfather was
Harry Cornell Fallon.
480
00:35:59:19
00:36:05:21
My cousin ... his name is Cornell.
We're Cornells on this whole side.
481
00:36:05:24
00:36:11:13
I went in and skimmed through it.
In that, the first case of matricide -
482
00:36:11:16
00:36:15:00
- the killing of a mother by a son,
is my great-grandfather.
483
00:36:15:03
00:36:18:02
It goes all the way back to 1675.
484
00:36:18:05
00:36:20:03
At the end of the book -
485
00:36:20:06
00:36:23:15
- there's a string of other murderers
all in that same line.
486
00:36:23:18
00:36:27:08
Murderers above and beyond
the cultural norm at the time.
487
00:36:27:11
00:36:31:17
So, we've got all these murderers ...
488
00:36:31:20
00:36:37:01
It's now four lines of our family
on that side.
489
00:36:37:04
00:36:43:12
I started to look at some genetic
combinations that would do that.
490
00:36:43:15
00:36:46:19
What would turn off
these areas?
491
00:36:46:22
00:36:52:00
Looking at it, one was a certain group
of serotonin receptors.
492
00:36:52:03
00:36:58:11
They turn on and off these areas.
I knew from Brunner's study in 1992 -
493
00:36:58:14
00:37:01:21
- where there was
all these men in a family ...
494
00:37:01:24
00:37:07:18
They had this gene that coded for
MAOA. They were all criminals.
495
00:37:07:21
00:37:13:00
So that's why MAOA was originally
called the aggression gene.
496
00:37:13:03
00:37:17:12
Caspi, in 2002, saw that
it wasn't just the gene -
497
00:37:17:15
00:37:21:04
- but how it interacts with
early abuse. Significant abuse.
498
00:37:21:07
00:37:24:10
Putting those together was like:
Okay, there's a set of genes -
499
00:37:24:13
00:37:27:23
- that turns off those areas
during development.
500
00:37:28:01
00:37:33:07
If you have those genes, it changes
the size of those areas, the amygdala.
501
00:37:33:10
00:37:36:14
Especially in boys.
502
00:37:36:17
00:37:41:07
<Fallon is convinced that>
<the safety of his childhood home ->
503
00:37:41:10
00:37:46:13
<- kept him from going over to>
<the dark side. In a way it makes sense.>
504
00:37:46:16
00:37:51:12
<Genes and environment are forever>
<locked in a special dance.>
505
00:37:51:15
00:37:55:21
<Think of our genetic book.>
<It has to do with how it's interpreted.>
506
00:37:56:00
00:38:00:08
<Some sentences will be read.>
<Others skipped.>
507
00:38:00:11
00:38:04:16
<Only some genes are active.>
<So, the way you live your life ->
508
00:38:04:19
00:38:09:00
<- becomes crucial for which genes>
<are turned on and off in your cells.>
509
00:38:19:20
00:38:24:19
My sense of empathy
is equal to everybody.
510
00:38:24:22
00:38:30:07
So I don't have a different empathy
for people close to me.
511
00:38:30:10
00:38:35:01
But if I see a child in pain,
that upsets me.
512
00:38:35:04
00:38:38:13
But I don't get any more upset
with somebody close to me.
513
00:38:38:16
00:38:41:23
I live on an emotional flatland.
But it's a high enough flatland -
514
00:38:42:01
00:38:46:23
- that I feel conscious that I have
to do good things, good work.
515
00:38:47:01
00:38:51:17
And I'll do things for people, but for
strangers as much as for my sister.
516
00:38:51:20
00:38:56:19
So my genes have produced kind
of a frontal lobotomy in one spot.
517
00:38:56:22
00:39:01:08
The upper part of my brain,
the thinking part, works better then.
518
00:39:01:11
00:39:06:03
It's not bothered by the functioning
of this orbital cortex.
519
00:39:06:06
00:39:11:19
It puts me at a great advantage.
I can still do high-functioning things -
520
00:39:11:22
00:39:15:19
- and I'm not slowed down
by tragedy.
521
00:39:20:15
00:39:23:22
<Fallon has been diagnosed>
<as a prosocial psychopath.>
522
00:39:24:00
00:39:27:22
<A friendly psychopath.>
<And he's fine with that.>
523
00:39:28:00
00:39:30:23
<It seems as if he's accepted>
<his biology ->
524
00:39:31:01
00:39:33:17
<- both the advantages>
<and the disadvantages.>
525
00:39:33:20
00:39:37:05
<I think about whether I can reach>
<some sort of acceptance.>
526
00:39:37:08
00:39:42:02
<Become reconciled to the baggage>
<I'm schlepping around.>
527
00:39:42:05
00:39:47:11
It's funny. Sitting here, I feel
almost like talking to my father.
528
00:39:47:14
00:39:50:03
He died a few years ago.
529
00:39:50:06
00:39:54:13
He had ... People would say
he had psychopathic traits.
530
00:39:54:16
00:39:58:13
I would say he was the person
I loved most in the world.
531
00:39:58:16
00:40:03:08
He was great. He brought me up.
He was my base in life.
532
00:40:03:11
00:40:06:17
He thought I was the greatest.
533
00:40:06:20
00:40:10:15
But he also had that ...
Yeah, things didn't bother him.
534
00:40:10:18
00:40:15:09
And he was really sort of ...
He thought it was so bad for me:
535
00:40:15:12
00:40:19:00
"Why are you bothered by all
these things? They don't matter."
536
00:40:19:03
00:40:21:22
But it's something
you can't turn off.
537
00:40:22:00
00:40:26:06
And I'm like ... there must be a way
to turn this stuff off.
538
00:40:26:09
00:40:33:06
So I set out on this genetic journey to
learn information to help me change.
539
00:40:33:09
00:40:37:09
If you were me, what would you do
with this information?
540
00:40:37:12
00:40:40:09
Think of ... you're sitting here.
541
00:40:40:12
00:40:44:17
You got here
partially because of that pain.
542
00:40:48:21
00:40:51:24
- Yeah.
- Probably. It's what drives you.
543
00:40:52:02
00:40:54:16
It makes you do what you do.
544
00:40:54:19
00:40:58:17
Look at artists. There are so many
creative people with depression.
545
00:40:58:20
00:41:01:20
Usually bipolar.
They go down into that ...
546
00:41:01:23
00:41:05:04
... terrible groundwater nobody
wants to go to.
547
00:41:05:07
00:41:09:13
They don't produce anything,
but when they come back up ...
548
00:41:09:16
00:41:15:08
They come up with this
wonderful thing. And to me it's a gift.
549
00:41:29:16
00:41:33:05
<Fallon says I have to think about>
<my life in a different way.>
550
00:41:33:08
00:41:36:23
<What I think of as a weakness>
<can also be a strength.>
551
00:41:37:01
00:41:40:20
<But that's easy for him to say.>
<The man is a friendly psychopath.>
552
00:41:40:23
00:41:45:05
<He hasn't been dealt a sensitive>
<fragile hand in the genetic game.>
553
00:41:45:08
00:41:51:03
<I experience all my risk factors>
<as an obstacle to overcome.>
554
00:41:51:06
00:41:56:04
<I've heard of a scientist with a new>
<way of looking at genetic sensitivity.>
555
00:41:56:07
00:42:00:00
<His name is Jay Belsky.>
<He's an American psychologist.>
556
00:42:00:03
00:42:03:02
<I find out he's going to>
<a conference in Zurich.>
557
00:42:03:05
00:42:07:00
<On my way home>
<I make one last stop.>
558
00:42:07:03
00:42:11:21
I think one of the problems with
the study of human development is -
559
00:42:12:00
00:42:15:18
- that we've been excessively
influenced by the Enlightenment.
560
00:42:15:21
00:42:19:15
We've become romantic idealists
who believe -
561
00:42:19:18
00:42:23:16
- that ... humans
are perfectible organisms.
562
00:42:23:19
00:42:27:11
If we just loved them,
cared for them -
563
00:42:27:14
00:42:31:08
- nurtured them, stimulated ...
we'd have peace on Earth.
564
00:42:31:11
00:42:35:00
If you're an evolutionary biologist,
you know that this is nonsense.
565
00:42:38:02
00:42:42:15
Evolutionary biology taught me:
Don't romanticize development.
566
00:42:42:18
00:42:46:17
Understand that organisms have
a primary goal in life -
567
00:42:46:20
00:42:49:23
- which is to reproduce
and pass on their genes.
568
00:42:51:16
00:42:55:01
As a developmental psychologist
you study families.
569
00:42:55:04
00:42:59:03
My interests are: How do experiences
shape who we are?
570
00:42:59:06
00:43:02:12
And the notion is that early
experiences shape who we are.
571
00:43:02:15
00:43:07:16
Whether that's the first five seconds,
first five months or first five years.
572
00:43:07:19
00:43:11:15
I came to realize:
The future is inherently uncertain.
573
00:43:11:18
00:43:15:06
So why would nature craft
an organism -
574
00:43:15:09
00:43:19:24
- whose tomorrow is dictated
by how the winds are blowing today?
575
00:43:21:03
00:43:24:03
If the winds changed -
576
00:43:24:06
00:43:28:01
- then they were all going over
the waterfall. It's a dead end.
577
00:43:28:04
00:43:32:00
And that said to me that theoretically
what we should have -
578
00:43:32:03
00:43:36:15
- is variation in susceptibility
to environmental influences.
579
00:43:36:18
00:43:40:17
My presumption was that
that would be more or less inborn.
580
00:43:40:20
00:43:45:19
My close friends are professors
Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt.
581
00:43:45:22
00:43:48:22
Before their now classic paper -
582
00:43:49:00
00:43:53:11
- on gene, environment and
interaction came out I saw the figure.
583
00:43:53:14
00:43:58:17
That figure, that graph, showed
that with a certain genotype -
584
00:43:58:20
00:44:03:09
- if you were maltreated, you were
more likely to be antisocial.
585
00:44:03:12
00:44:07:19
What I noticed was that there's a part
of this figure that shows -
586
00:44:07:22
00:44:11:21
- that those supposedly vulnerable
people who carry a certain genotype -
587
00:44:11:24
00:44:16:00
- so that they'll be more aggressive
if they're maltreated -
588
00:44:16:03
00:44:20:14
- that if they weren't maltreated,
they were the least aggressive.
589
00:44:20:17
00:44:23:13
What became clear is that
under bad conditions -
590
00:44:23:16
00:44:26:16
- just as
those risk theories predicted -
591
00:44:26:19
00:44:32:19
- those kids with those genotypes
look like they did badly.
592
00:44:32:22
00:44:38:04
But in the few studies that had
measures of positive environment -
593
00:44:38:07
00:44:41:10
- or sometimes just the absence
of a bad environment ...
594
00:44:41:13
00:44:45:03
Not that your parents were really nice,
you just weren't maltreated.
595
00:44:45:06
00:44:49:20
Those kids with those genes were
doing much better than other kids.
596
00:44:49:23
00:44:52:18
Babies can have
difficult temperaments.
597
00:44:52:21
00:44:55:16
They're hard to settle.
I had one of these.
598
00:44:55:19
00:45:00:11
I came away from it wondering
why there wasn't more child abuse.
599
00:45:00:14
00:45:03:17
- This was your own kid?
- This is my oldest son, Daniel.
600
00:45:03:20
00:45:08:01
I used to say about Daniel:
It's a good thing we got him.
601
00:45:08:04
00:45:10:13
- Why?
- Because we could cope with him.
602
00:45:10:16
00:45:16:10
It was easy to see how, if you
were depressed or lacked resources -
603
00:45:16:13
00:45:20:05
- if you didn't have understanding,
this kid would've ...
604
00:45:20:08
00:45:26:09
You might have thrown him against
the wall, called him names or hit him.
605
00:45:26:12
00:45:32:08
But what those parents, who have
those kids, are never told is:
606
00:45:32:11
00:45:37:05
This kid's gonna try your patience,
but you've got a diamond in the rough.
607
00:45:37:08
00:45:41:13
This kid, you can really make
an imprint on.
608
00:45:41:16
00:45:46:08
You can develop him, because he
or she has great upside opportunity -
609
00:45:46:11
00:45:48:16
- as well as a downside risk.
610
00:45:48:19
00:45:55:03
And that can be a blessing and not,
if you would, a curse.
611
00:46:05:03
00:46:09:13
We have another concept: Resilience.
612
00:46:09:16
00:46:12:00
You and I both grew up
in divorced homes.
613
00:46:12:03
00:46:15:11
I become a basket case because
I have risk characteristics.
614
00:46:15:14
00:46:18:03
My genes, physiology, whatever.
You ...
615
00:46:18:06
00:46:20:11
- I triumph.
- No!
616
00:46:20:14
00:46:25:12
It's water off a duck's back. You're
who you're gonna be no matter what.
617
00:46:25:15
00:46:27:10
- Robustness.
- Right.
618
00:46:27:13
00:46:32:20
So it looks like I'm vulnerable.
You're resilient. You did not succumb.
619
00:46:32:23
00:46:38:10
Let's put us in another thought
experiment where we're poor kids.
620
00:46:38:13
00:46:43:20
But the world changes, and we get
moved into an environment -
621
00:46:43:23
00:46:48:12
- where things are flush and rich,
and there's lots of opportunity.
622
00:46:48:15
00:46:52:11
All of a sudden
the risky guy over here flourishes.
623
00:46:52:14
00:46:55:14
The resilient person over there
stays who she was.
624
00:46:55:17
00:46:58:09
Resilience isn't an unmitigated good.
625
00:46:58:12
00:47:02:10
It's an unmitigated good
when things go badly.
626
00:47:02:13
00:47:05:23
But when things go well,
you may not be able to benefit.
627
00:47:06:01
00:47:09:02
That's nature's way
of hedging its bets.
628
00:47:09:05
00:47:13:13
If things go badly, people like you
do better than people like me.
629
00:47:13:16
00:47:19:02
But if things go well, people like me
do better than people like you.
630
00:47:19:05
00:47:22:14
To me, that is such an interesting
and positive way -
631
00:47:22:17
00:47:28:03
- of thinking about genetics because
it is leaving the medical model -
632
00:47:28:06
00:47:33:01
- of diseased and well
or normal and sick.
633
00:47:33:04
00:47:37:12
It's about biological variation,
and there's good evolutional reason -
634
00:47:37:15
00:47:42:15
- for biological variation.
It tells us there is no perfect genome.
635
00:47:42:18
00:47:48:08
There is no perfect brain physiology.
It depends on what context you're in.
636
00:47:48:11
00:47:53:17
This brings me to myself.
I have had a genetic test.
637
00:47:53:20
00:48:00:11
And I was told that I have two copies
of the risk allele for everything.
638
00:48:00:14
00:48:05:10
MAOA, serotonin transporterer,
COMT, BDNF ...
639
00:48:05:13
00:48:08:15
So you should be depressed,
antisocial etc.
640
00:48:08:18
00:48:11:01
I might have turned out a lot worse -
641
00:48:11:04
00:48:15:05
- if I didn't grow up
in a certain environment.
642
00:48:15:08
00:48:17:21
It gets me thinking about -
643
00:48:18:00
00:48:24:00
- what is it about my childhood
that would've been positive?
644
00:48:24:03
00:48:28:11
When I think about early childhood,
there was a horrible divorce -
645
00:48:28:14
00:48:33:06
- between my parents who hated
each other from I was ten years old.
646
00:48:33:09
00:48:35:16
And they couldn't speak ever again.
647
00:48:35:19
00:48:40:24
My mother died when I was 18,
and my father was an alcoholic.
648
00:48:41:02
00:48:46:07
But then again, I had an extremely
close relationship with my father.
649
00:48:46:10
00:48:48:14
I really loved him.
650
00:48:48:17
00:48:52:02
Nobody's life is perfectly wonderful.
651
00:48:52:05
00:48:56:02
Each one of us who've had a good life,
they weren't perfect lives.
652
00:48:56:05
00:49:00:17
There were difficulties.
So in that sense one has to look at -
653
00:49:00:20
00:49:03:16
- a totality of exposures.
654
00:49:09:12
00:49:12:03
<Every morning from>
<when I was 3 to when I was 6 ->
655
00:49:12:06
00:49:16:05
<- I sat on the back of the bike as>
<my father took me to kindergarten.>
656
00:49:16:08
00:49:20:07
<It was a glorious 20 minutes. We>
<talked about anything and everything.>
657
00:49:20:10
00:49:23:05
<Sometimes we had>
<a quick round of blind chess.>
658
00:49:23:08
00:49:25:23
<It was a time>
<when the world opened up.>
659
00:49:26:01
00:49:30:15
<There is no perfect life>
<and no perfect genetic material either.>
660
00:49:30:18
00:49:33:13
<Our genes are not just good>
<or just bad.>
661
00:49:33:16
00:49:36:21
<We all fill a place>
<in the evolutionary game.>
662
00:49:36:24
00:49:40:07
<And nature has use>
<for all our variations.>
663
00:49:43:06
00:49:48:17
<My genetic journey has been like>
<lifting the lid to my own machinery.>
664
00:49:48:20
00:49:53:01
<The information in genes is fixed,>
<but it's only a starting point.>
665
00:49:53:04
00:49:56:21
<Environment and genes can never>
<be seen as isolated from each other.>
666
00:49:56:24
00:50:00:15
<They're engaged>
<in an eternal exchange.>
667
00:50:01:23
00:50:05:06
<It can be said that genes>
<and environment meet in our brains.>
668
00:50:05:09
00:50:07:21
<The brain is plastic>
<and malleable.>
669
00:50:07:24
00:50:11:13
<I've achieved an insight into the>
<physical peculiarities of my brain ->
670
00:50:11:16
00:50:14:21
<- and I have a feeling I can learn>
<to rein in my amygdala ->
671
00:50:14:24
00:50:17:19
<- and tone down my frontal cortex.>
672
00:50:19:02
00:50:24:14
<That I can regulate my propensity>
<to ruminate by thinking differently.>
673
00:50:24:17
00:50:27:17
<Maybe personality>
<cannot be changed radically ->
674
00:50:27:20
00:50:32:18
<- but it's all about seeing>
<possibilities and not just limitations.>
675
00:50:32:21
00:50:39:07
<Understanding yourself in a different>
<way can make all the difference.>
676
00:50:42:17
00:50:46:19
<What looked to me like a disastrous>
<childhood, blemished personality ->
677
00:50:46:22
00:50:50:11
<- and a fragile genetic makeup,>
<now stands in a different light.>
678
00:50:50:14
00:50:53:10
<I'll undoubtedly run into problems>
<in the future.>
679
00:50:53:13
00:50:56:14
<Men who don't understand me.>
<Sleepless nights.>
680
00:50:56:17
00:51:00:08
<But I feel I know myself better now>
<at a biological level.>
681
00:51:00:11
00:51:03:11
<And that makes me better equipped.>
682
00:51:03:14
00:51:06:12
<The genetic revolution>
<has only just begun.>
683
00:51:06:15
00:51:11:19
<Scientists are merely>
<scratching the surface.>
684
00:51:11:22
00:51:15:20
<But what today looks like>
<impossibly complicated information ->
685
00:51:15:23
00:51:19:02
<- will soon become a completely>
<natural part of our lives.>
686
00:51:19:05
00:51:22:05
<What will this mean>
<for how we look at ourselves? >
687
00:51:22:08
00:51:25:17
<What will it mean>
<for being human? >
688
00:51:57:02
00:52:00:00
Subtitles: Tina Goldberg
Dansk Video Tekst