I didn't know I HAD a 'hate circuit'

I remember when I was very young hearing that depression was anger turned inward. It was popular psychobabble at that time, but made sense. I suffered from serious depression as an adolescent and naturally I took this personally - and what I heard was that my depression was my fault and that my job was to go get angry at someone else and I'd feel better.

Later, I realized I WAS JUST DEPRESSED and it sucked. At the time, when it lifted I felt like the sun had moved closer to the earth and that I had made that happen, which is the good side of thinking depression is a choice.

But now I see that the self-loathing was a distinct symptom - not choice or cause - and that I see this in many people I know with depressive symptoms. There is this genius of making all events and interactions into judgments of our own worth. Even good events become reasons for self-flagellation: "Here I am winning this award and I'm not appreciating it properly. I suck."

So, while this article is talking about preliminary work and, I'm glad to see, has as much rebuttal as conclusion, it brings up important concepts:

Pass it on: Depressed patients may have problems with the function of a brain circuit thought to be involved in feelings of hate.