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Stressed and depressed

Nature Medicine volume 11, pages 116–118 (2005)Cite this article

Knocking out a stress hormone receptor in the forebrain of mice generates symptoms of depression, which are alleviated by the antidepressant imipramine. The findings begin to unravel the intricate relationship between stress and depression.

Major depression is a severely debilitating illness that is a prototypical 'complex genetic disorder.' It arises from the equal interplay of vulnerability genes on the one hand and developmental and environmental factors on the other. The role of psychosocial stress (so-called 'life events') in triggering the early episodes of depression has long been appreciated, and abnormalities in the 'stress system' of at least a subset of depressed individuals have been documented1,2,3.

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Figure 1: Stress and depression.

Ann Thomson

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  1. Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48105, Michigan, USA

    Huda Akil

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Akil, H. Stressed and depressed. Nat Med 11, 116–118 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0205-116

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0205-116

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