Networks of brain activity predict vulnerability to depression. Tapping into the electrical chatter between different regions of the brain may provide a new way to prevent and treat depression. Scientists showed that mice that were more susceptible to developing depression-like symptoms displayed different networks of electrical brain activity than more resilient mice. These results could be the first step toward a test to predict a person's vulnerability to developing mental illness. Source 5r.
Depression is one of those things that affects everyone at some point in your life because life is full of disappointments. I try to hold to the promise of a better day tomorrow and surround myself with optimistic people so I can be lifted out of depressed feelings whenever they come around.
Depression negatively impacts heart and stroke patients. People with cardiovascular disease who haven't been diagnosed with depression but are at high-risk for it are more likely to report worse healthcare experiences and use emergency room services more often than those diagnosed with depression. Heart attack patients diagnosed with depression are more likely to be hospitalized, use emergency rooms and annually spend more on healthcare than heart attack patients without depression. Source 4y.
Forty-four genomic variants linked to major depression. A new meta-analysis of more than 135,000 people with major depression and more than 344,000 controls has identified 44 genomic variants, or loci, that have a statistically significant association with depression. Source 3t.
Depression linked to memory problems and brain aging. Depression in older adults may be linked to memory problems, according to new research. The study also showed that older people with greater symptoms of depression may have structural differences in the brain compared to people without symptoms. Source 6w.
In depression the brain region for stress control is larger. Although depression is one of the leading psychiatric disorders, its cause remains unclear. A recent study found that those affected by depressive disorder have a larger hypothalamus compared to their healthy counterparts. This could explain why many sufferers show increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol and are very often afflicted with periods of tension. Source 7o.
What really makes me wonder about the big mystery with depression. Is it the actions accumulated overtime that led to depression itself (Like in the quote happiness is a choice) or is it the chemicals in the brain that so happened to malfunction as age and time progresses?