Is major depression a neurologic disorder with psychiatric symptoms?
Depression is a true neurological disease associated with dysfunction of specific brain regions and not simply a consequence of bad lifestyles and psychological weakness, according to researchers. In the last decade, multiple investigator groups have linked structural changes of colorful neuroanatomic structures in cases with idiopathic major depression and bipolar diseases. Using high- resolution MRI of the brain and functional neuroimaging studies ( i.e., PET, SPECT), experimenters have described diminishments in the volume of hippocampal conformation, amygdala, entorhinal cortex, colorful anterior lobe structures, and rudimentary ganglia, in addition to abnormal cerebral blood inflow and metabolic exertion in these structures as well as in thalamic capitals. Analogous structural and functional changes have been linked in cases with depression associated with a variety of neurologic diseases ( i.e., stroke, Parkinson's complaint, epilepsy, Alzheimer's madness). In addit...