Brain Injury Associated With Depression in Soldiers, Says Study

Depression is one of the many problems that soldiers often face and this could be due to
various reasons. In a recent study, a team of researchers found that one of the reasons for
increased depression among soldiers could be an injury to the brain.
They said that any mild traumatic injury to the brain (mTBI) during combat could result in a
disruption in the circuitry of the cognitive-emotional pathways, which, in turn, may result in
depressive symptoms. They used an array of brain imaging procedures, including diffusion-
weighted imaging (DWI) and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI), to come to this conclusion.
Many uncomfortable situations can erupt due to an mTBI in soldiers who are symptomatically
depressed. Some of the issues can be poor emotional dispensation, rumination and constant
worrying, said Ping-Hong Yeh, Ph.D., a physicist and scientist at the National Intrepid Center
of Excellence, Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Dr. Yeh added that
due to significant
enhancement in body
armor and latest
medical facilities, the
chance of surviving a
trauma has gone up
among soldiers. Thus,
a large number of
soldiers return with
an mTBI from combat
zones.
Mood disorders are
very common in
military-related mTBI
patients. This is an
ongoing problem facing a large number of warriors in current areas of conflict, and it is likely
to be a persistent problem for the foreseeable future, said Yeh.
The respondents were chosen from a group of 130 active males who are still in service and
exhibited symptoms of mTBI. Further, the control group included 52 men without any mTBI.
The researchers evaluated the respondents by using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI),
which is a 21-item, self-reporting study that gives a measure of depression. A BDI score over
20 means moderate to severe symptoms of depression in a person.
The BDI results showed that 75 of the respondents who had mTBI had symptoms of moderate
to severe depression. The imaging results revealed that the white matter tracts appeared to
be disrupted in them. These tracts are actually circuits that act as connections among brain
regions meant for emotional and cognitive control. Changes were observed even in their gray
matter (emotional-cognitive networks).
The DWI and the resting-state fMRI revealed that there were consistencies in the areas of
disrupted neuro-circuitry, said Dr. Yeh. The researchers had related the functional and
structural brain changes in emotional-cognitive networks to symptoms of depression in the
mTBI patients. They now assume that the current findings could lead to better treatment
strategies in the future for depressive symptoms.
Depression and PTSD among soldiers
Symptoms of both depression and PTSD are quite common among soldiers, especially for
those who have returned from a war zone. The sights that unfurl before ones eyes are bound
to overwhelm even the toughest of them all, and when it comes to wars, there is no dearth
of such painful, distressing events. It is not difficult to understand the mental state of soldiers
who have returned from wars. It is only with an intervention that such depressive symptoms
can be addressed in the best possible manner.
Recovery road map
Mental health conditions need immediate attention, lest symptoms exacerbate, making it
difficult to manage later. Even milder symptoms of depression can lead to major upheavals,
if not looked into at the earliest.
If you have someone at home suffering from depression and you are scouting for a depression
treatment center in Texas, contact the Texas Depression Treatment Help. Call at our 24/7
helpline number 866-827-0282 for information about the best Texas depression treatment
centers.

For more information, please visit

www.texasdepressiontreatmenthelp.com