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Depressed affect as a cause of associated somatic problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Berthold Brenner
Berthold Brenner*
Affiliation:
Center for Epidemiologic Studies, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Berthold Brenner, Center for Epidemiologic Studies, National Institute of Mental Health, Room 10C-O9, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Md 20857, USA.
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Synopsis

Depressed affect as a cause of associated somatic problems is explored by means of data on affect, appetite, energy, and sleep collected from a community sample and from subsamples contacted after each of several time lags. The analysis of the data indicates that depressed affect is a cause of the major somatic problems associated with it. It is suspected that depressed affect involves continuing high density neural firing which, over a period of months, causes a reduction of post- synaptic biogenic amine receptor cell sensitivity in the brainstem, with the diencephalon as the major site. This results in a functional impairment responsible for the somatic problems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , November 1979 , pp. 737 - 746
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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