Depression and Inflammation of the Brain

New research shows that sufferers of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have inflammation that effects areas of the brain involved in decision making.  Inflammation is a normal process of life.  When there is injury, there is a response from the body for repair of are and removal of damaged cells from the area.  Infection as well as irritants can cause inflammation.  (can a president be inflammatory?  I think Trump is inflammatory….more on this later).  Also, the normal processes of living such as oxidative bursts of individual cells causes inflammation as a byproduct.

Clinical depression is associated with a 30% increase of inflammation in the brain, according to a new study published in JAMA psychiatry.   Increasingly, evidence is suggesting that inflammation may drive some depressive symptoms, such as low mood, loss of appetite and reduced ability to sleep.  What the new study set out to investigate was whether inflammation is a driver of clinical depression independent of other physical illness.

Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s (CAMH) Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, used positron emission tomography (PET) to scan the brains of 20 patients with depression and 20 healthy control participants.

In particular, the team closely measured the activation of microglia – immune cells that play a key role in the brain’s inflammatory response.  The used a PET scan and found that there is significant inflammation in the brains of the people with depression and the inflammation was most severe among the participants with the most severe depression.  The brains of people who were experiencing clinical depression exhibited an inflammatory increase of 30%.

This discovery also hints at why antidepressants don’t work for many people.  While this is a very important finding, finding a pharmaceutical that may reduce this inflammation may be years away.  Oriental medicine through acupuncture and herbal formulas has been addressing inflammation anywhere in the body including some formulas for brain inflammation.  Acupuncture and herbal medicine have been successfully treating depressive disorders for Millenia.  Let acupuncture and herbal medicine help you live a happier more productive life.   Call for a consult or to set up an appointment.