Depression
Mind-brain problem
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Depression: Genes, Environment, and the Brain - Prof. Kurowski, Slides of History of Sociological Knowledge
This document delves into the complex interplay of genes, environment, and neural activity in the context of depression. It explores the role of genetic factors, including gene polymorphisms and copy number variations, in influencing brain activity and predisposition to depression. The document also highlights the impact of environmental stressors, such as trauma and abuse, on gene expression and the development of depression. It further examines the temporal aspects of depression, focusing on the role of glutamate and the time scales of neural mechanisms. The document concludes by emphasizing the relational nature of self and consciousness, suggesting that depression is a manifestation of an imbalance in the relationship between the brain, body, and environment.
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2023/2024
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Depression
Mind-brain problem
Gene-brain problem
- (^) Genetic component
- (^) Much unknown: the expression and transference of genes for the subsequent generation
- (^) Genes impact neural activity in the brain
- (^) Raphe nucleus: secretion and distribution of serotonin throughout the brain to modulate level of neural activity
- (^) Polymorphism: “higher incidence of…polymorphism coding for a specific substance that transports serotonin, called promoter polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene when compared to non-depresses patients.”
The world-brain problem
- (^) Defects in copies of genes: deletions, insertions and duplications: ongoing research on the genome and its relation to depressions and schizophrenia
- (^) Environmental stressors: war, trauma, sexual, physical and psychological abuse affect the duplication of genes and their abnormal expression.
= Gene x environment interaction
Cont’d
- (^) Philosophical implications:
- (^) genes: polymorphisms and copy number variants
- (^) neurons: heavily influenced by gene duplications and expressions
- (^) gene expression: strongly dependent on environmental context Mental activity = gene-neural and neural-ecological interactions
- (^) So: gene-brain and world-brain problems, not mind-body(brain) problem.
The time-brain problem
- (^) Depression:
- life events
- (^) Timing of stressful events
- (^) Interpretation of events is subjective
- (^) Sleep deprivation in Judy’s case and insomnia
- (^) Time scales in the brain
- (^) Circadian rhythms: nucleus suprachiasmaticus: match objective time scales
- (^) The time-brain problem
Increased self and body-focus
- (^) Clinical depression:
- (^) Very negative emotions, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, diffuse bodily symptoms, stress sensitivity, rumination, lack of pleasure.
- (^) Increased self-focus over environment-focus
- (^) Body-focus that is subjective(lived) and abnormal *Some argue that the mind is the lived body (Christoff et al., 2011)- through the subjective nature of the lived body
- Northoff thinks this is confused: The lived body is an effect, not the course of the subjective mind
The brain
- (^) The brain drives the balance:
- Medial regions: hyperactive
- (^) Lateral regions (DLPFC): hypoactive = medial – lateral neuronal activity balance: based on meta-analyses (And animal studies: activation of genes and effect on neuronal activity)
- (^) Studies on train adjectives: show abnormal stimulus-induced activity to self-specific items, like emotional photos or words, which correlated with medial-lateral resting state activity in depressed patients versus non-depressed.
- (^) Philosophical implication: Northoff: “minding the brain” over “minding the mind”
- (^) There seems to be an intrinsic and inherent reciprocal neuronal balance (environmental or genetic)
- (^) And their respective self and environmental- related contents
Relational self
- (^) Depression teaches us about the nature of self:
- The subject of experience is relational
- reciprocal dependence(or negative correlation) between self-focus and environment focus
- (^) Highly decreased embeddedness: the self is isolated from its immediate physical, familial and professional environment
- (^) the relational self (as a concept) needs to be further explored and studied, empirically and conceptually