A
new study out of the Montreal Neurological Institute identifies depression as a "physical outcome" of mild brain injuries:
"When athletes get depressed after suffering a concussion, coaches, other players and even doctors tend to take the symptom lightly, writing it off as a psychological fallout of being sidelined from the game.
But a new Canadian study suggests depression is actually a physical outcome of such head injuries, which appear to undermine activity in key regions of the brain."
Using fMRI, researchers looked at concussed athletes with and without depression:
"The tests revealed that all the depressed athletes had reduced activity in the areas of the brain that have been linked to major depression. Further analysis found lower grey matter density in those areas, too."
The
actual research article (link is to the abstract) identifies
reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and striatum and attenuated deactivation in medial frontal and temporal regions ans conclude that:
"...depressed mood following a concussion may reflect an underlying pathophysiology consistent with a limbic-frontal model of depression. Given that depression is associated with considerable functional disability, this finding has important clinical implications for the management of individuals with a cerebral concussion.
