Depression or stress? Study says changes in brain bio could make you suicidal

New Delhi: Mental health is gradually becoming a concern among youngsters and even older adults. In an incredibly competitive world, where from academics to the professional world, people are constantly pitted against each other to excel, anxiety and depression have taken over. And with this comes the need to prioritise mental health for people across age groups. And now, scientists are deepening research on the subject in order to decode the causes and reduce the risk of suicide. According to a recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry, neuroinflammation in the brain could be associated with suicidal tendencies.

Doctors say that suicide is rarely a consequence of one factor - it usually stems from a blend of genetic vulnerability, external stressors, and psychiatric problems like depression. Dr. J. John Mann and Dr. Sarah Herzog of Columbia University, along with colleagues, explored whether inflammatory changes in the brain might explain why some people with depression develop suicidal ideation while others do not.

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Previous studies had already highlighted elevated inflammation in individuals who died by suicide, including structural changes in microglia—immune cells in the brain—as well as higher levels of inflammatory messengers like cytokines. Increased levels of IL-6, TNF-alpha, and C-reactive protein were noted in the blood samples of suicide victims. However, researchers continued to be unsure about directly associating these with suicidal behaviour. One of the key hypotheses is that neuroinflammation in the brain makes it sensitive to stress. This could amplify negative emotions and make one more vulnerable to suicidal tendencies in challenging situations.

Study findings decoded

For this, researchers studied 53 adults with major depressive disorder in their 30s. Some of them had a history of suicide attempts, but on average, these occurred five years before the study. All participants underwent brain scans with PET imaging. They were all also given a radiotracer injection to detect TSPO, a marker of immune activation. Blood samples had also been collected to measure TSPO activity outside the brain.

A subgroup of 21 participants then took part in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) for one week, reporting six times daily on their mood, suicidal thoughts, and exposure to stressors. With real-time tracking, researchers successfully examined how stress interacted with inflammation levels to influence suicidal ideation.

Key findings of the study

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The study results showed that participants with high TSPO binding in the brain witnessed more suicidal thoughts and heightened negative emotions during stressful moments. This relationship could not be explained simply by the severity of their depression before the scan or by their general mood at the time.

In other words, increased immune activity in the brain was specifically tied to how stress triggered suicidal ideation, independent of underlying depressive symptoms. Those with depression who reported suicidal thoughts had significantly higher TSPO binding than those without such ideation. Interestingly, no link was found between TSPO binding and past suicide attempts, likely because most participants’ attempts had occurred years before.