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Depression is awful. It takes all the meaning and joy out of life, it reduces our capacity to care for, or even defend ourselves, and it can lead to an endless downward spiral leading to years of anhedonia and even suicide. So why would anyone want to talk about any value of depression? Scholars who take an evolutionary approach to …
What is rumination and how can it be overcome? Rumination, or repetitive negative thinking, can be a symptom, and possibly even a cause of depression. But where does it come from, does it have any upsides, and what can you do about it if you feel stuck in an endless loop of regret, recrimination and overthinking the past? Psychologists distinguish …
Too Busy? Not Busy Enough? A recent consultation with a patient got us thinking about activities and depression. The patient was saying that she was not looking forward to the long 4th of July weekend because she had to plan some activities to keep busy, because this is not a holiday that has a lot of actions to take, other …
Diets and Moods Evidence for the importance of diet for mental health is slowly gathering. People are looking into the importance of specific diets like the Mediterranean diet, which we have highlighted here before. And the next big area of research into diet and mental health looks like being the ketogenic diet. Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, …
Some reflections by Denise Collins on The Mighty We were struck by this great post on The Mighty, (which is a fascinating site with lots of discussion groups to explore). One of their discussion groups is about depression, and Denise Collins is a regular contributor there. Recently, she posted this reflection on how writing helps her when she is depressed. …
Consumers’ Checkbook for the San Francisco Bay Area has a ratings table for medical care practitioners in the area that looks at a number of important criteria, including patient recommendations and peer recommendations (other doctors). This is a subscription service, and you have to sign up for at least the free 7-day trial period to get the list, but if …
People with mood disorders often struggle to establish healthy circadian rhythms. They often go to sleep later than they should, and wake up later as well. This affects mood as well as ability to participate in normal life. For someone who is going to sleep at 4:00 am and waking up at 1:00 pm, changing to a better sleep pattern …
Many of our patients want to reduce their use of medications, and move to a more natural regimen, utilizing herbal medicine, dietary supplements, and other traditional or less invasive methods of controlling mood swings and increasing stability. However, we have to recognize that “natural” medicine is still a form of medical treatment, and requires patient participation and discipline just as …
Exercise is more than just cardio Moderate exercise is associated with lower rates of depression, longer life and reduced cognitive impairment in a number of recent studies. Evidence is accumulating that exercise is for more than just cardio-vascular health, and confers significant benefits at all stages of life. A 2019 observational study looked at exercise rates correlated with depression rates …
Living with mental illness or mood disorder day after day can be taxing and tiring. You have to be more disciplined, stronger, more organized and more on top of things than anyone else you know. You are bombarded with advice about dealing with a chronic illness: exercise helps, diet is important, be sure to get enough sleep, but not too …
Bright light therapy has been in use for some years for insomnia and seasonal affective disorder, and results in those areas are very promising. Until recently, however, there has not been much data available about the use of bright light therapy for major depression. A recent study, though small, was reported in a presentation at the American Psychological Association’s 2021 …
MoodSurfing has been tracking the burgeoning field of mental health apps for several years now, and, while we make no claim of mining the data of the whole field (who has time?), we do keep an eye on sites and media that study available apps and make recommendations. So, with the caveat that we have not done this research ourselves, …
Inflammation in the body may be associated with depression, but until recently, the evidence was confusing. Now, a study has looked at symptoms of depression separately, and has found that certain symptoms associated with depression are also correlated with systemic inflammation. Common symptoms of depression that are classified as physical: “changes in appetite”, “felt everything was an effort”, “loss of …
Are you getting your seven hours? Although tradition recommends eight hours’ sleep each night, research is coming more and more to the conclusion that seven hours is best, and eight or more can be too much, causing as many problems as too little sleep. A recent study, using data from the U.K. Biobank, a national database of individuals in the …
Gardening improves mood Spring has sprung and people are looking to the outdoors, plants and gardening for a mood lift, a lifestyle change and a tried and true path to happiness and fulfillment. For those who think such attitudes are maybe a tad over-optimistic, we can show a surprising amount of research on the mental and physical health benefits of …
Anger seems to be a topic on everybody’s mind these days. Meltdowns in the mall, road rage, demonstrations, shootings… What’s going on? Well, as we all know, it’s been a stressful two years, and there seems to be a lot of pent-up steam to be let off. But since we are supposed to be civilized adults, we also need to …
People without a partner are often anxious about getting “hooked up” ASAP before the biological clock runs out (this attitude affects men and women both). But people living with depression often find the dating pool to be a taxing and often futile place to be. How do you handle feeling pulled in two directions at once? On the one hand, …
Learning to stop a manic episode in its tracks is an important skill for living creatively with moods. Mania is a dangerous state, and failing to control it leads to worse and deeper depressive moods afterwards. In order to gain more stability in the midst of mood swings, it is important not to give in to the call of the …
Bipolar and sleep disruption People with bipolar can have as much sleep disruption in a week that those without mood disorders will experience in a much longer time frame. Mood swings can cause major changes in sleep patterns and disrupted sleep makes it much more difficult to maintain mood stability. That’s why MoodSurfing offers so many resources about sleep and …
Oxytocin is a neurohormone that is produced in the human brain and helps us form loving connections: mother-child bonds as well as the connections between romantic partners. When we are with a person who stimulates our oxytocin-producing neurological system, we feel warmed, supported, in a word: loved. However, making us feel loved doesn’t seem to be exactly the function of …
