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Research
may explain physical roots of depression
Aug. 26, 2002
By
RONALD KOTULAK
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Using PET scans to explore the trail of damage in the
brains of patients who have lost their zest for life
as a result of stroke or head trauma, Dr. Robert G.
Robinson believes he has discovered the dark lair where
depression resides.
The findings by the chief of psychiatry at the University
of Iowa College of Medicine, if borne out, could help
explain the millions of depressions in people who have
suffered brain injury or strokes or who have vascular
dementia, Parkinson’s disease or other mental disorders.
And it could shed light on the physical changes in the
brain that may typify all depressions, which affect
as many as 1 in 10 Americans each year.
“It’s
remarkable what progress has been made with brain imaging
just in the last decade,” said Dr. Wayne Drevets of
the National Institute of Mental Health. “A new era
is being born. We’ll have lots of capabilities for defining
the sort of structural and functional abnormalities
involved in depression and manic-depressive disease
that will give us a better handle on how we can treat
these individuals.”
Robinson’s breakthrough discovery revealed that the
left frontal cortex, which puts a positive emotional
spin on experiences that make us feel good, is particularly
vulnerable to damage. When that feel-good feeling is
erased, Robinson said, depression fills the void.
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