Mapping Functional Circuits in Depression

Sigmund Freud, in Mourning and Melancholia (1917), described the difference between these states as the presence of self-loathing in depression and its absence in grief. This new study using a novel neuroimaging paradigm that examines activation of six brain circuits, originally identified in healthy individuals, has now identified neurophysiological correlates of hate in depression. In previous research, the authors identified one network, the “hate circuit” (superior frontal gyrus, insula, and putamen), which they found to be activated when participants viewed pictures of people they hated.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in three sex-, age-, and education-matched groups: 15 treatment-naive patients with a…