Uncovering Brain Abnormalities behind MDD

Researchers found people with depression and anxiety have some common and specific abnormalities in their brains that can be spotted on imaging scans. Researchers came to their conclusion after examining high resolution MRI brain scans of 37 people with major depression disorder, 24 with society anxiety disorder and 41 people in good health. 

Major Depression Disorder (MDD) is referred to as depression, mainly it is a serious medical condition.  This condition causes people to lose their interest in things that they used to enjoy. Usually these people  sometimes find it difficult just to get out of bed. Sometimes they have a tendency to suicide. Around 16 million Americans have MDD.

Society Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is another type of condition in which intense fear or anxiety of being judged and rejected by others. Usually people in this condition cannot tolerate a normal life. People with this disorder have difficulty in developing and maintaining relationships. About 15 million american adults have this condition. 

Both the conditions MDD and SAD have some similar clinical symptoms. In their study researchers found that the MDD and SAD patients had similar and different alterations in the thickness of parts of the cortex. Among some of the alterations related to thickness, while some to thinning. 

Researchers said “ Our findings provide preliminary evidence of common and specific gray matter changes in MDD and SAD patients”. Both conditions show differences in the “salience and dorsal attention networks” compared with the healthy controls.