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Science: Your Mother Is The Key To Your Depression
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 25, 2012
Modified Jan 25, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 25, 2012
Modified Jan 25, 2012
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There's nothing we love more than when Science goes out of its way to conduct decade-long studies to tell us things we already know, like the fact marijuana doesn't hurt your lungs, or women don't like sex because of supply and demand. Now, a recent study has confirmed something we've always known in our hearts: our depression is linked to our mothers. "Freud comes in to this," said co-author and psychiatrist Dr. Igor Galynker of Beth Israel Medical Center. "He blamed everything on the mother and it turns out the mother is absolutely the strongest gauge of depression you have."
The study, by researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center, Columbia University and Albert Einstein Medical Center in New York City, used brain imaging to link a lack of maternal attachment to depression. Published in the December issue of the journal Plos One, the study started with a simple goal: "Our hypothesis is that the brains in people who were sad are activated more to a sad picture," Galynker said. "When you are depressed you interpret everything in a way that is sad. The glass is always half empty."
Researchers studied 28 young women—14 who suffered from mild to moderate depression and 14 who did not—scanning their brains in an MRI machine as they were each shown four photos: a friend, a younger female stranger, an older woman they did not know and their mother. "We asked them to think two things: how related they are to the picture and how close they feel and how much they like the person in the picture," said Galynker. "We compared the subjective activity from the mother and the friend and the two strangers. What we were left with was the pure mother affect."
Ultimately, for the women who were depressed, the photo of mother elicited a strong sadness response in the brain. The scans were able to predict depression in about 90 percent of the women. Galynker said the research is important because it might one day lead to better diagnosis and would give therapists a new psychological tool to talk about the patient's relationship with their mother.
Now that scientists have tackled this topic, hopefully they can get back to the important work being done in the field of homicidal raw cookie dough.
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mothers
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you never call your mother
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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