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Other mental health conditions such as bipolar, OCD and schizophrenia have also been linked to brain inflammation. I am glad to see that mental health conditions are increasing been seen as physical diseases in the brain, rather that psychogenic conditions.
I hope that people don't draw parallels between this article and the recent ''CFS is a real inflammatory illness' and then conclude that they are the same thing
It's probably all more linked up than we can fathom at this point.
I have experienced depression in the past, with good reason - long term emotional abuse from family, and multiple experiences of sexual abuse from boyfriends and strangers. I'm not sure if I would have experienced depression without all that. It surely isn't as simple as an inflammatory problem?
It surely isn't as simple as an inflammatory problem?
I think the article also references the claim that trauma/ psychological distress can trigger immune activation. Which, if you accept, means the depression is driven by inflammation hypothesis holds up whether attributed to biological factors like infection, or psychological. This all makes it quite complicated figuring out what is going on and where it is most efficacious to intervene, but trials of anti-inflammatory agents seem reasonable.We all know that depression can be caused by life events; but it is possible that may be different from the depression that is caused by underlying physical abnormalities of the brain, abnormalities such as neuroinflammation.
Or it may be that people who experience depression from life events may be predisposed to doing so, by having latent abnormalities of the brain that manifest into depression in times of adverse life events.