Many people who live with depression say that the hardest part is not just feeling sad, but feeling stuck. Simple tasks like getting out of bed, taking a shower, or going for a short walk can feel overwhelming.
This loss of drive, often called low motivation, can affect every part of daily life. It can make it difficult to work, care for family, or even seek help.
Depression is a common mental health condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Doctors often treat it with medications that target brain chemicals such as serotonin.
These treatments can help improve mood, but they do not always solve the problem of low motivation. For many patients, even when their mood improves, they still struggle to feel energy or interest in doing things.
Now, a new study from Emory University offers a different way of thinking about depression. The research suggests that inflammation in the body may play a key role in why some people lose motivation. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or illness, but when it becomes long-lasting, it can harm normal body functions, including the brain.
The study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, explored whether reducing inflammation could help improve motivation in people with depression. To do this, researchers tested a drug called infliximab.
This medication is already used to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases where the immune system is overactive.
Infliximab works by blocking a substance in the body known as tumor necrosis factor, or TNF. TNF is one of the chemicals that drives inflammation. By reducing TNF, the drug can calm down the immune system and lower inflammation levels.
The researchers focused on a group of 42 adults who had depression and also showed signs of high inflammation. This was measured using a blood test for a protein called C-reactive protein, or CRP. All participants had CRP levels above 3, which is considered a sign of increased inflammation in the body.
The participants were randomly divided into two groups. One group received infliximab, while the other group received a placebo, which is a treatment with no active drug. This type of study design helps ensure that any effects seen are truly due to the medication.
Over the next two weeks, the researchers looked at changes in motivation using several methods. They asked participants how much effort they were willing to put in to earn rewards. This helps measure real-life motivation, such as the willingness to work toward a goal.
They also used brain scans to observe activity in key areas of the brain linked to motivation and reward. In addition, participants completed questionnaires about how they felt.
The results were encouraging. People who received infliximab showed greater willingness to work for rewards compared to those who received the placebo. This suggests that their motivation had improved. Brain scans supported these findings.
The researchers saw increased activity in areas such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, and putamen. These parts of the brain are known to play important roles in motivation, decision-making, and the feeling of reward.
The study also found that these brain areas were more strongly connected in people who received the drug. This may mean that their brain networks were working more smoothly, allowing them to respond better to motivation and rewards.
Dr. Michael Treadway, the lead author of the study, said that this is the first time researchers have seen an anti-inflammatory drug directly affect the brain systems linked to motivation. He explained that it is exciting because it opens up a new direction for treating depression, especially for people who do not respond well to standard medications.
Another researcher, Dr. Andrew Miller, noted that this study supports the idea that depression is not just a disorder of brain chemicals, but may also involve the immune system. This means that future treatments could focus not only on the brain, but also on reducing inflammation in the body.
Although the findings are promising, the researchers also caution that more work is needed. The study involved a small number of participants, and the effects were only observed over a short period of time. Scientists still need to study whether the benefits last longer and whether the drug is safe for long-term use in people with depression.
Even so, this research offers new hope. For people who feel trapped by a lack of motivation, it suggests that there may be new ways to help them regain energy and engagement in life. It also highlights the importance of looking at the whole body, not just the brain, when trying to understand and treat depression.
If you care about depression, please read studies that vegetarian diet may increase your depression risk, and Vitamin D could help reduce depression symptoms.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that ultra-processed foods may make you feel depressed, and these antioxidants could help reduce the risk of dementia.
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