[The role of the right hemisphere in the aetiology of the depressive disorders].

Many differences between the hemispheres have been observed, from the gross anatomical level to differences in dendritic structure or neurotransmitter distribution. Analytic reasoning and language functions such as grammar and vocabulary are often lateralized to the left hemisphere of the brain. The right cerebral hemisphere plays a special role in tasks involving the direction of spatial attention, recognition of faces, perception, possibly generation of affect and affective prosody. Depression is associated with many different cognitive impairments e.g. in the domains of working memory and executive functions as well as interpersonal and social cognition problems. Little is known about the relationship between cognitive and affective deficits in depression. Researchers have hypothesised that the laterality of brain damage may facilitate the expression of emotional or affective disturbances. The aim of the study is to describe the role of the right hemisphere in the aetiology of depressive disorders.