Depression, Anxiety & Self-Control

Depression and anxiety are both debilitating mental illnesses that can adversely affect the lives of those who suffer from them. For many years people have been trying to improve methods of diagnosing and treating depression and anxiety. Dr. Silton, a psychology professor at Loyola University Chicago, has attempted to analyze the interconnectedness of these illnesses and the neural networking of the brain. In her article Depression and Anxious Apprehension Distinguish Frontocingulate Cortical Activity During Top-Down Attentional Control, one of the focuses was the association of attentional problems with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Analyses of the brain through methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) have identified the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as well as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in having a crucial role in influencing the brain’s attentional network (Silton 274). Attentional control problems have proven to have an important influence in both depression and anxiety, and perhaps the treatments to these disorders lie within the brains attentional framework. Patients suffering from depression often have an attentional bias that favors negative information (Silton 272). When threatening stimuli are presented, it becomes more difficult for people with anxiety to shift their attention to less worrisome thoughts. Therefore, a potential problem that people with anxiety face is they get caught in a continuous loop of negativity which further influences their depression. So how can one control their mind in such a way as to avoid these infiltrating thoughts?

The answer potentially lies in attentional control strategies. University of Miami psychologist Jill Ehrenreich-May and her partner Emily Bleik have come up with a program titled Emotion Detectives Treatment Protocol (EDTP). According to Science Daily, the program uses age related techniques that educate participants about emotions and how to manage them. Some of these techniques include evaluating situations, developing problem-solving strategies, behavior activation and the program also includes parental training. The EDTP technique was demonstrated in a study which involved 22 children aged 7 to 12 who had a diagnosis of anxiety disorder. Five of these children were also diagnosed with depression. The children attended 15-sessions of weekly group therapy. When finished, 14 out of the 18 children who completed the therapy no longer met the criteria for anxiety disorder and only one still met the criteria for depression (ScienceDaily). This program clearly demonstrates that depression and anxiety relief can be achieved through mental discipline and attentional control.

But how much “mental” training can one undergo before succumbing to physical limitations? Studies performed by William Hedgcock, a University of Iowa neuroscientist, demonstrate that self-control of the brain is limited. In his studies, he showed that the DLPFC, which has strong ties to self-control, fires with less intensity after previous exertions of self-control. Therefore, weakening of the DLPFC firing can demonstrate a person’s weakening of self-control. According to Dr. Silton, reduced prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity also relates to an increase in anxious apprehension as well as depression. Perhaps a decrease in overall PFC activity causes a weakening of self-control, which inadvertently has ties to the lack of attentional control seen in patients suffering from depression/anxiety.
           The roots of depression and anxiety are difficult to determine, but have clear ties to attentional control as well as mental discipline. Through development of attentional control strategies, symptoms of depression and anxiety have been shown to fade. Perhaps through continued training and advancements in research, the solution to these illnesses can be achieved.

Resources:

Silton, Rebecca Levin, Wendy Heller, Anna S. Engels, David N. Towers, Jeffery M. Spielberg, Christopher Edgar, Sarah M. Sass, Jennifer L. Stewart, and Bradley P. Sutton. "Depression and Anxious Apprehension Distinguish Frontocingulate Cortical Activity During Top-Down Attentional Control." Journal of Abnormal Psychology 120.2 (2011): 272-85. Print.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120606142704.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120730124234.htm