What We’ve Learned About Depression and Brain Function

Depression is a complex mental health condition that affects how we feel, think, and behave. Recent research has shed light on the role of a specific brain network—called the salience network—that helps the brain identify and focus on the most important information, whether it's a physical sensation, an emotional experience, or something happening in the environment. This network seems to play a key part in depression...

Major Takeaways:
  1. 1
    The Salience Network is Larger in People with Depression
    In people with depression, the salience network, which helps the brain prioritize important information, is nearly twice as big as in people without depression. This change is consistent and doesn't fluctuate with mood changes.
  2. 2
    It Affects Other Brain Networks
    The expansion of the salience network pushes aside other important brain systems responsible for focus, decision-making, and managing emotions. This could help explain some of the difficulties people with depression face in these areas.
  3. 3
    It Stays the Same Over Time
    Unlike many other brain changes, the size of the salience network doesn’t shift, even with treatment. This suggests that its size might be a stable feature of depression, something that could be used to identify the condition early.
  4. 4
    Early Signs in Children
    Interestingly, even before showing signs of depression, children who later developed the condition had larger salience networks. This suggests that the brain changes associated with depression might start long before the symptoms appear.
  5. 5
    Link to Symptoms
    The way different parts of the salience network communicate with each other can influence how symptoms like the loss of pleasure (anhedonia) come and go over time.
Final Thoughts

Research shows that differences in brain network organization are shaped by how much certain networks are used. In people with depression, the salience network tends to expand, while neighboring networks—like the frontoparietal, cingulo-opercular, or default mode networks—shrink. This shift likely reflects how the brain reallocates resources and prioritizes certain processes over others. These changes can affect body awareness, how we learn from rewards, and how we regulate automatic bodily functions and effort.

In addition to being shaped by experience, brain network organization is also influenced by genetics. Although this study didn’t focus on genetics, there are clues that genes may play a role. For instance, the salience network's expansion remained stable regardless of mood, it started early in life, and the patterns of network growth followed pathways often linked to higher-order thinking areas of the brain, which could suggest an inherited element.

Understanding these factors—experience and genetics—may help us better understand depression and lead to more targeted treatments in the future.

Reference:

Lynch, C. J., et al. (2024). Frontostriatal salience network expansion in individuals in depression. Nature, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07805-2

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