Mood Problems Beget Mood Problems
Life stressors can generate significant changes in a person’s brain in terms of genetics and biochemistry. This can leave the person more susceptible to further brain ailments. Researchers have adopted the term ‘kindling’ to describe this phenomenon. The word kindling is a metaphor; think of how a small fire is required to light a bigger log to produce a larger fire. That small starter fire is also referred to as kindling!
Kindling was initially observed by scientists studying the effects of repeated seizures on the brain. A seizure may increase the likelihood of more seizures occurring; an old saying in epilepsy research is "seizures beget seizures". It is hypothesized to be the case because repeated stimulation lowers the threshold for more seizures to occur.
Aside from seizures, kindling has been observed in bipolar disorder where stressful life events play an important role in the development of affective disorder, particularly in mania-dominant bipolar disorder, but only in early episodes; latter episodes seem to occur independently or due to an increased reactivity of the disease to minor stress.
The findings from a mania-predominant course of bipolar disorder is an additional piece of convincing evidence to the “kindling” phenomenon in bipolar disorder; the evidence for stress-induced neurobiological changes involve immune dysfunction, changes in brain structure, increased hair cortisol levels, decreased Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels and epigenetic modulation.
It was also observed that stressful life events were linked to initial episodes occurring rather than later ones. The observations reinforce the notion that repeated psychosocial insults during the early course of bipolar disorder might create the neurobiological vulnerability to develop spontaneous recurrences without severe stressors in the later progression of the illness.
Hence the importance of knowing and recognizing your early warning signs, getting treated in a timely manner and adjusting your lifestyle in a way that prevents further episodes from happening!
