[Depression in rheumatic diseases or somatic symptoms in depression]

Depression can be produced in many different ways. Via cerebral nuclear-specific imbalance a depression can be associated with disturbances in nuclear regions regulating muscular tone. Such syndromes appear chiefly as syndromes of the cervical vertebral column or lumbal vertebral column or as a general "non-specific-pain-syndrome". Depression may also cause manifestations of "latent" rheumatic complaints by lowering the pain threshold. Chronic physical diseases may be assumed to produce depression via the "common pathway" (nuclear-specific imbalance of biogenic amines). Masked depression can assume the pattern of rheumatic pain syndrome and might be treated as such for a long time purely somatically (i.e. non-effectively because non-specifically).