Brain abnormality in depression:- The frontal lobe is responsible for many functions, such as emotion, planning, reasoning, problem solving, judgement, impulse control, social interaction and memory. Brain abnormality in this area has been linked with depression.
Coffey (1993) used an MRI scan to compare the volume of grey matter in the frontal lobe in patients with depression and a non-depressed control group. He found that depressed patients had a smaller volume of grey matter compared to people without depression. Similar research by Milo (2001) used PET scans to measure the level of activity in the frontal lobe of people with, and without, depression. He found that people with depression had lower levels on activity in the frontal lobe, compared to people without depression.