He colon cancer could be associated with the depression, and not for a purely psychological (the diagnosis of this disease affects mental health), but also by factors related to intestinal microbiota. “Not all depressions are the same. But we know that brain, he intestine and the immune system They are related,” he recalls. Amanda Rodriguez, psychiatrist from the Resistant Depression Program at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona. Depression is the most prevalent mental health disorder. Affects a 5% of Spaniards and its incidence has increased almost 26% since the pandemic. This January 13th is celebrated on World Day to Fight Depression.
A study from Vall d’Hebron attempts to study the alterations in digestive bacteria that end up leading to both diseases
He Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) has started a study that seeks to unravel the inflammation markers for resistant depression. “We seek to know what microbiota factors share colon cancer and depression,” says Rodríguez. That is: what factors of the intestinal flora are present not only in the colon cancer, but also in the depression. “There is a association between both diseases and it is something that we will have to study. Depression has always been highly psychologized, but it is not that simple. There is biological factors that make a person end up developing it”, this psychiatrist points out.
He cancer diagnosis, Like other diseases, it affects ‘per se’ the people’s mental health and can cause some to end up developing depression. However, as Rodríguez recalls, “not everything is psychology” and there are cases of depression that have to do with “biological factors”.
Increase since the pandemic
As the head of the Psychiatry Service at the Hospital de Sant Pau (Barcelona) explains, Narcís Cardoner, depression is a pathology “very prevalent.” Furthermore, its incidence has been increasing in recent decades and not only that: new generations They develop this pathology “earlier” than their predecessors. “The start of debut of depression. And, since the pandemic, it has increased almost 26% worldwide”, Cardoner points out. Although this pathology affects the general population (especially between 18 and 65 years old), youths and women They are the most sensitive to developing it. “Still, the pandemic alone does not explain this increase. We know that there are other factors, Like the social, that also influence,” he says.
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Depression has a “very significant impact” in the functioning of a person. Mental illnesses not only have a direct cost in the person’s life (for example, due to treatments), but also a indirect cost: generate casualties and a loss of years of useful life. “And this has a economic impact in the country,” points out this psychiatrist, who recognizes that depression, although it is increasingly known, is a “very, very complex” disease determined by several factors. For example, the genetics influences depression, but not only. “There is multiple interactions between the things that happen to us and the biology we have that cause depression. All this makes the approach be very complicated”, Cardoner points out.
The microbiota, as Dr. Rodríguez points out, It is a factor, but “not the only one”, as Cardoner points out. That’s why there isn’t a “exclusive intervention” to address it. “Must personalize treatments. We know her more and more. There will be patients who will need psychotherapy; others, drugs and others, physical treatments”, concludes the head of Psychiatry of Sant Pau.