Archives for March 2009

Living with depression affects multiple factors of life.Individuals can become isolated and withdrawn, shutting out the entire world around them. Exercise is probably the last thing on a person's mind when coping with the mental illness. Now local researchers have documented how such low physical activity among those with depressive symptoms can contribute to heart disease.

The American Heart Association has made it clear heart patients should get screened for depression, which is three times more common among survivors of heart attacks. Downward spiral Data from the Jackson Heart Study have further linked the two diseases by revealing that not only can cardiovascular disease lead to depression, but depression can lead to cardiovascular disease.

Apparently the two illnesses have become an unlikely pair. Behavioral patterns in depressed patients are likely to further negatively impact their cardiovascular disease status," said Ermeg Akylbekova, a biostatistician for the Jackson Heart Study. "For example, depressed patients are less likely to exercise, tend to eat in a less healthy manner and are more likely to use tobacco and alcohol. They are also less likely to take medications as prescribed or closely follow their treatment regimen, which may be a serious impediment to treating their cardiovascular condition."

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People, who have a high family risk of developing depression, had less brain matter on the right side of their brains on par with losses seen in Alzheimer’s disease, US researchers said. Brain scans showed a 28 percent thinning in the right cortex — the outer layer of the brain — in people who had a family history of depression compared with people who did not.

“The difference was so great that at first we almost didn’t believe it. But we checked and re-checked all of our data, and we looked for all possible alternative explanations, and still the difference was there,” Dr Bradley Peterson of Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute said.

His study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings are based on imaging studies of 131 people aged 6 to 54 with and without a family history of depression. The team was looking specifically for abnormalities in the brain that could signal a predisposition to depression, rather than changes that may be caused by the disease.

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Depression doesn't have to be Great   bread lines, rampant unemployment, a wipeout in the stock market. The economy can sink into a milder depression, the kind spelled with a lowercase "d." And it might be happening now.

The trouble is, unlike recessions, which are easy to define, there are no firm rules for what makes a depression. Everyone at least seems to agree there hasn't been one since the epic hardship of the 1930s. But with each new hard-times headline, most recently an alarming economic contraction of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, it seems more likely that the next depression is on its way.

"We're probably in a depression now. But it's not going to be acknowledged until years go by. Because you have to see it behind you," said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland. No one disputes that the current economic downturn qualifies as a recession. Recessions have two handy definitions, both in effect now  two straight quarters of economic contraction, or when the National Bureau of Economic Research makes the call.

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A variety of factors unique to women's lives are suspected to play a role in developing depression. Research is focused on understanding these, including: reproductive, hormonal, genetic or other biological factors; abuse and oppression; interpersonal factors; and certain psychological and personality characteristics.

Investigators are focusing on the following areas in their study of depression in women: The Issues of Adolescence Before adolescence, there is little difference in the rate of depression in boys and girls. But between the ages of 11 and 13 there is a precipitous rise in depression rates for girls.

By the age of 15, females are twice as likely to have experienced a major depressive episode as males. This comes at a time in adolescence when roles and expectations change dramatically. The stresses of adolescence include forming an identity, emerging sexuality, separating from parents, and making decisions for the first time, along with other physical, intellectual, and hormonal changes.

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Scientists who have been following families with a history of depression have found structural differences in family members’ brains — specifically, a significant thinning of the right cortex, the brain’s outermost surface. The thinning may be a trait or a marker of vulnerability to depression, the researchers suggested.

The scientists’ brain imaging study found the thinning in descendants of depressed parents and grandparents, whether or not the individuals themselves had ever suffered a depressive episode or an anxiety disorder, researchers said.

“That’s what is so extraordinary. You’re seeing it two generations later, and you’re seeing it in both children and adults,” said Dr. Bradley S. Peterson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and the paper’s first author. “And it’s present even if those offspring themselves have not yet become ill.”

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Warning on how to handle people with depression:

Do not snap at the person. They cannot help the way they are feeling.  Do not joke about the matter. This is serious business.  Be careful what you say and do to them. Depressives are sensitive. Do not try to take on their problems all by yourself.

Do not be nosy. If they don’t want to discuss something with you, don’t ever try to force them to talk about it. Take care of yourself as well. You’re entering a highly stressful situation, and it could can put you under lots of emotional strain. Know when to pull back. Seek counseling for yourself if you need to.

Now these are some ways on how to help people with depression: Help the person to recognize that there is a problem. If a friend or family member’s activity and outlook on life starts to decline and stays down, not for a few days, but for weeks, depression could be the cause. Many people don’t even realize that they are depressed.

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 patient deal with a specific issue. Of course, no goal comes quickly and that’s why prolonged psychotherapy is usually necessary to treat depression. The success of therapy depends on the doctor’s expertise as much as the patient’s ability to be comfortable with the therapist.

There are several types of specialized and supervised group therapies, such as bereavement groups, stress management classes, marital counseling and family therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy: Although people consider this form of therapy rather invasive and unsafe, a proven fact is that electroconvulsive therapy is generally safe and effective.

Although the results are positive, it’s still unclear how it works. Experts are assuming that the procedure may affect levels of neurotransmitters in a patient’s brain, relieving the symptoms of depression. The most common side effect is confusion that lasts a few minutes to several hours although some people experience transient memory loss.

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Australian scientists are leading a global effort to improve the treatment of people with major depression.
Two thousand people with the disorder will be recruited across the world, and their wellbeing will be monitored over time as they take one of three common medications.

The study was initiated by University of Sydney's Brain Dynamics Centre, and is sponsored by listed company Brain Resource. The study's principal investigator, Anthony Harris, said the findings should give clear indications about which drug worked best for different types of people. There was currently a ''one-size-fits-all'' approach to prescribing the drugs, he said.

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A new study from University of Gothenburg, Sweden has found that parental depression has an adverse impact on children.

Parental depression has an adverse impact on children. Lead researcher Britt Hedman Ahlstrom has revealed that children take on an enormous amount of responsibility for the ill parent and for other family members.

Depression changes the relationship between a parent and his/her children, since they no longer communicate.

With each other as they used to.Moreover, family interplay and reciprocity also decrease. As the depressed parent withdraws from the family, children feel they have been left to themselves.

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Botox injections can lead to depression, a new study has warnedThe jabs help you get rid of wrinkles by partially freezing muscles but scientists have found that they also stop people from being able to express their feelings visually. That leads to them keeping emotions bottled up inside and perceiving the world in a negative way.

“Suppressing negative emotions is something we do every day to be polite,” the Sun quoted Dr Judith Grub, who led the research in Holland, as saying. “However, my research shows that paralysing muscles that help you to express emotion leads to internalising these feelings,” Grub added.

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