How Does Mental Health Affect Our Brain (And Vice Versa)?
If you or a loved one are suffering with a mental health problem, you may be at a loss. Perhaps you have tried antidepressants and/or talking therapies and it hasn’t improved (what clinicians call ‘treatment-resistant depression’). When first-line treatments haven’t worked, sufferers and their loved ones often begin to wonder about the science of it all, asking: how does mental health affect our brain (and vice versa)? This is no easy question, but the good news is that science is catching up and pioneering mental health clinics are offering effective treatments based on its findings. Read on to learn more about how mental health affects the brain.
Your Amazing Brain
Your brain is a remarkable organ, in charge of your five senses, memory, reasoning, learning and emotions. In addition, it governs other functions in your body, such as those of your blood vessels, organs, and muscles.
Your brain is incredibly complex; home to billions of neurons (nerve cells) that govern your body’s functioning through messages sent via electrical signals. In addition, neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers that enable these neurons to communicate with each other.
Data is carried to the brain via sensory neurons that react to input around you (things you can smell, see, hear etc are picked up by receptors on or in your body and communicated to the brain via these sensory neurons). Your brain determines what to do with this sensory information and instructs your body how to react, with messages sent through motor neurons. For instance, if you step on something sharp with bare feet, your touch sense alerts the brain, and the brain communicates to your muscles to remove your foot. These communications happen so fast we take them for granted – that’s how amazing your brain is!
Interneurons, another kind of nerve cell, connect a range of neurons in your brain and spinal cord, in a network we call the central nervous system. While there are various kinds of neurons, likewise there are various kinds of neurotransmitters. Brain function is key to both physical health and mental health. In a person with good mental health, these messengers and their circuits are generally working well.
But what if they are not? How does mental health affect our brain (and vice versa)? Read on to learn more.
How Does Mental Health Affect Our Brain (And Vice Versa)?
Dr Manan Thakrar, Consultant Psychiatrist at The London Psychiatry Centre says: “Science still has work to do to determine the exact causes of myriad mental illnesses that clinicians work with. Likewise, on the question of how these various problems affect brain function, there is still much work to do. There is no such thing as one single ‘depressed brain’ or ‘bipolar brain’. And all people with, say, a depression diagnosis will not have the exact same symptoms and patterns of thinking. In addition, two people with the same diagnosis can have completely different personal histories and environments to deal with (for instance one may have experienced a very traumatic childhood; another may not). Experienced mental health professionals know all this and should provide tailored care to each patient as an individual. Having said that, science is discovering more and more useful information about the brain and the ways in which it tends to be different (structurally and/or functionally) in people with various mental health conditions. Leading-edge mental health clinics such as ours are using this evidence to help our patients. Each individual should be treated with a bespoke, tailor made care plan which works with their traumas, story and history.”
Did you know, for example, that:
- Many scientists working on the question how does mental health affect our brain and vice versa believe that irregularities in how some brain circuits work are part of how many mental health issues develop. Problems with connections between neurons can create difficulties with processing information, leading to abnormal perceptions, dysregulated moods, distorted thought patterns and even challenging behaviours.
- Scientists also think that changes in shape or size of some areas of the brain may be the cause of some mental health conditions.
For example, brain imaging studies of people with depression have found reduced grey matter volume in:
- The hippocampus (part of the limbic system and key to learning and memory)
- The prefrontal cortex (key to things like decision-making, emotional regulation, and various cognitive functions)
- The anterior cingulate cortex (key to governing emotion and attention, motivation, self-control, and performance-monitoring)
- The insula (involved in things like emotion, pain perception, social cognition)
While there is no known way to increase grey matter volume, the good news is that there are areas of the brain at play in depression that science has found a way to directly target.
Brain imaging studies of people with clinical depression have found:
- Abnormally low activity levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) which works to help govern things like emotional regulation and working memory.
- Reduced white matter integrity (key to information processing and communication between the brain’s various regions).
- Altered activity in the limbic system (key to governing emotions and behaviour).
With this in mind, a pioneering treatment for depression is now available, to directly target areas of the brain at play in depression, without the need for antidepressants. This treatment is called repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).
Treating Areas Of The Brain Affected By Depression, Without Pills
The brain is an innately electrical organ that works via the communication of electrical signals between nerve cells. As explained above, research has shown that depression sufferers tend to have abnormally low activity levels in the DLPFC, altered activity in the limbic system, and reduced white matter integrity.
In addressing depression, rTMS works by creating a magnetic current in the DLPFC, to improve the communication between brain cells. The DLPFC is also very interconnected with the limbic system.
Research has shown that transcranial magnetic stimulation can:
- Improve the brain’s white matter integrity (which is vital to information processing and communication between different systems within the brain and is often reduced in people with treatment-resistant depression)
- Stimulate activity in the DLPFC (which is key to regulating mood. Indeed research shows depression sufferers commonly have decreased activity in the DLPFC).
The DLPFC is highly connected with the limbic system, which as outlined above, frequently shows abnormal activity in patients with depression.
rTMS works with your body’s natural processes by regulating the flow of neuron communications in this area of the brain so crucial to clinical depression. Stimulations last less than a millisecond. A pulsed magnetic field is created by passing rapid current pulses through a coil of wire covered in plastic, resting close to the scalp, targeting specific areas of the brain. The treatment has been proven to be effective, considerably safe and with very low risk of side-effects.
Here at The London Psychiatry Centre, we pioneered rTMS in the UK and our clinic enjoys some of the highest rTMS success rates in the country. We can employ rTMS as part of treatment packages for a variety of concerns including:
Have you been struggling with a mental health problem? Want to finally get your life back? The London Psychiatry Centre is home to some of the UK’s finest mental health professionals employing the most leading-edge, evidence-based techniques.
To find out how we can help, get in touch today:
