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Anxiety and depression: a common neurobiological substrate?
1Clinical Neuroscience Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
|October 1, 1988
Summary
Anxiety may precede and contribute to depression, suggesting a shared genetic and neurobiological basis. Research indicates anxiety and depression could be different expressions of the same underlying vulnerability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
Background:
- Anxiety and depression are commonly co-occurring conditions.
- Clinical observations suggest anxiety may precede depression.
- Genetic and epidemiological data hint at shared origins.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential causal link between anxiety and depression.
- To explore the shared neurobiological mechanisms underlying anxiety and depression.
Main Methods:
- Review of clinical, genetic, and epidemiological data.
- Analysis of animal models of depression, specifically learned helplessness.
- Pharmacological studies using anxiogenic and anxiolytic agents in animal models.
Main Results:
- Anxiety may be a precursor to certain forms of depression.
- Learned helplessness in animals shares behavioral and physiological similarities with human depression.
- Anxiogenic drugs can induce learned helplessness, while anxiolytics can prevent it.
Conclusions:
- Anxiety and depression may share a common genetic predisposition and neurobiological substrate.
- Environmental factors may influence whether this predisposition manifests as anxiety or depression.
- Anxiety's role as a precursor to depression warrants further investigation.