Losing Control: A Tale about Binge-Eating Disorder

Individuals facing stress, anxiety, or depression will sometimes fall prey to eating disorders. While anorexia and bulimia have received a lot of attention, one of the most prevalent eating disorders is binge-eating disorder. Binge-eating disorder can be detrimental to both a healthy mental and physical state. A man who suffered from binge-eating disorder shared his story with the New York …

Sleep Strategies

One of the most frequent causes of insomnia is anxiety. Insomnia of this kind is caused by increased activation of the sympathetic nervous system at night. The body releases norepinephrine (the flight or fight hormone) at night when that system should be inactive. You wake up and you feel “wide awake.” A current patient of Dr. Forster’s is having difficulty sleeping …

Destructive Duo: Diabetes and Depression

According to Dr. Coleman M.D., it is common for individuals to experience comorbid Diabetes Mellitus and Depression. Diabetes Mellitus is also known as Type 2 diabetes. On its own, each diesase acts as a risk factor for the other disease. For those with diabetes, the chances of also experiencing depression is 15-30%. In addition, individuals with depression have twice the …

Food for Thought

Studies have shown that what you eat affects the way you feel. However, there are so many diet plans out there that it is hard to know which diets promote the best physical and mental health. The Paleo diet is rumored to help with weight loss and mood improvement, so I decided to investigate. The goal of the Paleo diet …

The Value of Mood Charting

When it comes to understanding the factors that cause us to feel a certain way, mood charting can be extremely useful. Recently, Dr. Forster met with a patient named David that claimed he was “doing better than he should.” He felt that his overall mood was pretty good, but he was also experiencing difficulty with his memory and concentration. David …

Gambling: Sucked into the Slots

Dr. Howard Forman interviewed Dr. David Forest about the reasons behind the great appeal of slot machines. Gambling is a phenomenon that has been sweeping the nation. People are simply captivated by the machines. Dr. Forest attributes the allure of the slots to both players and professionals to the bio-psycho-social attractiveness of the machines. The machines attract so many players …

Sit Back, and Relax

Yoga and mindfulness meditation have been rumored to increase resilience by inducing the relaxation response. The body exhibits the relaxation response by producing antidepressant, antianxiety, and anti-stress effects. Dr. Roy-Byrne, MD set up an experiment to see whether the relaxation response would not only reduce physiological stress but also actually change gene expression. The gene expression of peripheral blood cells …

There’s an App for that

The I-phone has come out with some new, user friendly mood charting apps that have the potential to change the way you live your life. Just when you thought the I-phone couldn’t get any better!  Two of these affordable apps are Senti and Moodkit. The Senti app keeps an emotional history of every day life by asking questions about the …

Depression: Bouncing Back

One of the factors that correlate with depression is a lack of resilience.  With little resilience, we respond negatively when exposed to stress or trauma. This response then becomes a habit and is encoded in the brain. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain has the ability to rewire and make new connections. According to Linda Graham, MFT in her article Bouncing …

Abused and Misused: Opiods

The most overprescribed drugs that have have captured public interest are opioids. What a lot of people don’t know is that a 29% increase in pharmaceutical overdose deaths was caused by misuse of benzodiazepines, which have sedative properties. Dr. Steven King, MD, believes benzodiazepines are overprescribed, especially for patients with chronic pain. Benzodiazepines are often overlooked by the public, who …

Brain Food

Many treatments these days can be pretty expensive. However, you can start a fantastic, low cost, risk free intervention with a healthy diet. According to Dr. Drew Ramsey, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, the brain uses at least 420 calories per day and needs omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil), fiber, coline, and a series of …

Losing Control

  Dysphoria can be extremely scary and unpredictable. In the midst of these episodes, it can feel as if the world is crashing down around you. A woman named DeeDee gave a personal account of a period of dysphoria that she compares to a total train wreck. She felt as if her life was stuck in a slump and that …

Defuse Dangerous Thoughts

We want to spend a little bit of time talking about one powerful technique for dealing with dangerous thoughts. Dangerous thoughts are thoughts that make themselves true in powerful and self-destructive ways.  One example of a dangerous thought is from a very attractive young woman who had a terrible childhood of neglect.  She has a powerful, dangerous thought that pops …

Stress, Resilience and the Neurobiology of Depression

Dr. Eric Nestler, M.D. believes that when it comes to treating depression, we should be doing better.  Less than half of those with depression get better after receiving maximum treatment. Dr. Nestler describes depression as a broad syndrome hat involves many different diseases. Because the specific causes of depression cannot be identified, this disorder is difficult to treat. In order …

Coming Home

Where does the mind go when it is not occupied by the worries, frustration, and anxiety? Does it go to a happy place, or are people naturally angry? According to Rick Hanson, PhD, the mind constantly fluctuates between a reactive and responsive state. When in the responsive state, the body is able to relax and reenergize. It is a time …

Effects of Vitamin D on Mental Illness

Current Psychiatry posted an article suggesting that vitamin D levels are related to different mental illnesses. Although more than 50% of psychiatric patients are reported to have vitamin D deficiencies, there is still not enough evidence to say that vitamin D supplementation will help with symptoms. One way vitamin D enters our systems is through exposure to sunlight. UV radiation …

A Daily Dose of Meditation

I was extremely intrigued by the last blog post on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). I wanted to take on the challenge that I presented to the readers and give mindfulness a try myself. The problem was I had no idea where to begin or even how to meditate. After talking to Dr. Forster about my predicament, he suggested I look …

Mindfulness Meditation: Good for what Ails You

At the APA’s annual meeting this year, the hot topic up for discussion was mindfulness meditation. This kind of treatment has existed throughout the ages, but has recently become extremely popular.  It has shown positive results for a myriad of disorders like anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and addiction. Several doctors think that the practice of mindfulness meditation, the conscious effort to …

Keeping a Healthy Brain

Aging is an inevitable part of life. We cannot control the fact that we age or prevent the process of getting older. However, we can control our attitude about aging. Many people view aging as the gradual decrease of cognitive abilities, but Dr. Helen Lavretsky, a Professor in the department of psychiatry at UCLA, provides a more optimistic view of …

Cling Less and Love More

Right in the midst of working with a young woman who has been struggling with how to accept the possibility that a new relationship might have to end (her boyfriend is still caught up in thoughts and feeling evoked by his ex, who sounds like the kind of intense woman who can easily trap a young man in a prolonged …