Depression

Question 1

Define Depression

Answer 1

more than just sadness or low mood; depression causes impriarment in social and occuptational functioning.
It is caused by a combination of factors: chemical, genetics, brain and environmental.

Question 2

Symptoms of Depression

Answer 2

depressed mood all day, no enjoyment, thinking of hurting yourself (or others), feeling numb.

Question 3

Chemical influences

Monoamine hypothesis

Answer 3

disturbances in one or more monoamine neurotransmitter can be linked to depressive symptoms

serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline

Question 4

Define Serontonin

Answer 4

A inhibitory transmitter which regulated mood, sleep patterns, appetite and pain.
involved in various physiological processes, including the modulation of neurotransmission, hormone secretion, and neural plasticity.

Reduced serotonin activity or availability in certain brain regions has been associated with symptoms of depression

Question 5

Evidence of Serontonin influences

SSRIs

Answer 5

SSRIs block the reuptake of serontonin which makes serontonin more available as well as letting them stay in the synaptic gap for longer.

they are very popular, a huge increase, with 1/6 teenagers being prescribed it every year.

only affects serontonin

Question 6

Evidence for SSRIs

serotonin

Answer 6

Meta analysis found a mean difference between depressants and placebos ranging 1.80 - 2.55
- using the hamilton depressive scale

Question 7

Evidence against SSRIs

serotonin

Answer 7

Researchers at UCL have argued that there is zero concrete evidence that serontonin causes depression.
- meta-analysis of artifically lowered levels of serontonin failed to produce depression in 100+ healthy participants. Only 75 participants showed signs of depression but they all had a family hsitory of depression.

Genetic predispoitions make more sense.

Question 8

Define Noradrenaline

Answer 8

Regulates mood, arousal, attention and stress responses
excitatory
made from dopamine in particular regions in the brain stem e.g. locus coeruleus, and is released from nerve endings, attaches to receptors

Question 9

Evidence for noradrenaline

SNRIs

Answer 9

SNRIs block the reuptake of serontonin and noradrenaline, allows for transmitters to stay in the synaptic gap for longer

Question 10

Evidence for SNRIs

noradrenaline

Answer 10

the remission rate of SNRIs is 48% while the remission rate for SSRIs is 42%

Question 11

Evidence aginst SNRIs

noraadrenaline

Answer 11

Kirsch: given that remission is below 50% for both SNRIs and SSRIs, there may be otehr factors contributing
e.g. benefits may be attributed to placebo affects: attention from healthcare providers and the therapeutic context of participating in a clinical trial.

Question 12

Brain Regions

Salience Network

Answer 12

Involved in detecting important internal and external stimuli.
Dysfunction: Altercations in arousal regulation and emotional processing.

Question 13

Evidence for Salience Network

Answer 13

Goodkind: volume reductions in the salience network for those with depression

Question 14

Evidence agianst the salience network

Answer 14

Goodkind: although there is reduced volume in depression there is also reduced volume in other disorders e.g. anxiety, ADHD and Bipolar. Doesn’t necessary explain why depression

Question 15

Is it a cause or a result?

Salience Network and Hippocampus

Answer 15

Disruptions in emotional processing can impact stress regulation and memory. Functions associated with Hippocampus.
Bremner: the hippocampus is 20% smaller because stress can damage hippocampus neurons.

Physioloical differences may be caused by depression not a cause of