Brain Changes Linked to Depression Risk Persist After Recovery, Study Finds

Brain Changes Linked to Depression Risk Persist After Recovery, Study Finds
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New research reveals that individuals who have recovered from depression may still have heightened sensitivity to negative cues and difficulty regulating responses to potential punishment, News-Medical reported. The findings, published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, could improve relapse prevention and long-term recovery strategies.

According to the medical news website, depression has high relapse rates, with up to 80% of patients experiencing symptoms again within five years. Understanding the brain mechanisms behind this vulnerability is critical to reducing recurrence.
The study focused on aversive learning—how people associate unpleasant outcomes with specific stimuli—and the habenula, a small brain region involved in processing negative feedback.
Researchers used functional MRI (fMRI) to study 36 patients with remitted recurrent depression and 27 healthy controls during an aversive learning task involving a bitter taste. Results showed increased habenula activity in recovered patients when expecting punishment, along with reduced connectivity to the ventral tegmental area, which produces dopamine related to reward. This suggests a persistent heightened sensitivity to negative stimuli even after symptoms improve.

Lead investigator Dr. Henricus G. Ruhé explained that ongoing brain changes may underlie vulnerability to future depressive episodes. Editor-in-Chief Dr. Cameron S. Carter emphasized that identifying these lingering effects could help target interventions to prevent relapse and improve sustained recovery.