New neuroimaging research has found that depression is associated with abnormal function in an area of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, investigated how the medial prefrontal cortex interacted with other areas of the brain in depression.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the brain activity of 71 unmedicated depressed participants to the brain activity of 88 healthy control participants. While undergoing the brain scan, the participants completed a self-appraisal task in which they were shown personal adjectives such as “lucky” and “skeptical” and then asked whether the words accurately described them.

The researchers found that the medial prefrontal cortex helped to coordinate self-appraisal processes by regulating activity in another area of the brain known as the posterior cingulate cortex. Among depressed participants, the medial prefrontal cortex had a greater influence over the posterior cingulate cortex.

The study was cross-sectional, meaning that the researchers cannot make inferences about cause and effect.

“Our study shows a relationship between changes in brain connectivity and self-appraisal processes in depression,” Davey said. “It doesn’t show that these changes cause depression. We think it highlights how important it is for psychotherapy to target self-related thoughts – as most effective psychotherapies do – and we would be keen to see if these brain alterations normalise with effective treatment. We also showed that the abnormalities were even more pronounced in people with both depression and anxiety, and would be keen to explore the influence of anxiety in future studies.”

– Eric W. Dolan

Read More: In depressed people, the medial prefrontal cortex exerts more control over other parts of the brain
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