Scientists have figured out how depression changes the brain
Depression changes the brain in the literal sense of the word, leading to thickening of the cerebral cortex, scientists have found.
The study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, and briefly on it informs portal EurekAlert!.
Participants in the 10-week study were 41 patients with chronic depression and 39 healthy people. Some of them took a selective reuptake inhibitor of serotonin and norepinephrine, and some — a placebo. Throughout the study the group taking medication showed a significant improvement in the state compared with the placebo group.
Brain scans showed that those who were ill with depression and not taking medication, the cortex was thick in some areas to compensate for the impact of the disease. The greater thick the bark is, the less pronounced were the symptoms. The drugs that help cope with the manifestations of depression, freed the cortex from this function, allowing it to become the thickness is the same as in healthy people.