Could Lowering Inflammation Treat Depression?
Psychiatry has a long history of treating mental illness with drugs that were developed for entirely different purposes.
Take depression medications: The first antidepressant was initially designed for tuberculosis. One of the newest treatments, ketamine, started as an anesthetic. Now, scientists are investigating whether anti-inflammatory drugs might benefit some patients. A medication for rheumatoid arthritis was the focus of a small study published last month, building on decades of research examining a connection between inflammation and depression.
Roughly 25 percent of people with depression have elevated levels of inflammatory proteins in their blood, and the inflammation seems to develop before the depression does. In studies where people were given a substance to stimulate inflammation, participants experienced feelings of depression and anxiety shortly after.
People with high inflammation are less likely to benefit from traditional antidepressants. “I don’t think that this is likely important for everyone with depression,” said Dr. David Goldsmith, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine. But inflammation “may help explain why a lot of individuals don’t respond to first-line treatments for depression, like S.S.R.I.s,” he said.
Inflammation may also explain the association between depression and certain physical health conditions, such as metabolic or autoimmune diseases, said Dr. John Matthews, a senior psychiatrist at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Mass General Brigham. The same goes for childhood trauma or chronic stress, he added. While there are most likely several factors that contribute to increased depression risk with these experiences, one may be that they increase inflammation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/well/mind/inflammation-depression-treatment.html?
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Very interesting!!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Ty for sharing. 
