What does stress do to your brain?

Juan Lopez Photo: Martin Vloet

Stress doesn’t cause depression, but recurrent episodes of stress appear to make some people more vulnerable to developing it, says Juan F. Lopez, M.D., an associate professor of psychiatry in the Medical School and assistant research scientist in the U-M Mental Health Research Institute.

Lopez studies the effect on the brain of stress-related hormones called glucocorticoids. Working with U-M colleague Stanley J. Watson, M.D., Ph.D., he found that rats secreting high levels of these stress hormones for long periods of time develop biochemical and molecular changes in their brains. He sees the same changes in human brains from people with severe depression who committed suicide.

People with depression do have an enhanced physical and emotional response to stress, says Lopez. But the brain’s perception of stress is just as important as the reality. Lopez believes there may be many sub-types of depression, which could explain why certain medications work well in some patients, but are ineffective in others.

“We are trying to determine what is the core of depression and what is a by-product of the illness,” he says. “It’s humbling, because we can see just how complicated the system really is.”

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