Abstract

MAPPING THE MIND: A REVIEW OF THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEPRESSION

Rutuja Khilare*, Dr. Padma Ladda, Meghashri Mastoli, Snehal Sonar and Ashiya Choudhari

ABSTRACT

Major depressive disorder (MDD) remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, yet its etiology and pathophysiology are still not fully understood. The pathological mechanisms of MDD and the mechanisms underlying the effects of pharmacological treatments for MDD are complex and unclear, and additional diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for MDD still are needed. The currently widely accepted theories of MDD pathogenesis include the neurotransmitter and receptor hypothesis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hypothesis, neuroplasticity hypothesis and microbiota-gut-brain axis hypothesis; but these hypothesis cannot completely explain the pathological mechanism of MDD. Even it is still hard to adopt only one hypothesis to completely reveal the pathogenesis of MDD, thus inrecent years, great progress has been made in elucidating the roles of multiple organ interactions in the pathogenesis of MDD and identifying novel therapeutic approaches and multitarget modulatory strategies, further revealing the disease features of MDD. We provide a thorough overview of the most recent findings about the pathophysiology of MDD in this paper. Developing more specialised and efficient treatments for depression requires an understanding of these pathways.

Keywords: Depression, HPA axis, MAO hypothesis, Neuroinflammation, Microbiota- Gut-Brain axis, Neuroplasticity.