If you are in your 20s, 30s, or 40s and suffer from regular bouts of acute depression, chances are that you may suffer from a decrease in memory function by the time you get to your 50s, according to a new large-scale longitudinal study carried out by psychologists at the University of Sussex in the UK, and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The study takes into account the relationship between depressive symptoms experienced by adults across the first three decades of their lives and a gradual memory loss in the fifties. The experts analysed data from the National Child Development Study, which was established in 1958. It followed over 18,000 babies from birth into childhood and through adulthood. This does not mean that an incident or two of feeling depressed can lead to memory loss later. The connection is only found in cases where the individual experiences depression frequently over a span of three decades.
Depression is a reality among the youth today, with many suffering from it due to fast-paced competitive lifestyles, lack of a community or family support especially for those living in nuclear families and an acute lack of acceptance that one needs counselling or some kind of intervention. According to Dr Darya Gaysina, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Sussex, the more the number of episodes of depression people experience in their adulthood, the higher is the risk of cognitive impairment they have later in life.
The experts also studied the impact of depression on other cognitive functions such as verbal fluency, information processing speed and accuracy, but found that the impact on these functions was almost negligible. It was highest on the function of memory and that the associated loss of memory could also lead to dementia later in life. While the study was done on individuals from the UK and was representative of them, doctors and psychologists in India agree that the study can be applied to the Indian scenario too.
"Depression per say does not lead to dementia or memory loss, but the connection between depression and the gradual memory loss seems logical. In a depressed person, the neural connection or the connection between the various cells of the brain or synapses are not very strong. If this goes on for a long time, there's a chance for neural degeneration. Having said that, this study as of now is only a hypothesis," says Dr Sagar Mundada, mental health expert at HealthSpring in Mumbai. He says that at least 20 per cent Indians have suffered some form of depression at some time in their life. "And of those 20 per cent, not even half seek treatment because they don't realise that the severity of the problem. According to the WHO figures, about 7-10 crore Indians suffer from depression but I think that is a gross understatement."
This research, according to experts, must be taken as a wake-up call to protect one's mental health.
