Pretty much all chronic illness and pain cause some depression. I think there is probably some sort if neuroscience you can apply there. Also, there is a morning period as someone goes through realizing their life might be different forever. Usual stages if anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance.

Moreover, people are dismissive and don’t take the illness seriously.

I actually resent depression as being listed as though it’s part of the disease, whichever you pick, because the focus on depression and how someone handles it, including medicating them for anxiety and depression, sometimes takes away from curing the underlying cause, that the patient has something physically wrong. We don’t see this so much with cancer, but definitely with rheumatic conditions, many female conditions, and even simple things like chronic back pain.

I think treating the whole patient is important, but what most patients want most is to actually be physically better.

There are now some very enlightened contemporary integrative medicine therapies for cancer, I am happy to report. In addition to starting with and sticking to the medical treatment…chemo, radiation, surgery, bone marrow transplant, stem cellsl, etc, places like Dana-Farber in Boston stress the three-pats of alternative treatment.

http://www.dana-farber.org/Adult-Care/Treatment-and-Support/Patient-and-Family-Support/Zakim-Center-for-Integrative-Therapies.aspx

1) Nutrition
2) Exercise
#) Stress and anxiety reduction…particularly acupuncture, massage and reiki.

I have a friend being treated for ovarian cancer and she has had some free reiki during her chemo sessions…provided by her Oncology Center. She is also going to an acupuncturist once a week (who throws in a mini-scalp, facial and upper back massage). She does not report being clinically depressed…just some moments of three-o’clock-in-the-morningitis.

Her Oncology Center has an 800 number where a patient can call at any time with any kind of question and get a call-back within 30 minutes, if it is urgent…day, night and week-ends. This provides a huge relief from anxiety. She has also been provided with her own Nurse-Navigator for all the bureaucratic, procedural and similar non-urgent questions.

How you can unbraid the neuroscience and chemistry from all this is beyond my ken…I am sure that the scientific studies can easily be found. (Is this what your question is asking about?)

“Integrative Health is the practice of medicine that reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, disciplines and healthcare professionals to achieve optimal health and healing. The vision is a comprehensive and compassionate health care system offering seamless integration of effective complementary and conventional approaches to promote healing and health in every individual and community.”

You might want to see some similar theses on the topic.

Perhaps you’ve already seen this study with rats – that boils down to essentially this: there is a recent hypothesis that leptin, generated in ectopic endometrial lesions produces hyperalgesia (debilitating pain) by acting on nociceptors innervating the lesion. This sensitivity to leptin is dependent on estrogen levels. Thus, interventions targeting leptin signaling, especially in combination with interventions that lower estrogen levels, might be useful for the treatment of endometriosis pain.
So, a mix of leptin level suppression (similar to SSRIs – an inhibitor or block) and careful estrogen level management/monitoring might be helpful.

Or, if you’re only looking for co-morbidities, certainly depression, misdiagnosis as fibromyalgia or other NOS pain, and/or referral for psychiatric conditions (hypochondria) – and finally chemical abuse for those who have an inclination towards abusing pain medication might be topical. It would be interesting to investigate the overlap between the neurological/genetic predisposition to chemical dependency and those who experience this neurobiologically “caused” pain from endometriosis.

Finally, many women with endo have difficulty conceiving. Could that also be related to leptin levels / estrogen imbalance? Just another thought.

Good luck to you – interesting area to cover with a thesis!

Have you ever considered the lymphatic system? It effects so many people and there are so many links between thyroid or lymphatic system gland and so many ailments. Especially for women. I always wondered if the lymphatic system could be made healthy, how many ailments would be cured or put into remission. I can’t help but feel that doctors keep treating ailments but not the main cause. They keep looking for genetic links but I wonder if maybe the change in genetics is caused by a faulty lymphatic system