Depression Worsens With Inflammation, Study Reveals

Inflammation fans the flames of depression - that is what researchers have uncovered in a new study. How can inflammation worsen depression?

 A research about the relationship between inflammations and depression has been conducted by the researchers from Ohio State University and Rice University. The researchers found that inflammation can actually "fan the flame" of depression and "feast on the heat". The study was published at The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Christopher Fagundes, co-author of the study, stated in Rice University News and Media that topics about the association between health behavior, psychology and medicine had always been interesting to them - how mental health problems and the immune system can affect one another.

"In the health area of psychology at Rice, we're very focused on the intersection of health behavior, psychology and medicine," he said, as cited by in the press release. "One thing that we're particularly interested in is how stress affects the immune system, which in turn affects diseases and mental health outcomes, the focus of this paper."

The findings, as written in the same study, suggest that the combination of depression, poor eating lifestyle and other stressors can deeply stimulate inflammatory response. In reversed situation, the more the immune system is affected, the greater the risk in one's mental and physical health. However, Fagundes stressed that it is only common to experience inflammations if one is suffering from depression and other adversities.

"Previous research shows that individuals who have socio-economic issues or had problems in their early lives are already at higher risk for mental issues because of these stresses in their lives," he said. "As a result, they often experience a higher occurrence of chronic inflammation, which we have linked to depression."

Fagundes ended up the study with a few recommendations to cure depression and prevent it from contributing to inflammation, and vice versa.  Activities such as Yoga, meditation and exercise would help treat depression.

According to Science Daily, although the study was able to determine the linkage between inflammation and depression, Fagundes and his co-authors have advised to future researchers to study more about the effects of inflammation to depression. In fact, the two does not only limit to each other, as written in their research paper. Depression and inflammation are both associated with other disorders and illnesses.

"We still have a lot to learn about how inflammation impacts depression, but we are making progress," he added. "We hope one day this work will lead to new treatments that are part of standard psychiatric care."