Mood Disorders Flashcards
What are the symptoms of depression?
Continual for 2 weeks
Low mood, low energy, lack of enjoyment, interest
Depressive thoughts
What brain structures are involved in depressive symptoms?
Limbic system = emotion, motivation, memory
Frontal lobe = motor, brocas, goal directed behaviour, attention, memory, mood, moral reasoning
Basal ganglia = emotion, cognition, behaviour, motor
Main hypothesis = mood determent by functional circuits between these brain areas
What physical disorders cause depressive disorders?
Hormone disturbance such thyroid dysfunction
Vit def - vitamin B12
Heart and lung diseases
Blood vessels not functioning well
Kidney disease
Liver disease
What structures make up the limbic system?
Cingulate gyrus
Hippocampus
Amygdala
Hypothalamus
Septum
Olfactory Bundle
Dentate gyrus
Anterior nucleus of the thalamus
Mammillary bodies
What structures make up the basal ganglia?
Putamen
Globus pallidus externa
Globus pallidus interna
Caudate nucleus
Subthalamic nucleus
Substantia nigra
What are the 2 main neurotransmitters implicated in depressive disorders?
Norepinephrine/noradrenaline
Serotonin
What is the function of norepinephrine in the brain?
Mood
Suggests a role in behaviour (arousal and attention)
Implicated in memory functions
Outline the evidence implicating nor-adrenaline in the causation of depression
Give AMPT which inhibits the transformation of tyrosine to L-dopa (which forms dopamine needed for the release of NE) = sleep, anger, depressive symptoms
What is the role of serotonin in the brain?
Sleep
Impulse control
Appetite
Mood
Where is serotonin produced?
brain stem (Raphe nuclei) and transported to cortical areas and limbic system
Outline the reasons serotonin can be implicated in depression?
5HIAA (metabolite of serotonin) depletion in pts with depression
Tryptophan (serotonin precursor) depletion causes depression
What causes people to become clinically depressed?
Predisposing = genetics, childhood experiences, female
Perpetuating = stressful job, studies, relationships, substance misuse, financial strain, housing
Precipitating = life events loss of health, relationship break ups
What treatments are available for depression?
Medication = SSRIs, combinations, mood stabilisers (lithium)
CBT = social and psychological interventions
