Open AccessNEUROPLASTICITY IN DEPRESSION: A NARRATIVE REVIEW WITH EVIDENCE-BASED INSIGHTS
Author(s) -
Shiv Kumar Mudgal,
Santanu Nath,
Jitender Chaturvedi,
Suresh K. Sharma,
J. H. Joshi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
psychiatria danubina
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1849-0867
pISSN - 0353-5053
DOI - 10.24869/psyd.2022.390
Subject(s) - neuroplasticity , major depressive disorder , neuroimaging , psychology , depression (economics) , medline , mechanism (biology) , systematic review , narrative review , meta analysis , neuroscience , psychotherapist , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , cognition , philosophy , economics , macroeconomics , epistemology , political science , law
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. The current pharmacological treatment options for MDD, which rely on the mono-amine hypothesis, has their limitations with respect to treatment non-response, partial response etc. This propels for a search for a novel neurobiological understanding of MDD that can lead to novel treatment options. A literature search strategy was thus employed using relevant keywords pertaining to the topic in PubMed, Embase and Google Scholar. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, narrative reviews and clinical trials were reviewed to incorporate the most robust evidence-based literature available. A total of 37 publications were narrowed down based upon the topic. Alterations in brain neuroplasticity, as evidenced by changes in neurotrophic factors and from neuroimaging, has been found to be a strong patho-mechanism for MDD. This link has been exploited to stimulate psychopharmacological research to treat MDD.