Researchers have studied detailed effects of ‘pessimistic thinking’ which occurs in 不安 とうつ病
世界中で300億人以上と260億XNUMX万人が苦しんでいます うつ病 & 不安 respectively. Many times, a person suffers from both these conditions. Psychiatric problems like depression and 不安 are devastating for patients and their families and they are extremely difficult to treat. Patients suffering from these neuropsychiatric disorders tend to experience a range of negative emotions and moods which makes them more pessimistic thereby making them focus more on the downside of any given situation. A specific personalised treatment can generally help patients alleviate some of the symptoms of these disorders. A type of psychotherapy – cognitive-behaviour therapy – is useful in curbing negative thoughts and emotions. Interpersonal therapy is also routinely used for better outcome for patients. Medications are also advised along with psychotherapy and sometimes interpersonal therapy.
Understanding the effects of depression and 不安 障害
に掲載された研究では ニューロン scientists have studied how emotions are controlled by our brain. The main goal of researchers was to investigate if they could reproduce the effect on brain which happens to people suffering with depression, 不安 or other similar disorders. These patients have a highly negative thinking and they tend to place more weight on negative aspects and outcomes of any particular situation.
The group of researchers from MIT pinpointed a region in the brain which is linked to emotional decision making and is responsible for generating pessimistic moods. This region is called ‘caudate nucleus’ and when it is stimulated it leads to generation of negative moods and /or decisions. This study has been conducted in animals for now. The animal was seen to focus more on the negative drawbacks of situations and not on the benefits whenever this region was stimulated in their brain. This pessimistic decision-making continued for at least 24 hours after the first stimulation was performed. The same group of researchers had previously identified a neural circuit which is crucial for a type of decision making which is called as ‘approach-avoidance conflict’. Making such choices requires a person to weigh the positive as well as negative aspects of a situation and this involves high levels of 不安 and sometimes stress. This stress obviously then affects the decision-making process. Therefore, animals got influenced and they then chose a high-risk option under stress anticipating better payoffs.
検証を行うために、研究者は動物に不親切な刺激（顔に大きな空気を吹き込む）とともに報酬（ジュース）を提供し、次に小さな電流で尾状核を刺激しました。 すべての試験で、動物が受け入れるか拒否するかを判断するために、賞金と痛みの比率が異なりました。 これは、コストと利益の分析を必要とする意思決定の例です。 刺激のたびに、費用便益比が歪む、つまり費用が多くなり、利益が少なくなると、動物は以前に受け入れていた組み合わせを拒否し始めたのは興味深いことでした。 これは刺激後24時間まで続きました。 これは、動物が以前に望んでいた報酬を切り下げ始め、彼らの焦点がよりコストの部分に移ったことを伝えました。 また、彼らの受容または拒絶に基づいて、彼らの意思決定のパターンに何らかの変化があったときはいつでも、尾状核における彼らの脳活動は変化しました。 したがって、この「ベータ頻度」の変化は、動物が特定の薬物に反応するかどうかを確認するためのバイオマーカーとして役立ちます。
気分調節
Researchers explained that some regions in the caudate nucleus are connected with the limbic system which is known to control a person’s mood. This system directs input to motor areas of the brain as well as the dopamine-producing regions. The authors concluded that maybe caudate nucleus was disrupting this dopamine activity. Therefore, even a slight change in our system could mean rapid change our behaviour. The findings in this study could help us understand depression and 不安 in detail which can then assist us to develop new effective ways of therapy.
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ソース
Amemori K et al 2018.線条体微小刺激は、線条体ベータバンド振動によって予測される持続的かつ反復的な否定的な意思決定を誘発します。 ニューロン. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2018.07.022
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