Brain Network Changes in Depression: Frontostriatal Salience Network Expansion
How does depression change brain networks?
Depression expands the brain’s salience network in regions that control attention and emotions, fundamentally reorganizing brain connectivity. This explains why people with depression struggle with focus, decisions, and emotional control. Key changes:
- Network expansion - salience network grows abnormally large
- Attention problems - affects brain regions controlling focus
- Emotional processing - disrupts areas managing emotions
- Decision-making difficulties - impacts regions involved in choices
Depression significantly expands the brain’s salience network, particularly in frontostriatal regions that control attention and emotional processing. This network expansion represents a fundamental reorganization of brain connectivity that may explain why people with depression struggle with attention, decision-making, and emotional regulation.