Depression can impact brain function, and it may be difficult to diagnose and manage. Those who understand how depression can manifest in the brain are better equipped to identify depressive symptoms in their early stages.
What Is Depression?
Depression is a mood disorder that causes feelings of sadness, loss, and emptiness. The disorder is ongoing, and people who experience depression won’t “snap out” of it after only a few days or weeks. Instead, depression causes serious symptoms that can linger for many months or years.
The symptoms of depression can be physical and psychological, and they vary in terms of severity and length. Physical symptoms of depression include headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbances, weight loss or gain, and back pain. Psychological symptoms of the mood disorder include loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyable, agitation, anxiety, angry outbursts, and frequent or recurring thoughts of death or suicide.
Depressive symptoms are persistent, and they may occur one or more times per day, virtually every day. They may be related to various causes associated with the mood disorder.
What Causes Depression?
Many factors may impact depressive symptoms, including genetics, hormones, and brain chemistry.
Some studies suggest depression may be more common in people with a family history of the mood disorder.
A hormonal imbalance may also be associated with depressive symptoms. This imbalance may occur in the weeks and months following pregnancy. Hormonal imbalance may also be caused by thyroid issues, menopause, or other conditions.
Some research suggests an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters in the brain may be related to the development of depressive symptoms as well.
How Does Depression Manifest in the Brain?
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that fit into cells in the brain, and they help transmit nerve impulses between brain cells and to the rest of the body.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps manage nerve pathways in the brain used to regulate pleasure and emotional rewards. If any of these nerve pathways are disrupted, the brain’s ability to manage pleasure and emotional rewards can be affected.
Along with dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin are other neurotransmitters that have been linked to depression.
Norepinephrine, also referred to as noradrenaline, helps increase heart rate and blood pressure, break down fat, and provide energy to the body. If the body’s norepinephrine level declines, the result may be lethargy and lack of concentration, as well as depression.
Serotonin works in a similar way to norepinephrine. The neurotransmitter helps relay messages from one section of the brain to another, as well as deliver messages to brain cells related to mood, sleep, learning, and other body functions. When there is low production of serotonin, depression may occur.
How Does Depression Affect the Brain?
Much in the way that an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain may contribute to depressive symptoms, an imbalance of cortisol in different portions of the brain may have a similar effect.
Cortisol is a hormone that may be released during periods of mental or physical stress. At a time when extreme stress occurs, an excess amount of cortisol may be sent to the brain, resulting in a cortisol imbalance.
The hippocampus is the section of the brain which regulates the production of cortisol. Over time, an excess amount of cortisol in the brain may slow the production of neurons, cells that transmit information to other cells in the nervous system. This may cause the hippocampus to shrink, resulting in memory problems and depressive symptoms.
Excess production of cortisol may also impact the prefrontal cortex, the portion of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, decision-making, and memory development. When an excess amount of cortisol develops in the brain, the prefrontal cortex may shrink, which may lead to depressive symptoms.
The amygdala may be involved in depression as well. This part of the brain facilitates emotional responses like fear and pleasure. But, when the amygdala is exposed to an excess amount of cortisol, it can become hyperactive. In this instance, the amygdala can become enlarged, resulting in irregular sleep patterns and other abnormal activity in the body that may contribute to depressive symptoms.
What Treatments Are Available to Help People Manage Depression?
Medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) may be used to help people cope with depressive symptoms.
SSRIs help increase the brain’s serotonin level, block the reabsorption of serotonin into neurons, and improve the transmission of messages between neurons.
Like SSRIs, SNRIs help block the reabsorption of serotonin into neurons. SNRIs have the same effect on norepinephrine.
In addition to medication, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may be used to help manage depressive symptoms.
How Can TMS Treatment Change the Brain?
TMS uses magnetic pulses that stimulate neural activity in regions of the brain that are underactive in patients coping with depression.
During TMS, an electromagnetic coil is placed on a patient’s head, near the left temple. Magnetic pulses are sent to underactive regions of the patient’s brain, thus activating regions of the brain where there is reduced activity that may contribute to depressive symptoms.
The use of magnetic pulses in TMS may help depression patients relieve their symptoms and improve their quality of life.
TMS may result in long-lasting activation of parts of the brain responsible for mood. Plus, TMS is generally safe and well-tolerated, does not require the use of medication, and has minimal side effects in contrast to many other depression therapy options.
Achieve TMS has performed TMS therapy on more than 10,000 patients across 350,000 treatment sessions. To date, depression patients who have received TMS have reported a 49% remission rate and a 70% response rate after treatment.
Our expert medical clinicians are happy to teach patients coping with depression about TMS and help them determine if this therapy can be used to manage depressive symptoms. To learn more or to schedule a consultation, please contact us online, or call or text us at 877-285-0822.