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posted by mrpg on Friday March 02 2018, @01:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the get-help-now dept.

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 ParkinsonĀ“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


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @10:45AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @10:45AM (#646311)

    Forget pills and doctors, shame and guilt. Those will not help you.

    Instead change your surroundings entirely, like move to another city and do something different. It will allow you to become another person.

  • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday March 02 2018, @01:00PM (2 children)

    by acid andy (1683) on Friday March 02 2018, @01:00PM (#646325) Homepage Journal

    Forget pills and doctors, shame and guilt. Those will not help you.

    Who ever says that shame and guilt would help you? A pointy-haired suit telling you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps?

    I actually think shame and guilt can rather be one of the big root causes of depression. We're brought up to feel those things, in the education system, by our peers, and in the working world, but no-one ever seems to give a shit about telling us how to deal with those feelings. To those fuckers, a wage slave can never be too conscientious.

    --
    If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @05:39PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @05:39PM (#646492)

      i never even heard of using shame and guilt to eliminate depression. i can't imagine anyone would. i would expect that someone trying to manipulate a person could make that person depressed instead.

      if you or others are referring to religious stuff, no one gets high on life when feeling shamed and made to feel guilty. that shit is done to people because the doers want control. people that are happy enough to comply or just comply because they feel shamed or guilty because everyone else is complying... depression isn't going to be cured by such group therapy, and isn't the point.

      • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday March 02 2018, @06:42PM

        by acid andy (1683) on Friday March 02 2018, @06:42PM (#646529) Homepage Journal

        i never even heard of using shame and guilt to eliminate depression. i can't imagine anyone would.

        I'd never heard of it either until the OP AC's comment. Perhaps if they're reading they'd like to explain what they meant?

        if you or others are referring to religious stuff, no one gets high on life when feeling shamed and made to feel guilty. that shit is done to people because the doers want control.

        Not exactly. I was thinking more of work ethic, where people are made to always feel guilty that they are not working hard enough or always that they are not earning enough, working long enough hours, or being promoted to a coveted enough position. Generally, there's more stick than carrot, and the endless drive for profit and growth means that the pressure is never let up, no matter how hard the person works. Consequently, the guilt can be never ending and can become all-consuming.

        depression isn't going to be cured by such group therapy, and isn't the point.

        It's not in the interests of the profiteers to teach people how to deal with being saddled with an excess of guilt, nor the depression that arises from it.

        You mentioned religion. The only thing I would say on that subject is that aspects of religion often get misused by these profiteers to further their cause and ease the indoctrination process.

        --
        If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?