DEPRESSION & THE CINGULATE GYRUS

 

Depression---Anger turned inward—cingulate gyrus

In between the left and right and just below hemispheres of the human brain is a group of nervous about as long and thick as a hotdog.  Its primary purpose is to switch our focus from one thing to another.  When we are focusing on a client we are accessing many areas of our memories of them, our disciplines as therapists, their histories and the current session’s interactions. If they ask us about the plant we have in the office our Cingulate Gyrus will quickly activate to gather relevant data of the history of our plant.  The Cingulate’s job is meant to be short-lived, like a switch. I point to the light switch. It turns the attention to the plant, then stops functioning until we want to switch back to our clinical awareness.  The Cingulate Gyrus is located above the Limbic Cortex and Corpus Callosum. It is high enough up in the brain to utilize language, however when it operates the brain reduces the use of the frontal lobe.  The logic circuitry isn’t nearly as important as the complex process of creating memory images. 

This is all well and good, however what does it have to do with anger turned inward?  The Cingulate has the capability of having a thought over and over again without the need to filter it through the logic circuitry. Thought distortions are what David Burns, MD, in his 1980 book Feeling Good, called the core of being depressed.  There is some hopeless, helpless exaggerated thought that resonates with the feelings in the Limbic System.  Without regulation from the Frontal Cortex the emotional low brain/body and repetitive thought re-enforce one-an-other.  The more we think our situation is hopeless the more it feels hopeless.  The more we feel hopeless the more we think the hopeless thought over again.  This Cingulate Gyrus/Limbic Cortex feedback allows the impulse centers of the brain/body to operate without the modulation the Frontal Cortex is responsible for.

If we experience anger toward ourselves or others while we are thinking and feeling hopeless we are compromised in our ability to modulate those feelings and thoughts.  As the seconds and moments develop into days and weeks a feeling of lethargy sets in. *****An aside about Shame/Narcissism.  Even when the Frontal Lobe can get involved, it is important to remember its default setting is to worry about what people are thinking and feeling about us. Our shame dynamic tells us there is something wrong with us and other people know it.  During moments of depression there IS something wrong with us, so rather than helping us become more realistic about our thoughts and feelings, the False Self turns the reigns back over to the Cingulate Gyrus and the Limbic Cortex. ******The diagnostic manual for mental disorders states that an essential criterion to meet the diagnosis of a Depressive episode is: a person must experience a feeling like hopelessness most of the hours, for most of the days, for at least two weeks.  Many people who have come to me for therapy have been experiencing thoughts and feelings of hopelessness almost every day for years.

So how do we get the logic circuitry back involved?  This is where Dr. Burns clarified for us Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  One, identify the distorted thoughts. Two, determine the type of exaggeration it is. Three, develop a realistic thought about the same thing without the exaggeration; and practice all three steps when able to notice depressive thoughts or feelings.  This process of recognition of the distressing component requires the observation ability that only can come from the Frontal Lobe.  90% of the function of the cells in the Frontal Lobe is to inhibit impulse coming from the Limbic Cortex.  By being logical and starting an action of thinking differently, automatically the emotions are being modulated. This may not be powerful enough to inhibit the process of the emotions controlling the thoughts, however it is likely to be a useful component of most people's recovery from Depression.