Michael Poyfair

Bio Blog

2/28/17

This mental health article, found in Scientific American, helps to explain how recent discoveries in brain imaging techniques have allowed for the measurement and study of specific biological markers, which could possibly result in a more specific treatment to the many differing types of clinical depression.

The article starts by describing a specific case of a New Jersey woman who has suffered from depression symptoms her entire life with no noticeable relief. She is not alone. The author states that currently in the United States, over 16 million adults who have had a depressive episode in the last year haven’t really found any relief from their mental or physical pain. This is included with those who were taking anti-depressants at the time as well.

The author goes on to explain that the problem with these millions of depressive cases originates in the way they are diagnosed. He explains how difficult it is to actually pinpoint a specific mental disorder due to the non-objective nature of mental illness. One may receive a blood test, CT scan, or biopsy for any kind of investigation of a physical disorder, but mental illness can only be identified through varying reported symptoms of previous cases. Even though there are broad and common symptoms for depression, it may manifest itself differently from person to person.

However, new research has allowed doctors and scientists to create a more effective way to identify and quantify the symptoms of depression through the use of biological markers in the brain. Using a procedure called an fMRI, medical professionals can measure the strength of the connections between neurons in the brain. After testing over 1000 people (40% had been diagnosed with depression), they were able to classify four unique categories of depression. Most differences were noticed in the limbic and frontostriatal regions. These new categories will lead to more specific diagnoses and more personalized treatments of future depression patients.

The discovering scientist was prompted to take on this study after seeing the neural connection strength variation in rats who were placed in stressful situations. After seeing data similarities between the rats and depressed humans, the researchers suspected that depression may be triggered by more than one origin and, therefore, might require more than one diagnosis. This conclusion has resulted in the study and relation of various biological markers that may affect noticeable levels of depression.  These markers include: cortisol levels, epigenetics, and toxic free radicals. Though the study is not complete, this is great news for the medical field as we come closer to identifying the specific causes and treatments for mental diseases that plague millions of people around the world.

I find this article to be extremely helpful in explaining the complexity of depression and the damage it causes. I have often considered myself a nonbeliever in the sense that I didn’t ever feel like depression was a real disease. I always thought that one could simply “get over it.” However, this article has shown that doctors not only believe that depression is a serious physical disorder, but that its complex nature may be treated through specific medical treatment. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-imaging-identifies-different-types-of-depression/