Life Energy

Freud came up with the term libido to describe the sum of all the human instincts related to love. In his view, there was a limited amount of this libidinal energy and it was important to use it wisely. Invest it in the wrong activities and you could end up with nothing to show for it. This notion of limits …

Later Retirement and Alzheimer’s Prevention

A study conducted by Carole Dufouil, a scientist at the French governmental agency INSERM reveals that if individuals stay in the workforce longer, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s is greatly reduced. In the study, 500,000 people in France were used as participants. The information gathered from these individuals included age of retirement and whether or not they had dementia. The results …

Brain Power

Problems with memory are common for people with depression (and the rest of us, as we age, as well). Although the most important thing to do to improve brain function is to address mood extremes, there are often residual problems, and sometimes there are negative brain effects from the medications that help stabilize mood. A wonderful older man who came …

The U Pattern of Depression

Over time researchers have observed that depression follows a U pattern. First depression symptoms are high in young adulthood. Like the dip of a U, depression symptoms decrease in midlife, and the rounding back up of the U signifies the return of greater depressive symptoms in later years. The results of some long-term longitudinal studies that investigated the peak in …