08/08/2025
🧠Brain Regions & Mood: What Science Says About Depression
We often hear that emotions come from the heart - but science tells a different story. Our moods are actually rooted in the brain, where specific regions play a key role in regulating how we feel.
Thanks to advanced brain imaging like fMRI, PET, and SPECT scans, researchers can now study brain activity and neurotransmitter levels in incredible detail. This has led to important discoveries about depression and the brain regions involved, such as the amygdala, thalamus, and hippocampus.
One major finding? The hippocampus - a region tied to memory and mood - is often smaller in people with depression. Studies show the more episodes of depression a person experiences, the smaller their hippocampus tends to be. Chronic stress may be to blame, as it can suppress the growth of new nerve cells (neurons).
Scientists believe that true recovery comes from nerve cell growth and stronger neural connections - a process called neurogenesis. Neurogenesis is influenced by:
Stress levels (chronic cortisol suppresses neurogenesis)
Sleep quality
Physical activity
Cognitive stimulation
Growth factors (like BDNF — Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
Hypnosis Supports the Conditions for Neurogenesis:
A. Downregulating Chronic Stress
By reducing the biochemical “neurotoxin” effect of prolonged cortisol, hypnosis helps preserve and allow hippocampal neuron growth.
B. Increasing BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
BDNF supports neuron survival, differentiation, and synaptic plasticity.
Relaxation training and mind-body practices, hypnosis included, have been shown to raise BDNF
C. Improving Sleep Architecture
Hypnotic suggestion can improve sleep onset, quality, and depth, which is crucial for neuronal repair and memory consolidation. Sleep is when neurogenesis-related processes like synaptic pruning and growth factor release peak.
D. Enhancing Cognitive and Emotional Enrichment
Hypnosis increases imaginative engagement, sensory vividness, and emotional processing, all of which create a cognitive enrichment effect similar to learning a new skill.
Mental imagery in hypnosis activates the same neural circuits as real experiences, giving the brain “practice” without real-world strain.
E. Facilitating Trauma and Emotion Processing
Hypnosis can reprocess traumatic memory in a safe, regulated state, shifting the brain from survival coding to adaptive learning — which reopens neuroplastic and neurogenic windows.
