Publications by authors named "Sandra Banac"
Reduced hippocampal volume correlates with executive dysfunctioning in major depression.
J Psychiatry Neurosci
September 2006
Objective: Dysfunction of neuronal plasticity or remodelling seems to contribute to the pathopysiology of major depression and may cause the well-documented hippocampal changes in depression. We aimed to investigate whether reduced hippocampal volumes correlate with executive dysfunctioning or memory dysfunctioning or with depression severity.
Methods: We recruited 34 inpatients with a previous or current episode of major depression from the department of psychiatry at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany.
Article Synopsis
- The study examined the effect of major depressive disorder on hippocampal and amygdala volumes in 30 patients and 30 healthy controls over one year.
- No significant changes in brain volumes were observed in either group over the year, indicating that hippocampal volumes do not decrease over time with depression.
- However, nonremitted patients displayed smaller hippocampal volumes at both time points compared to those who remitted and the healthy controls, suggesting that smaller volumes may indicate poorer recovery outcomes.