Canadian researchers at the Robards Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario have discovered a link at the cellular level between anxiety and depression. Physiologically, researchers found that the two sets of receptors responsible for triggering symptoms in the brain actually do communicate; when one receptor system is activated, it also jumpstarts the second.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience earlier this year.
With the discovery of the two receptor systems talking to each other comes the promise of new medications that target those brain signals specifically, reducing side effects. In fact, during this research, lead researcher Stephen Ferguson developed an inhibitor that did just that.
The study was conducted on mice and researchers are looking to expand into develop the inhibitor into a pharmaceutical agent for humans.
Not only is this good news for those suffering from depression and anxiety, it means extremely good news for 60 percent of sufferers for whom other medications have been ineffective.
Facts about Depression
“According to the World Health Organization, depression, anxiety and other related mood disorders now share the dubious distinction of being the most prevalent causes of chronic illness,” says Anthony Phillips, the scientific director of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Depression affects 20 people out of every 100 in Canada (20 percent), and 5.3 percent of Americans, or approximately 14.4 million people.
- 6.5 percent of women have a major depressive disorder in the U.S. (National Institute of Mental Health, NIH)
- 3.3 percent of men have a major depressive disorder in the U.S. (National Institute of Mental Health, NIH) (www.cureresearch.com)
Symptoms of depression include:
- feelings of sadness or unhappiness
- irritability or frustration, even over small matters
- loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities
- reduced sex drive
- insomnia or excessive sleeping
- changes in appetite
- agitation or restlessness
- slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
- indecisiveness, distractibility and decreased concentration
- fatigue, tiredness and loss of energy even with small tasks
- feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or blaming yourself when things aren’t going right
- trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions, and remembering things
- frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide
- crying spells for no apparent reason
- unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches (list from www.mayoclinic.com)
Facts about Anxiety
Anxiety disorders include “panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder” (www.webmd.com).
Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their lives, for example, when facing a family crisis or work-related issue. An anxiety disorder is different. It takes the “normal” anxiety a person would feel and blows it out of proportion to the point where a person may be completely incapacitated for handling certain life situations.
This new finding out of the University of Western Ontario provides new hope to sufferers of anxiety and depression disorders, both in terms of finally figuring out how the two work together and in terms of developing more effective medications to alleviate the symptoms without the many side effects of dealing with the entire receptor. Targeting medications to specifically depression-related signal communications may pave the way for freedom for many patients.
Sources: www2.canada.com; http://psychcentral.com; http://esciencenews.com; www.cureresearch.com; www.webmd.com; www.mayoclinic.com