Several Mental Disorders Share Changes in Certain Brain Regions

A new study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, revealed that many mental disorders share a common structure in the brain. Six conditions were examined and found to be connected by the loss of gray matter in three specific areas related to cognitive functions, such as self-control. During the study, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies involving six different mental disorders from three large data sets, such as addiction, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. In the past, most neuroimaging studies focused on brain function in patients with a single, specific diagnosis and compared them to healthy participants. However, both clinical and genetic analyses have observed similarities among several different disorders, suggesting an underlying neurobiological link between forms of mental illness. Across the six psychiatric diagnoses analyzed during the study, the authors found gray matter loss occurred in three regions of the brain — the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC), the right insula and the left insula. Analysis of these brain regions in the healthy participants revealed they form an interconnected network associated with executive functioning — the management of cognitive processes such as decision making, reasoning and self-control. To read more about this study, click here.