TickledPink

By Kaitlin Vanderpool
Summer Reporter

When your brain isn’t happy, neither is your body.

Dr. Balazs Hatvani, a psychiatrist at the Student Health Center at Purdue, said there have been numerous studies showing a connection between depression and the experience of pain.

He said there could be a physical cause for experienced pain in some cases but feelings of depression will heighten the degree and antidepressants are a useful approach to treating it.

"It’s not unusual for somatic symptoms to be a part of depression," Hatvani said. "It’s quite obvious with chronic pain that antidepressants can help (it)."

But depression won’t just give you a headache or a backache.

Depression may weaken the immune system and a person may become more susceptible to illness or organ failure.

Hatvani said there is a prevalent connection between depression and poor cardiac health.

"The brain is interconnected with the rest of the body and it certainly can affect the functioning of other organ systems," he said.

But physical effects of depression aren’t always as serious.

The most common physical complaints that accompany depression are gastrointestinal complaints, stomach pains, or headaches and backaches, he said.

And although David Rollock, director of the clinical psychiatry training program at Purdue, said there are direct biological mechanisms that weaken the immune system, he thinks there are other components of depression related illnesses.

"People, when they are depressed, don’t take care of themselves," Rollock said.

He said a function of depression can be to create changes that make it difficult for people to operate a healthy lifestyle.

If someone isn’t getting enough sleep or has a decreased appetite, they can become susceptible to illness because of poor habits.

"(Depressed) people don’t have as much energy and motivation to engage in healthy behaviors," Rollock said. "They’re not doing the kinds of things needed to take care of themselves."

So to treat depression and boost immune systems at the same time, psychologists try to get people moving.

"That in itself can be healthy and take people out of the depths of depression," he said.

source: http://www.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2005/05/27&section=features&storyid=depression

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