Patients in recovery from major depressive episodes may need help learning to process positive information and stimuli. Researchers found that people with a history of major depressive disorder spend more time processing negative information than healthy controls, and they may have less control over which information they process. This negative bias suggests that people recovering from depression may need to …
Suicide Myths and Misconceptions
Suicide continues to be a leading cause of death for Americans, especially younger people, where homicide and accidents lag far behind suicide in fatality rates. Budgets for suicide research and suicide prevention are woefully small, and stigma is still a barrier to seeking help, both for suicidal people and for their family members and supporters. However, amidst all the bad …
The Loneliness Epidemic
Loneliness is implicated in shortened lifespans, worsened physical and mental health, addiction, economic disruption and homelessness, among others. Its spread constitutes a true public health crisis in the USA, and intervention is urgently called for. However, at present, only individual efforts are offered as a solution. Reach out. Make sure your elderly relatives are getting a phone call regularly. Join …
Holiday Blues?
We’re coming up on a time of year that for many (maybe even most) people offers significant challenges. Now is the time to plan ahead for the difficulties you typically face during the holiday season, and call to mind coping strategies that have worked for you in the past, or new ones that you want to try. Depression is a …
Addiction
Addiction is a potent topic for debate in our debate-happy society, but, as with so many of those topics, the debates usually generate more heat than light. That’s why we are glad that the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association have put out this handy, easy to read guide about addiction, separating fact from myth. Addiction is an …
Stress and Depression
Exploring the links between stress, anxiety, and depression Stress and mental illness The stress response is unfortunately very familiar to modern people. We all know that when something bad happens, our brains flood our bodies with chemicals that would have been useful in the remote past, stimulating the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. Useful for dealing with a hungry sabre-toothed …
Bipolar or Unipolar Depression?
If you have an episode of depression, how can you tell if it is bipolar or unipolar depression? The simple answer is, you have bipolar depression if you have ever experienced an energized (not necessarily pleasant) state that qualified as a hypomanic or manic episode. And if you only have had depressed episodes, you are considered to have unipolar depression. …
Mental Illness in India
Even today, people still have a lot of stereotypes about mental illness, and one of them is that it’s a “First World” problem, meaning that people in poorer places don’t have time for mental illness. But studies consistently find that rates of severe mental illness are pretty constant across economic, religious, cultural and geographic boundaries. Here are some stories from …
Doing Well With Depression
People seeking treatment for major depression and bipolar tend to do well if they have two related characteristics. The first is persistence: the ability to keep doing what needs to be done, no matter the mood. The second is willingness to do whatever it takes, even if that means giving up control over which treatments are acceptable and which are …
Loneliness
Loneliness is an important public health issue The American Medical Association has defined loneliness as a public health issue for all Americans. Why loneliness? Why public health? Loneliness is found across demographics, at every age level. It is not a matter of how many friends you have, rather, loneliness is feeling a lack of connection with other people. You may …
How To Build Self-Confidence
A discussion with a patient this past week really brought into focus the power of the mind to affect the world. Or maybe it would be better to say how we decide to live in the world. Our patient, I’ll call her “Amy”, is a teacher’s aide in a crowded, underfunded special ed. classroom, and she was saying she is …
Suicide Prevention
10 USEFUL* things you can do for suicide prevention *Spoiler: none of these things are about “fixing” a suicidal person. I’d like to apologize for missing the actual National Suicide Prevention Day, which was September 10, but, really, any day is a good day to talk about suicide prevention. Suicide prevention is not a matter of telling your distressed friend …
Seasonal Change and Mood
Fall is just around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere, and the impending seasonal change means impending mood changes, too. For every person who goes into September with a New Year’s feeling: new school year, new challenges, new friends; there is another who starts the autumn with anxiety, melancholy, or even dread of the dark days to come. Our agrarian …
Evolutionary Value of Depression
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 …
Rumination
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 …
Keeping Busy
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 …
Writing and Depression
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. …
Natural Treatments for Mood Disorders
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 and Depression
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 …
Own Your Courage
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 …