Depression – Can It Be Detected By Blood Tests?

Depression  is, in many cases, a latent disease that we deal with alone. Often times, people suffering from depression feel that no one understands them – and the rest of them do not know exactly what is wrong with them.

Depression  is also a very cunning disease. There are days when everything seems to be fine, and after a while, even a simple shower or performing basic duties turns out to be quite a challenge.

People with depression often feel lonely and abandoned. They cannot identify their problem or ask for help. The longer this condition persists, the greater the devastation to your mental and emotional health.

Today we would like to devote an article to an interesting topic – namely the possibility of detecting depression through blood tests.

Depression is not a shame

It is very common, and it is extremely harmful to say that people who suffer from depression are cowardly and weak. This is not true! Depression is an insidious disease that takes away the joy of life and even the strongest person can become a victim of it.

Willpower alone is not enough to fight this disease, which is why proper diagnosis and treatment are so important. Asking for help is not a shame – it is a must!

Quite often one can also come across the view that a disease is only what we can physically examine or measure. When a disease cannot be represented as a series of numbers, indicators, and laboratory results, we have doubts as to whether it is actually a physical state of health.

A new method of diagnosing depression comes to the rescue here. These are blood tests that will prove that depression is actually a disease, not an excuse or a sign of weakness.

Can depression be detected by a blood test?

Researchers from the University of Vienna have found that depression is a disease closely related to the level of serotonin in the body. It is a substance responsible for positive emotions and our well-being.

So it is obvious that in people struggling with depression, the level of this substance may be insufficient. Researchers started specific research with this thesis.

Lukas Pezawas, head of the research team, assures them that they allowed them to identify specific processes. Which serotonin is responsible for and which have specific effects shown in blood test results. The SERT protein, present in brain cells, is responsible for the transport of serotonin.

The most important discovery of Austrian researchers is the fact that this protein – contrary to what was thought – is also present in other organs of the human body.

The presence of SERT protein has been found, inter alia, in the intestine and in the blood. Moreover, it works in exactly the same way in other organs as it does in brain cells. This allows the assumption that even a simple blood test can be one of the ways to diagnose depression.

To complete the research of the Viennese University, the blood results were confronted with the brain images obtained by magnetic resonance imaging.

They showed that the presence of depression can be proved by the amount of serotonin in thrombocytes, and this is what we can check with a blood test.

A revolution in diagnosing depression

Depression is a very complex disease and very difficult to control. It works, in a way, in an automatic mode – we are not able to fight the insistent recurring thoughts and we feel defenseless against our own emotions.

Fortunately, a revolution in diagnosing this disease is just around the corner. Soon blood tests will allow the rejection of harmful stereotypes about people suffering from depression, thus allowing them to return to a normal life.

Depression will gain universal disease status and patients will regain their dignity. No one will have the right to doubt the seriousness of an illness that requires treatment, rather than being judged as someone’s weakness, excuse, fabrication, or character trait.

Finally, let’s emphasize how important it is to support family and friends in the fight against depression. When someone struggles with this disease, their self-esteem suffers greatly. It is the people closest to us that can help you fight the feeling of hopelessness and pointlessness.

However, they must understand the source and characteristics of this disease themselves, so as not to burden us with their prejudices or lack of knowledge.