Coming Undone: How Stress Unravels The Brain’s Structure

The helpless behavior that is commonly linked to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is preceded by stress-related losses of synapses-microscopic connections between brain cells-in the brain’s hippocampal region, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in the March 1 issue of Biological Psychiatry. The team used a six-day treatment with the antidepressant desipramine to reverse helpless behavior and restore hippocampal synapses in rats.

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Filed under: Anxiety on March 8th, 2009