You will need massive amounts of resilience since your competent? doctor COMPLETELY FAILED AT GETTING YOU 100% RECOVERED! And your doctor will continue to fail you by not knowing about this research also. I doubt 'A Clockwork Orange' would ever be prescribed by your doctor as good trauma viewing.
Observing Trauma Boosts Resilience Through Serotonin
Summary: A new study reveals that observing others endure trauma can increase resilience and protect against depression. Researchers found that serotonin, released in the brain’s habenula, plays a key role in this process, enhancing resilience by altering neuronal activity.
Mice exposed to traumatic events showed less depression-like behavior after observing others in similar situations. This discovery could lead to new treatments for depression by targeting serotonin pathways, including exploring therapies like psychedelics.
Key Facts:
- Observing trauma enhances resilience through serotonin release in the habenula.
- Serotonin dynamics in the brain can protect against depression-like behaviors.
- This study opens new possibilities for depression treatments, including serotonin-targeting therapies.
Source: University of Lausanne
The simple act of observing others cope with a traumatic experience can increase our capacity for resilience and prevent the pathological states that can result from it, notably depression. Neuroscientists at UNIL have demonstrated the presence of this “emotional contagion” in mice, and successfully deciphered its mechanism.
The neurotransmitter serotonin, released in a brain structure called the habenula, has been shown to be the key to resilience.
This discovery, published in Science, revisits the role of serotonin and opens up new perspectives, notably for understanding depression and its treatment.
Human beings have the ability to cope with aversive experiences while continuing to live a normal life. This ability is known as resilience. However, some individuals are more vulnerable to traumatic events. They develop a loss of motivation and drive, which are hallmarks of depression.
Promoting resilience in such people at risk could counter their vulnerability and function as a preventive practice against the possible emergence of a pathological state. But there are still too many unknowns for resilience to be used as a preventive practice.
“There is a lack of clinical tools or underlying mechanisms to promote this type of conditioning capable of fostering a resilient reaction as in healthy people”, says Manuel Mameli, Associate Professor at the Department of Fundamental Neurosciences at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne (UNIL).
To achieve
this, we need to understand the brain function behind adversity – a
challenge that Manuel Mameli’s team has successfully undertaken.
Observing for self-preservation
To
explore the underlying brain mechanisms, the UNIL neuroscientists first
designed an experimental model capable of promoting resilience and
measuring its consequences on the appearance of pathological traits
following trauma.
“We started
from the recognized fact that simply observing the emotional experiences
of others helps us to learn from them. It’s a phenomenon known as
emotional contagion, and it engages resilience”, explains Manuel
Mameli.
To achieve this, an “observer” mouse was placed close to
a mouse subjected to small electric shocks to the paws. This simple
task protected the majority of the observer mice from developing
pathological states of depression when they were subsequently exposed to
this unpleasant experience themselves. This was not the case for mice
who had not witnessed the traumatic experiences of their fellow
companions.
The scientists concluded that the simple act of observing others cope
with a traumatic experience increases one’s own capacity for resilience
and helps guard against possible pathological consequences.
Serotonin, the resilience molecule
Following
the discovery of this behavioral principle, the neuroscientists
successfully identified the brain mechanism mediating it. They focused
on the habenula, a tiny cerebral structure located at the heart of the
brain, known to participate in emotional and sensory processing, and to
regulate neurotransmitters associated with depression, notably
serotonin. To achieve this, they specifically developed imaging tools to
track this molecule in mice.
“It
is very difficult to measure the variation of serotonin in the brain.
Thanks to a biosensor developed by Yulong Li of Peking University,
co-author of the study, we were able to identify the key mechanism”,
adds Manuel Mameli.
Recordings made during behavioral experiments
revealed that emotional contagion coincided with a lasting change in
the functioning of neurons in the habenula, together with an increase in
serotonin release in this region.
More specifically, according to Sarah Mondoloni, postdoctoral fellow in Manuel Mameli’s laboratory at UNIL and first investigator of the study, “it is the dynamics of serotonin that change during this task, and this is the key finding of our study”.
By artificially
altering the dynamics of serotonin levels, the research team was able to
demonstrate that its non-increase not only undermines the long-lasting
neuronal activity change in the habenula, but also the ability of mice
to foster resilience following adversity.
Re-exploring the mechanisms of depression
A
common denominator between the mechanism of resilience after adversity
discovered in this study and that of depression is serotonin. Many
antidepressants target serotonin to increase its concentration in the
brain. Here, neuroscientists show that a transient, localized increase
in the habenula can prevent the onset of apathetic behavior following a
traumatic experience.
“This property of the serotonergic system is an exciting information for neuroscientists. But our discovery could also pave the way for new therapeutic applications relevant to depression, for example by testing existing pharmacological serotonin activators, including psychedelic therapies that stimulate the serotonin system. Their use could be refined to achieve better therapeutic approaches”, concludes Manuel Mameli.
About this serotonin and PTSD research news
Author: Géraldine Falbriard
Source: University of Lausanne
Contact: Géraldine Falbriard – University of Lausanne
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: The findings will appear in Science
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