Does the pain of depression "light up" the same areas of the brain as physical pain? ( in research scans )

Question

I have experienced mental anguish that was as painful as a bad headache or accidentally scalding myself or holding ones hand in ice water.

Answer 1

That is a question best answered by a neuro-scientist. Your use of the phrase "light up" indicates to me you mean light up as in a PET scan or something. My guess would be no as physical pain is referred to some body part external to the brain due to nerve stimulus while depression is a basic emotion. I suggest if you are really interested doing some basic research on this. First you could look up "emotions" in a Yahoo! web search to get an idea how an emotion arises. Wikipedia has a good introductory summary. Then look up "pain" in the same manner; again wikipedia has a good introductory description.

Then go to a text such as  Dale Purves et.al.;"Neuroscience, 4th ed."; Sinauer Assoc. Inc., Sunderland Mass., 2008, and look up Pain and Depression for more detailed descriptions.

Good luck in your research, good mental health, peace and Love!