Compositions and methods for diagnosing and treating mood disorders

A method for determining the likelihood that a deceased human subject had major depression disorder, the method comprising the steps of:

• (i) isolating a subject's brain tissue, wherein the brain tissue is dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tissue;
• (ii) contacting the subject's isolated brain tissue with a nucleic acid probe which is at least 95% complementary to SEQ ID NO:1;
• (iii) detecting the level of probe that associates with said subject's FGFR2 mRNA;
• and
• (iv) comparing the detected level of associated probe with a control, whereby if the detected level is less than the control, an increased likelihood that the subject has major depression disorder is determined;
• and whereby, if the detected level is not less than the control, an increase in said likelihood is not determined by the method.