Depression and the Brain: Keep Left

One of the really exciting things that is happening these days in brain research is that now scientists can scan people’s brains to analyse exactly what’s going on in there when they are doing/thinking/feeling different things. This is opening up huge insights into how the brain works and giving new possibilities for effective treatments. One of the more interesting findings that has come out of these modern brain imaging studies is that there are imbalances between hemispheres of the brain in people who are suffering from depression.

Specifically what these studies have shown is the importance of the balance between activity in the areas of the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is an area that’s active when we feel distressed or unhappy, and the left prefrontal cortex, which is more active when we feel energized and enthusiastic. Each of us has a default ratio of left-to-right activation which predicts pretty accurately our day-to-day mood range. Most of us are pretty much even. We have good days and we have bad days.

Some people’s ratios are skewed a bit to the right (i.e. their right PFC is a lot more active than their left PFC). These people tend to be clinically depressed and/or anxious. Others have a balance point that is further to the left (i.e. their left PFC is more active than their right) and these people are far more likely to be more cheerful and to recover more quickly from stress.

The good news is that we all have the ability to change this right/left activity ratio in a more positive direction and there has been quite a bit of research looking into this. Here are three self-help techniques that have been shown to help boost your mood.

1. Express how you’re feeling in writing. The language centres of your brain are mostly located in your left hemisphere. So using language tends to boost brain activity on the left side. Writing things down can also help to stop rumination (going over and over things in your mind) which is a right hemisphere function.

2. Take action. The left PFC becomes more active when you take what psychologists call ‘approach’ behaviours. These are goal orientated behaviours to help you to deal with a problem.

3. Meditate. Research also shows that people who practiced mindfulness meditation for 8 weeks managed to shift their PFC activity ration more to the left. If you want some really good (and free) online resources to help you get started meditating try this website from a research group from UCLA