MRI Scans Reveal the Difference between a Healthy and Unhealthy Brain

Major depressive disorder (MDD)  is a serious condition affecting 16 million Americans. Individuals who suffer from MDD experience persistent and intense feelings of sadness which heavily impact their ability to preform everyday activities. Social anxiety disorder (SAD), affecting 15 million Americans, is the fear of social situations that involve interactions with other people. Individuals who suffer from SAD have trouble maintaining social and romantic relationships.

Dr. Youjin Zhao and Su Lui, M.D. wanted to compare the differences between an MRI scan of individuals who suffer from MDD and SAD with that of a healthy one. They were looking for differences in the thickness of the cortex. The sample of SAD and MDD patients "showed gray matter abnormalities in the brain's salience and dorsal attention networks". The salience network determines the stimuli worthy of our attention. The dorsal attention network which support stimulus-driven and goal-directed attention.

The data collected reveals that the differences between the groups is related to either the thickening or thinning of the cortex. Furthermore, the MRI of the MDD and SAD patients show a "cortical thickening in the insular cortex" which is a part of the brain that plays a major role in perception and self- awareness. Also, greater anterior cingulate cortical thickness could be the result of "continuous coping efforts and emotion regulation attempts". As for cortical thinning, Dr. Zhao states believes that "the reduced cortical layer thickness may result in the decreased thickness of the frontal lobe, a large part of the brain involved in variety of functions including emotion." This is crucial to social functioning and further proves how depression has strongly altered these regions of the brain.
With this knowledge, we can easily and more efficiently detect this this mental illness to better assist the individuals who suffer from it.

Original source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171120085448.htm