Depression is more than a mental disorder: it affects the whole organism.

 

 

 This blog is a about a scientific study of depression. More and more people who play down the biological element of depression are being assailed by the evidence that it truly is a disease.  I am not talking about getting down in the dumps for a while or feeling bad after you didn't ace a test. I am talking about the increasing preponderance of evidence that demonstrates depression is a biological disease. Now, who is brave enough to admit they not only have been wrong about this fact but also by negating the effects of medication have discouraged those who suffer from painful mental illnesses? Editor, Steve Bloem

 

Date: March 1, 2016

Source: University of Granada

 

Summary:Scientists have shown for the first time, that depression is more than a mental disorder: it causes important alterations of the oxidative stress, so it should be considered a systemic disease, since it affects the whole organism. The results of this work could explain the significant association that depression has with cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and why people suffering from depression die younger. At the same time, this research may help finding new therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of depression.  

  

An international team of researchers lead by the University of Granada (UGR) has demonstrated, for the first time, that depression is more than a mental disorder: it causes important alterations of the oxidative stress, so it should be considered a systemic disease, since it affects the whole organism.                   

 

A study with 3961 people -This research is a meta analysis of 29 previous studies which comprise 3961 people, and it's the first detailed work of its kind about what happens in the organism of people suffering from depression. It studies the imbalance between the individual increase of various oxidative stress parameters (especially malondialdehyde, a biomarker to measure the oxidative deterioration of the cell membrane) and the decrease in antioxidant substances (such as uric acid, zinc, and the superoxide dismutase enzyme). 

The researchers have demonstrated that, after receiving the usual treatment against depression, the patients' malondialdehyde levels are significantly reduced, to the point that they are indistinguishable from healthy individuals. At the same time, zinc and uric acid levels increase until reaching normal levels (something that does not occur in the case of the superoxide dismutase enzyme).

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Journal Reference:
Sara Jiménez-Fernández, Manuel Gurpegui, Francisco Díaz-Atienza, Lucía Pérez-Costillas, Miriam Gerstenberg, Christoph U. Correll. Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Parameters in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder Compared to Healthy Controls Before and After Antidepressant Treatment. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2015; 165 DOI: 10.4088/JCP.14r09179

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