Neuroimaging of Depression and Other Emotional States

Abstract

Depression is increasingly being recognized as an important predictor of adverse medical outcomes. Depression is associated with increased mortality rates in the context of coronary artery disease (Frasure-Smith and Lesperance, 2005), diabetes (Katon et al, 2005), stroke (Jorge et al, 2003), and breast cancer (Onitilo et al, 2006). Multiple mechanisms likely play a role across these various disorders, including increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic activity, altered inflammatory and other immune mechanisms, blood hypercoagulability, reduced adherence to treatment regimens, etc. It is likely that depression influences each of these processes through altered brain function. Although the way that altered brain mechanisms contribute to each of these processes is not known, our understanding of how brain-structure and function is altered in clinical depression is growing. The purpose of this chapter is to selectively review brain imaging findings in depression and interpret these alterations in light of current understanding of how these brain structures function in normative contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)