Abigail
Roesser
Earth
Science
Current
Event
The Painful Truth: The link between Chronic Pain and
Depression
I attended the Sarah Lawrence Science
poster session. I chose to learn
about the link between Chronic pain and depression. The project was by Beryl Kahn, Katherine Mocarski, and Ayana
Wildgoose for their General Biology II class. Their poster discussed many
aspects of pain and depression and how they are similar corticoneural pathways
into the limbic system. One thing that I found interesting was they said that
long term pain can cause depression, but depression can also cause pain. The
poster discusses how over time the protective system weakens due to this
constant pain which in turn can cause you to become depressed. Their poster
discusses how pain receptors respond to the part of the body that suffers the
damage and they signal tissue and organ irritation known as the injury. This
transmits pain signals to the brain. So the protective system in the brain
weakens over time with this chronic pain and ultimately doesn’t work after
months or years with this problem. They also discuss some ways to treat chronic
pain and depression such as antidepressant medication because it can act to
regulate the mood and the perception of pain. However, they stated that no
single medication, procedure, or therapy can address all aspects involved in
chronic pain.
I
thought that this research was really interesting and informative to help us
understand the link between depression and chronic pain. This was personally
interesting to me because both of my parents have chronic pain. My mother was
in a car accident and has chronic pain in her neck. It was interesting to
understand the different treatments and why mood changes while living with
chronic pain. My father also has deteriorating disks in his back which causes
pain so this is why I was drawn to this poster. I think that understanding things that people have to live
with every day and how it impacts their actions is important to the study of
science. I also found it interesting that scientists are looking for new
treatments for this link between chronic pain and depression.
Overall,
the poster was very good. Their information made sense and they had interesting
diagrams. However, the way that they presented the information to someone
interested was unprofessional and the would laugh and didn’t seem to take their
own research serious.
I
think that it was very interesting to go to the poster fair at Sarah Lawrence
because we got to see a lot of different things in science that interest different
people and we could pick what we though was interesting and what we wanted to learn about.
I read Abigail Roesser’s response to the Sarah Lawrence Science Poster Session because it was different from most other current events I have scene. Abigail did a good job at discussing the connections between pain and depression without getting into too many scientific terms, which might make the connections difficult to understand. Also, I enjoyed how Abigail discussed the reasons for visiting this particular poster. I found it interesting how her real life experiences drew her to this particular piece of work. Finally, Abigail wrote in a clear and concise way, which made the facts easy to understand to someone with limited information such as myself.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this response, I learned that not only can depression lead to pain, but also pain can lead to depression. The weakening of the protective system due to pain can cause depression. Also, I learned that no single medication or therapy could address and cure all aspects involved in chronic pain and depression.
Overall, Abigail did a great job and wrote in a clear and concise way, which made the information easy to understand. However, she did not really discuss certain things too specifically and may have been too general. This may have been to the poster’s limited knowledge, but overall it was good.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFallon Raviol
ReplyDelete6-7-13
Core Earth Science
Comment
Abigail did a really good job of explaining how how long term pain can lead to depression. She states that over the course of a long period, your protective system can waken because of the pain in your body, which leads to depression. Abigail also does a great job of explaining their poster in a simple, yet detailed way. She talks about how pain receptors respond to the pain in the body and then they transmit the pain signals to the brain. Then, the protective system weakens over time because of the pain and after months or even years, the system will not work with the pain. Abigail’s explanation of the seminar flows well as she connects her ideas. She goes on to explain how pain causes depression, and then explains how depression causes pain. I found it really interesting the idea that depression can cause pain and vice versa, pain can cause depression. I also think it is amazing how the body can transmit signals so easily, but can do so much damage to a person. Where the pain area is, signals are then sent to the brain, and then the protective system weakens over time. Overall, Abigail’s current event was excellent, however I wish she could have explained more on how depression can lead to pain. She states that fact, but never backs it up with evidence.