A new research has revealed that a thinning present in the right hemisphere of the brain may be linked to a greater risk for depression. It was found that the people who had a family history of depression were found with brain thinning as compared to those who did not have.

The researchers have found that the thinner cortex might raise the risk of depression by disturbing the capacity to interpret and pay attention to, emotional and social signals from other individuals. So, the findings strongly recommend that if anyone has thinning in the right hemisphere of the brain, he might be prone to depression and might also have some issues with cognitive and inattentiveness problems.

It was also found that the level of thinning was equivalent to the loss of brain matter normally seen in schizophrenic and Alzheimer’s patients. The more is the thinning, the higher capability of developing cognitive problems. And someone has an additional thinning in the same area of the left hemisphere; it appears to point out clearly the symptoms of an obvious sickness, one of the researchers said.

The study was conducted on two groups of people: one who had a family background of depression and the second were those who did not have any history of the disorder. Results of the brain scans discovered that the former group had been found with 28 percent thinning of the right cortex while in the second one there was no indication of brain thinning.

To find out the new ways for the treatment and prevention of depression, these findings would prove a milestone in the field of research, the lead researcher concluded.

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