SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Research shows that longstanding depression alters the brain -- treatment may require different approaches depending on not just the severity of the depression but also on its longevity:
Is clinical depression always the same illness, or does it change over time?
New brain imaging research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that the brain alters after years of persistent depression, suggesting the need to change how we think about depression as it progresses.
The study, led by senior author Dr. Jeff Meyer of CAMH's Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, is published in The Lancet Psychiatry.
The research shows that people with longer periods of untreated depression, lasting more than a decade, had significantly more brain inflammation compared to those who had less than 10 years of untreated depression. In an earlier study, Dr. Meyer's team discovered the first definitive evidence of inflammation in the brain in clinical depression.
This study provides the first biological evidence for large brain changes in long-lasting depression, suggesting that it is a different stage of illness that needs different therapeutics - the same perspective taken for early and later stages of Alzheimer's disease, he says.
"Greater inflammation in the brain is a common response with degenerative brain diseases as they progress, such as with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson´s disease," says Dr. Meyer, who also holds Canada Research Chair in the Neurochemistry of Major Depression. While depression is not considered a degenerative brain disease, the change in inflammation shows that, for those in whom depression persists, it may be progressive and not a static condition.
Over years, depression changes the brain, new study shows
Depression Can Actually Leave Long-Term Changes in Your Brain, Study Shows
More information: Elaine Setiawan et al, Association of translocator protein total distribution volume with duration of untreated major depressive disorder: a cross-sectional study, The Lancet Psychiatry (2018). DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30048-8
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @02:03AM (18 children)
I was depressed in high school, actually from 7th grade until a couple years into college. I nearly jumped in front of a train. Brain inflammation may explain why learning went from trivial to hard as I reached senior year.
I was given pills. They were useless.
It would have been easy for a psychologist to write me a prescription that would actually cure my depression, but getting the prescription filled at the pharmacy would be difficult and I doubt my insurance would have covered it. The prescription would have been something like "one 60 kg girlfriend, to be used as needed for symptoms".
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @02:49AM (5 children)
What prescription cures (as opposed to treats) depression?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @04:36AM (2 children)
A gun to the head.
Since when has big pharma actually created a cure for something they could instead treat and charge for indefinably?
If big pharma were to just today start developing a method to deal with a broken leg, it would consist only of useless wallet-draining pain killers, and just enough medicine to keep the patient alive while the bone sticks out of their leg for the rest of their life.
(Score: 2) by Weasley on Friday March 02 2018, @06:49AM
They found a cure for hepatitis c. You only have to give them your house in order to be treated.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 02 2018, @07:32PM
If it's so easy why don't you get out there and fix some brains?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @08:27AM (1 child)
RLY.
The problem is that when I am depressed, the absolute last thing I want to do is go out and ride fifty miles on my bike.
I often go touring on my bike - but only when I'm not depressed.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @10:55AM
Didn't he already mention The Horizontal Bop?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday March 02 2018, @03:52AM
You could have self treated with /r9k/ applied liberally, but all it does is turn sadness to rage.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @04:44AM (7 children)
"one 60 kg girlfriend, to be used as needed for symptoms".
This site has gotten so bad I can't tell for sure if this is supposed to be one of those lengthy AC spam posts that always ends with bloody rape. :P
Bleach. My brain has a craving for bleach.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @06:08AM (6 children)
I'm not into blood at all. I couldn't actually go through with a rape; the reality would be horrible I'm sure.
I had this: 1.5 years serious depression, 0.5 years hope, 3.0 years serious depression, 1.0 year of relief again, 2.0 years serious depression, 0.5 years hope, 0.5 years serious depression, cured
The total comes to 7 years of horrible badness, plus 2 years of a weak and fragile sort of hope and/or putting things aside. (switching to a new school would typically generate a bit of hope, but I think that constant switching would wear out the effect)
The cure was damn obvious. My depression had a legit cause. I told my shrink exactly what the problem was, so he had no excuse for his failure to prescribe a girlfriend.
It's like when your kid dies and you get depressed. There is a legit cause and an obvious cure. Simply prescribe a resurrection.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @08:26AM (5 children)
At our first session she asked why I sought her help.
"I am completely unable to get a date."
"I bet you'd like to get laid!" she replied.
When I terminated therapy thirteen years later it was because I was moving to Newfoundland to get married.
Best sixty grand I ever spent.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @03:39PM (1 child)
so... did she get you laid?
I have to admit, I could probably dispense this advice to other needy men for less money than $60k.
Although if she had a full service operation, there are some costs I couldn't charge due to being unable to provide that service without engaging in a 3rd party relationship with other trusted service providers that may or may not be "in-network". Cash is acceptable in the event that this is something anyone wants to pursue; I am told the no cameras rule is strict, but the no kissing can be negotiated based on the care package subscribed to.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @05:33PM
Lily Marlene was overcome with joy when I kissed her hand at a strip club
The ladies of the evening took me by surprise
I was given a freebie once. She even invited me into her home, we didn't have to do The Dirty Boogie in an hourly-rate hotel
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 02 2018, @04:44PM (2 children)
$60k for the marriage or $60k for the therapist? Seems like, it took an awfully long time for that therapist to get you laid, if that's all that was wrong.
Seriously though, having the wrong girlfriend is 100% worse than not having a girlfriend. I'm one of those crazy people that only ever dated their wife and have been happily married for 10+ years. It's fine to have girl friends, but it's best to only date those you'd consider marrying. I know that seems crazy to some people and that I'm perceived to be "missing out" / "stupid" / "crazy" by them, but I am glad she's the only woman I've been intimate with. ++ She's the only girl I've ever kissed.
Throughout my childhood I was hyper, happy, etc. Through most of it I was also on Tegretol. Apparently it's a mood altering drug, beyond being used to control seizures. I was taken off it just before high school and have pretty much been battling depression ever since. I don't take medication for it and have never seen a therapist. Probably should have been seeing one at the start, but that's water under the bridge. I've learned to cope with depression and ADHD. Life's crazy, but you just gotta hang in there.
Back to the marriage thing. Marriage takes work and commitment from both parties. Anyone who tells you different has drunk their own koolaid.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @05:43PM
It no longer difficult to get laid but I don't want that anymore. To the extent I seek release I really do prefer anonymous hookups with men at porn theaters or bathhouses
There are two women that I'm interested in. One has a steady boyfriend so I'm not going to wait around for her
The other I don't know her situation but I do know she's always happy to see me. I'm going to bring her some flowers next time I see her
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @05:55PM
Most epilepsy drugs have also been found to help manic depressives
I take Trileptal. It's very similar to Tegretol
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:23AM
It was probably also difficult to learn because they weren't teaching anything, but just having you rote memorize information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @12:21PM (1 child)
Yeah when you're that age you often don't understand that most of the girls your age are only interested in men in their 20s and older; you just feel like there's something wrong with you instead. There probably isn't. Even if you do realize it, it doesn't change the agonizing sense of hopelessness.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @04:11PM
When I was 15, were the 6-year-old girls interested? I'm not Mohammed, but I guess a 6-year-old would at least have given me a future to look forward to.
What about when I was 13? Maybe a 4-year-old girl?