To the delight of the medical community, there has been a surge of new methods and techniques for more effectively diagnosing bipolar disorder. One of these new methods is a blood-flow measure, where clinicians use different levels in blood flow activity to determine whether an individual is suffering from bipolar disorder or unipolar depression. In the British Journal of Psychiatry, …
Get Ready for Fall
As August winds itself up, it is time to start thinking about the fall and then winter coming up. A little bit like the squirrels, who are already putting away food for the winter, it may make sense to make sure that you have what you need to have a happy and energetic fall and winter. The first thing is …
The Hunt for New Medications for Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Dr. Gerald Sanacora, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Yale Depression Research at Yale School of Medicine, explains that when it comes to depression and bipolar medications, there are some serious limitations. Although in the short term, it seems like many people are doing better with current medications, as time goes on, these same people start showing signs of relapse. …
Proactivity
Proactive behavior refers to actions taken that are forward thinking, that anticipate future problems, and are aimed at avoiding those problems. They are focused on changing the environment for the better. Proactivity contrasts with reactivity as an approach to challenges. Reactive behavior is about dealing with the crisis that is present right now. Reactivity also often is associated with a wish …
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 …
Postpartum Episodes
Summary and Comment Perinatal Mood Episodes Common in Women with Bipolar Disorder Women with bipolar I disorder had higher risk for episodes within 6 weeks of delivery than those with bipolar II disorder or recurrent major depression. All mood disorders tend to recur during pregnancy or the postpartum period, but does the frequency and timing of recurrences vary by …
Mood and the Brain’s Clock
As we slowly move from summer to fall, it may be timely that the issue of Biological Psychiatry that arrived in the mail today is devoted to how the brain’s clock affects mood. It points to growing evidence that part of what drives mood cycles are disruptions in the brain’s daily (circadian) rhythms. It appears that people who are vulnerable …
Selective Attention
One morning, while I was riding a bike, I got to thinking about how mood affects attention and how that, in turn, creates a different reality for us depending on what mood we’re in. To think all these thoughts were sparked by my reaction to the image of a dead squirrel… Several weeks ago, it had been an especially dark …
Hypothyroidism Diagnosis Confusion
Hypothyroidism elicits many similar symptoms to other mental health disorders. Dr. Kristi Estabrook, MD, explains where the symptoms overlap and how unfortunately those experiencing Hypothyroidism are misdiagnosed. First, what exactly is hypothyroidism? Hypothyroidism is a thyroid hormone deficiency and there are two types: Primary and Secondary. In Primary, the thyroid gland does not respond to thyroid stimulating hormone correctly. Causes …
My Brain is Trying to Kill Me
Sometimes brains do terrible things. One of the worst of those things is the suicidal preoccupation that can, eventually, lead to suicide itself. Over the years I have done a lot of thinking about suicide and suicidal preoccupation. One aspect of thoughts of suicide is the data about what happens when someone tries to kill him or herself and is …
Depressed Mothers and Oxytocin
Oxytocin is often brought up in conversations about childbirth. After childbirth, new mothers normally experience surges of oxytocin that increase feelings of maternal bonding, trust, and empathy. In addition to facilitating pair bonding, recent studies have shown oxytocin plays a greater role in mental health than originally thought. Low levels of oxytocin may be a phenomenon linked to depression. Maternal …
Amygdala Differences in Depressed Individuals
The best way to tackle an illness is to start treatment as early as possible. In the case of depression, recent studies has revealed that there may be a way to identify depression symptoms in children. An fMRI study was conducted on a group of preschool students to see if there were any differences in the brains of depressed and …
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 …
A Spoonful of Courage
In a previous post, I shared Linda Graham’s views on resilience from an excerpt from her article Bouncing Back :Rewiring the Brian for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being. After further reading, Graham also discusses the importance of having courage when creating a more positive outlook on life. We have the ability to experience great personal growth when engaging in new things. …
Chronic Depression: What You See Depends on Where You Look
It can be hard to sit with someone with depression, especially chronic depression. For me it is the fact that I am trained to try to enter a person’s world, and understand that world… but the visit to the world of someone who is depressed can be depressing. One of the reasons for this is that they describe lives where …
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 …
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 …
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 …