Researchers reveal the "true effect" of anxiety associated with depression on the brains of patients

[Mary B]

Researchers reveal the "true effect" of anxiety associated with depression on the brains of patients

22:13 - 06/08/2020

 

  

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The brains of people with anxiety and depression have been found to swell dramatically, and experts say that unusual activity may mask part of the damage depression can cause.

Researchers who have studied the effects of depression and anxiety on the size of people's brains have found that depression itself causes the brain to shrink. However, when combined with anxiety, the disorder, as is often the case, causes one area of the brain to become "significantly" larger.

Interestingly, two different areas of the brain are affected by the disorder. The research team found that people with depression alone had lower volumes in many areas of the brain, with the hippocampus being particularly affected, a part of the brain associated with memory and learning.

Experts say this is more important later in life, because the smaller hippocampus is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and may accelerate the progression of dementia.

However, when depression and anxiety occur together, it causes the amygdala, which is a part of the brain associated with emotions, to increase in size, and people who experience depression and anxiety have less contraction in many other areas of the brain.

The researchers explained that this indicates that the true effect of depression on the brain was not taken into account due to the opposite effect in the amygdala.

"Anxiety reduces the effect of depression on brain volumes by 3%, on average, and to some extent mask the true deflationary effects of depression," said lead researcher Daniela Espinosa Uiarsi of the Australian National University.

"More research is needed on how anxiety reduces the effects of depression, but for the amygdala, anxiety may lead to hyperactivity," she added.

The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, and included more than 10,000 participants. 25 n

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