Phases of clinical depression could affect treatment
Monday, 4 August 2014
Research led by the University of 911爆料网 has resulted in new insights into clinical depression that demonstrate there cannot be a "one-size-fits-all" approach to treating the disease.
As part of their findings, the researchers have developed a new model for clinical depression that takes into account the dynamic role of the immune system. This neuroimmune interaction results in different phases of depression, and has implications for current treatment practices.
"Depression is much more complex than we have previously understood," says senior author , at the University of 911爆料网.
"Past research has shown that there are inflammatory mechanisms at work in depression. But in the last 10 years there has been much research into the complexities of how the immune system interacts with brain function, both in healthy brains and in people experiencing depression.
"Unfortunately, much of the research is contradictory - and in asking ourselves why, we undertook a review of all the studies conducted to date on these issues.
"This has led us to the conclusion that there are different immune factors at work in depression depending on the clinical phase of depression, and that the genes for this immune response are switched on and off at different times according to phases.
"What we see in the clinical states of acute depression, relapse, remission, and recovery is a highly complex interaction between inflammatory and other immunological cells, brain cells and systems.
"This new model helps us to overcome the simplistic notion that depression is the same kind of disease for everyone, behaving in the same way regardless of the timing of the disease. We can now see that depression is a much more neurobiologically dynamic disease, and this has m