Learn How to Pay Attention to the Positive

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 …

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. …

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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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …