Depression: not just mental illness

Depression: not just mental illness

October 14, 2016 Source: Science Network / Yuan

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In recent years, some performing stars have repeatedly passed away from depression, evoking people's attention to this disease. At the same time, let some people who have not understood depression before, begin to face this problem.

"Depression is a mood disorder with a significant and persistent low mood as the main clinical feature. If you suddenly lose interest in things around you, have no feeling of happiness, and have repeated sleep problems, consider whether you have depression. Zhang Ling, director of the ward of the Depression Treatment Center of Beijing Anding Hospital, said in an interview with the Journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that if depression is not enough as a mental illness, it has a physiological basis. Although the cause of depression has not been fully understood so far, it is certain that many factors in the biological, psychological and social environment are involved in the pathogenesis of depression.

Among them, biological factors mainly involve genetics, neurobiochemistry, neuroendocrine, and nerve regeneration; psychology is related to pre-existing personality traits, such as depression temperament. However, these factors do not work alone. At present, the emphasis on the interaction between genetics and the environment or stress factors, and the timing of the emergence of such interactions have an important impact in the development of depression.

Depression genes were found

At the end of 2007, a Chinese writer Li Lanni, who was greatly embarrassed in the eyes of her friends and who was at the peak of her career, published a book called "No One in the Wilderness - A Mental Archive of Depressed Patients". She mentioned in the opening that one day, the doctor told her that she had depression and she smiled heartily: I have depression? I have something to be depressed. If someone like me has depression, the people of the province probably should have it. She told it to her friends as a joke, and everyone also paid a smile. This is the thing of 2003.

However, after suffering from depression for five years, she became a doctor and wrote a book about her fight against depression and cancer. In the book, she also mentioned that “depression is divided into at least two types, one is psychological and the other is physiological. For example, my condition is physiological depression. This case has nothing to do with whether the personality is strong or not. Types of patients can be relieved and controlled through psychological intervention, mental comfort, etc. Physiological types of patients must take medicine, and must have a psychiatrist to intervene, otherwise the condition will be step by step, and eventually it will be hopeless."

Scientists have also been working hard to find the relationship between depression and genes. In February 2014, a geneticist at the University of Oxford, Jonathan Flint, was surprised to discover that certain human genetic sequences are associated with depression.

In July 2015, in the genetics paper published by the British journal Nature on the 16th, Jonathan Flint and Chinese and British scientists identified two genetic variants highly associated with major depression through a large number of experiments. . In the paper, the research team reported two genetic markers of major depression. This discovery will provide important clues to the search for drugs for the treatment of depression, as well as the development of more accurate tools for the diagnosis of depression.

Physiological and psychological interaction

The physiological state of the human body can cause depression, and depression can also affect the body. In 2012, the Wall Street Journal published an article from Duke University on depression research. According to the article, scientists have found that at the cellular level, people with long-term psychological stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder are prone to early serious physical illnesses that often occur in older people, such as stroke and dementia. , heart disease and diabetes. Moreover, people with severe psychological stress and depression also develop chromosomal changes that occur when the body ages.

When the initial exploration of accelerated aging 20 years ago, Duke University researchers conducted brain scans of older depression patients, showing a decrease in brain volume-related age compared with those without depression. Much faster. This root cause of accelerated aging comes from telomeres at the ends of chromosomes, which play an important role in the aging process. The older the person, the shorter the telomeres, and the shortening of telomeres is also associated with an increased risk of illness and death.

Several studies conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, have found that shorter telomere lengths are associated with depression, childhood trauma, and the like. Volkowitz said the researchers investigated 43 long-term people with post-traumatic stress disorder, an average age of about 30 years, and 47 healthy people as controls. They found that the former had a shorter telomere length. Accelerated aging is about 4.5 years old.

This phenomenon, known as "accelerated aging," has led scientists to realize that stress and depression are not only a mental illness but also a systemic disease, and emotions may be the most obvious symptoms.

Treatment means both mind and body

At present, the medical community has a variety of treatments for depression, including drug therapy, physical therapy, psychotherapy and acupuncture. For mild depression, psychotherapy is recommended; moderate to severe depression should be based on medication and combined with other treatments. The effectiveness of medications can reach 60% to 80% and help prevent recurrence.

However, relevant data show that only 10% of people with depression go to a regular medical institution for medical treatment. "There are patients who believe in misconceptions, think that drugs have dependence or strong toxic side effects and do not dare to use them, or do not use them regularly or systematically according to the doctor's requirements, causing delays or poor efficacy, or even recurrent attacks." Ling mentioned that the use of drugs to treat depression, early, full-dose, foot treatment medication is very important.

Even scientists are actively looking for targeted drugs. Researchers from the Southwestern Medical Center have found that increasing the level of a signaling molecule in brain cells can alter the brain's response to external stress, a finding that provides a new potential target for treating depression.

In this study, the researchers found that elevated levels of cAMP in brain cells have a good effect on stress-induced mouse behavior. Previous studies have found that people with severe depression often have damage to their cAMP signaling pathways, and some chronic antidepressant treatments often use this signaling system for therapeutic purposes.

"In the face of problems, we should not fear and escape, solve problems correctly, maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, and depression will naturally stay away from you." Zhang Ling said.