CRH and depressive disorder: Symptoms of depression associated with dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is initiated by activation of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN; Lee et al., 1987; Dunn and Berridge, 1990; Bremner et al., 1997; Arborelius et al., 1999; Baker et al., 1999; Bakshi and Kalin, 2000; Brouwer et al., 2005).