Connectivity: Our Brain and Depression

A recent New York Times editorial by Dr. R. Friedman  sums up some groundbreaking research on the brain. Thanks to the relatively new technique of FMI (Functional Magnetic Imaging), the working parts of the brain can be visualized, yielding amazing discoveries of the complex organ in action.

Although we’d believed that the brain didn’t develop after adolescence, now scientists have learned that the brain is potentially remodeled on a daily basis and  that our activities have a great deal to do with the process.

Healthy habits support brain growth and development, and lead to connectivity within the central executive network. This vital area helps to regulate emotions, thinking and behavior. In recent studies, Gregory Miller, a psychologist at Northwestern University found that 12-14 year olds in violent neighborhoods in Chicago had better cardiac and metabolic health than their peers. With MRI studies he observed that higher levels of connectivity contributed to their resilience to cope with trauma.

The good news is that many roads lead to connectivity and contribute to good brain health-exercise, healthy diet, meditation, mindfulness training.

At the opposite extreme, addictive behavior like poor dietary habits, smoking and/or a sedentary life can decrease the brain’s potential to connect to the central executive network and can potentiate depression. 

Glancing at the really morbid side, post mortem brains of depressed people have been found to be lacking in BDNF, or brain-derived neurotrophic factor, the vital neurotransmitter responsible for brain growth. Potentially, a vicious cycle develops: Less BDNF perpetuates depression, hindering the brain’s ability to remodel itself. 

Each of us is personally responsible for maintaining our own brain health. However, a depressed person may not be able to do so. This new research supports the necessity to treat depression as soon as possible. 

This latest data is especially gratifying to us psychotherapists, because it shows the science behind the benefits of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy (as well as the healthy habits listed above.)

Personally, this new information explains why I have found daily journaling essential to my sense of well-being.  Without understanding that I was doing so,  I have been furthering connectivity within my brain by writing, a habit that I thought was an anomaly like the high maintenance daily tune-up needed to keep a jaguar car running smoothly. 

I began jotting down my thoughts in a notebook when I was 10 years old and my last brother was born. I didn’t understand why I loved him and hated him at the same time! So I wrote and synthesized the two sides of the story—that he was adorable, but he deprived me of my mother’s attention and affection.) Jotting these words on paper undoubtedly increased the connectivity within my brain helped me get beyond the confusing dilemma. 

Many years later, I learned the benefits of exercise. In the throes of a depression when I couldn’t budge my mind out of negative thinking, I took my body to the gym and discovered that exercise lifted me from the depths of despair.

Conclusion: New brain research supports the view that treating depression –ASAP—is imperative. Resilience is related to our brain’s connectivity, which gives us the ability to change and lead a satisfying life.

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