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. 2011:8:Doc06.
doi: 10.3205/psm000075. Epub 2011 Sep 23.

Why we still don't understand the depressed brain - Not going beyond snapshots

Henrik Kessler  1 , Harald Traue, Daniel Wiswede
Affiliations

Why we still don't understand the depressed brain - Not going beyond snapshots

Henrik Kessler et al. Psychosoc Med. 2011.

Abstract
in English, German

Although remarkable progress has been made in the search for the brain correlates of depression with neuroimaging methods, we still find a heterogeneity of results and lack of consensus. This short commentary proposes a theoretical reason for this situation linking it to the methods of conducting neuroimaging studies of depression and the ways to interpret findings. If we only take one snapshot of the "depressed brain", the brain activity is presumably the result of four interacting components: neural predispositions, depressogenic pathology, changes caused by (chronic) depression, and compensatory brain mechanisms. The four components will be discussed briefly along with arguments why confusion of them might confuse our view of the brain in depression. After a short presentation of promising new longitudinal studies, this commentary gives first hints how we could go beyond snapshots to better understand the brain in depression.

Trotz bemerkenswerter Fortschritte in der Erforschung neuronaler Korrelate der Depression mit Methoden der Bildgebung finden wir immer noch heterogene Ergebnisse und eine mangelnde Übereinkunft. Dieser kurze Kommentar schlägt eine theoretische Begründung für diese Situation vor, die mit der Durchführung von Studien in dem Bereich und der Interpretation der Ergebnisse zusammenhängt. Wenn wir lediglich eine Momentaufnahme des Gehirns bei Depression machen, kann die gemessene Hirnaktivität das Ergebnis vier verschiedener interagierender Komponenten sein: neuronale Veranlagung, depressiogene Pathologie, Veränderungen, die durch (chronische) Depression ausgelöst werden und kompensatorische Hirnaktivität. Diese vier Komponenten werden kurz dargestellt – verbunden mit Argumenten, weshalb eine Verwechslung dieser unsere Sicht des Gehirns bei Depression verzerren könnte. Nach einer Darstellung vielversprechender neuer Längsschnitt-Studien gibt dieser Kommentar erste Hinweise, wie wir über Schnappschüsse hinaus gehen könnten, um das Gehirn bei Depression besser zu verstehen.

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