Depression Flashcards
What is mood disorder?
-When your general emotional state or mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with your ability to function.
- e.g SAD, Bipolar Disorder, etc…
What is major depressive disorder(MDD)?
- Most common disorder
- Individuals experience persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness and lose interest in activities they once enjoyed(can have physical symptoms such as chronic pain or digestive issues)
What are some symptoms of major depressive disorder(MDD)?
- Five or more of these following symptoms must be present during the same 2 week period to be diagnosed.
- Diminished interest or pleasure in all activities.
-Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain.
-Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly everyday.
-Fatigue or loss of energy. - Diminished ability to concentrate or indecisiveness
-Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Why is there sex differences in depression?
- May reflect patterns for seeking help
-Social discrimination
-May have to do with sex difference in endocrine physiology(HPA axis or estrogens are influenced by cortisol)
What is the prevalence for genetic links to depression?
-First degree relatives(e.g parents, siblings) of individuals have 2-3 time greater to have depression.
-If there is identical twins the, one identical twin has depression then the other twin has 45.6 % chance of having it as well.
- If there are fraternal twins, it is 20.2 % chance for other twin to get it.
What was the originally thought way of getting depression?
- is thought to be strictly due to deficit in a monamine signalling.
What is monoamine?
Neurotransmitters that contain one amino group connected to an aromatic ring by a two-carbon chain(e.g CH2-CH2)
What does it mean by deficit in signalling?
- The limited release of NTs, deficits in ability to clear Nts in the synapse, limited receptors to bind to.
What is the glucocorticoid hypothesis of depression?
- The glucocorticoid hypothesis suggests that dysfunctional regulation of the HPA axis stress response contributes to depression.
What is the evidence for glucocorticoid hypothesis of depression?
- The most clinical findings
- Hypercortisolemia: Elevated levels of cortisol in the blood, even during non-stressful times. And chronic stress can lead to over secretion of cortisol.
- Impaired negative feedback of HPA axis: The brain is not able to respond to elevated blood cortisol by shutting down CRH, ACTH, and cortisol secretion.
What happens to glucocorticoid receptors in Hippocampus?
-In the hippocampus it activates the negative feedback system and shut down the stress response. meaning people with depression cannot shut down their response easily, meaning theres is more damage to hippocampus.
How does SSRIs work in the synapse?
-When released, excess serotonin is broken down by enzyme monoamine oxidase(MAO) and is cleared by serotonin reuptake transporters.
- SSRIs drugs like Prozac work by blocking serotonin reuptake transporters leading to an increase in the synapse.
Why is estrogen protective against stress and depression?
- The negative feedback system is more efficient during the follicular phase, when estrogen is high.
-Women show lower cortisol levels in response to social stress during follicular phase.
-SSRIs antidepressants work better when combined with estrogen.
Only possible t understand stress response in females because of their different cycles
What is psilocybin?
-Compound found in various species of fungi(e.g mushrooms)
-Inactive, but when ingested or absorbed it is immediately turned into psilocin which has hallucinogenic effects.
What does psilocybin do?
-Suggests this compound(alongside other psychedelic) may reduce symptoms of depression.
