How Depression Affects The Brain - Yale Medicine Explains

The prevailing standard for treating depression is based on the monoamine deficiency hypothesis, which suggests that a deficiency or underactivity of one of three brain neurotransmitters is responsible for the condition. - Neurotransmitters act as the brain's chemical messengers, facilitating communication between brain cells. However, there are over a hundred neurotransmitters in the brain and billions of neuronal connections, indicating that this hypothesis is somewhat limited.

For many years, it was believed that depression stemmed primarily from abnormalities in neurotransmitters, specifically serotonin or norepinephrine. Yet, serotonin and norepinephrine do not fully explain the symptoms of major depression. Instead, chemical messengers like glutamate and GABA, which are involved in mood and emotion regulation in the brain's higher centers, are being considered as alternative causes.

These two neurotransmitters, which are the most common and abundant in the brain, are crucial for brain adaptability and change over time. - Chronic and severe stress, often experienced by those with depression, leads to a loss of connections between nerve cells, resulting in inefficient and noisy communication in mood-regulating circuits. This loss of synaptic connections is thought to contribute to the biology of depression. - Understanding the neurobiology of depression and the brain's role in it is crucial for two main reasons: it helps us comprehend the disease's development and progression, allowing us to target treatments more effectively.

There are clear distinctions between a healthy brain and a depressed brain. Excitingly, effective depression treatment can restore the brain to a healthy state. Treating depression is recognized as a long-term process because it is often a chronic disorder.

Thus, new treatments and approaches are needed for individuals who have not responded well to previous therapies. We are entering a new era in psychiatry, shifting from the monoaminergic deficiency model to a comprehensive understanding of the brain as a complex neurochemical organ.

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