Representative map of the affected connections in the brain. The number of these connections increased after treatment. Credit: Jonathan ReppleMost scientists believe that the structure of the adult brain is generally rigid and incapable of rapid changes. However, new research has now revealed that this is not true. In a new study, German scientists have shown that in-patient treatment for depression can lead to an increase in brain connectivity.
“This means that the brain structure of patients with serious clinical depression is not as fixed as we thought, and we can improve brain structure within a short time frame, around 6 weeks. We found that if this treatment leads to an increase in brain connectivity, it is also effective in tackling depression symptoms. This gives hope to patients who believe nothing can change and they have to live with a disease forever, because it is “set in stone” in their brain.
Working at the University of Muenster in Germany, the scientists studied 109 patients with serious depression and compared them with 55 healthy controls. Participants’ brains were scanned using an MRI scanner that had been set up to identify which parts of the brain were communicating with other parts as a way of measuring the level of connections within the brain.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
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