Psychotherapy Lowers Stress Hormone Levels
.jpg)
Too much work, too little time, relationship problems – people react to such situations by producing stress hormones. Several control areas in the brain are involved in this reaction. A central switch point is the hypothalamus. When under stress or in danger, this control and steering organ releases a hormone that stimulates the pituitary gland to produce another hormone, which in turn stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Figure: IPR Zagreb Ltd., www.tegobe.com
When the danger is over, the release of these hormones is stopped again, and the stress level falls. People with severe depression often have constantly elevated stress hormone levels. This can have an adverse effect on the metabolism of the neurotransmitters in the brain: they are present in lower concentrations, which can cause a depression to develop. “Fifty percent of severely depressed patients have elevated blood cortisol levels,” says Professor Peter Gass of the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim. Antidepressants normalize the cortisol metabolism again. However, it is not clear whether the drugs directly influence the cortisol metabolism, causing the mood to brighten, or whether the antidepressants improve mood and this leads, in turn, to a normalization of the cortisol level.
