Information and resources on depression

Depression And The Aging Process Stress has numerous detrimental effects on the human body. Many of these effects are acutely felt by the sufferer, but many more go 'unseen', one of which is shortening of telomere length. Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes and are indicators of aging, as they naturally shorten over time...

Suicide Rates Highest In 15 Years, US Between 2008 and 2009, the suicide rate in the United States rose by 2.4%, with a reported 36,909 suicide deaths, according to a report by the CDC. In 2008, 13.4% of individuals who committed suicide experienced job and financial problems, a report by the CDC revealed in August 2011...

Migraine Self-Management Improved And Migraine-Related Psychological Distress Reduced By painACTION.com painACTION.com* is a free, non-promotional online program designed to support self-management and improve overall function in people with chronic pain. This study tested painACTION.com's ability to increase the use of self-management skills in people with chronic migraine headaches. A total of 185 participants completed the study. Participants exposed to painACTION...

Grief Needs To Be Separated From Depression Unlike previous editions of The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the fifth edition (DSM-5) fails to underline the need to consider, and generally exclude, bereavement prior to diagnosis of a major depressive disorder, according to an editorial in this week's Lancet...

What Are The Symptoms Of Depression? Most of us have moments or short periods of sadness when we feel lonely or depressed. These sensations are usually normal ones that sometimes occur in life. They can be the result of a recent loss, having a particularly challenging day or week, or a reaction to a hurtful comment...

Recovering From Heart Attack A Challenge For The Depressed Mental state can play a crucial role in physical health - medical professionals have long known about the connection between anxiety and the immune system, for example. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that mental health can also interfere with the heart...

Sad Music Can Bring On Real Sadness A unique study by Finnish researchers published in the January issue of Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts shows that listening to sad music can cause genuine sadness in listeners, and that people's personalities have an important effect on the emotional responses to sad music. Scientists have debated the issue for decades but were unable to provide reliable proof...

Could The Risk Of Sudden Unexpected Death In Epilepsy Be Reduced By Antidepressants? A groundbreaking study published in Elsevier's Epilepsy & Behavior, provides evidence in mouse model that drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs; one category of antidepressants) may reduce the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). SUDEP is estimated to be the cause of death in up to 17% of patients with epilepsy who die from their condition...

Physical Activity Yields Feelings Of Excitement, Enthusiasm People who are more physically active report greater levels of excitement and enthusiasm than people who are less physically active, according to Penn State researchers. People also are more likely to report feelings of excitement and enthusiasm on days when they are more physically active than usual...

Depression Linked To Adolescent Bullying A recent study by authors Gary Ladd, a professor in the School of Social and Family Dynamics, Karen Rudolph, University of Illinois, and Karen Kochel, an assistant professor in ASU's School of Social and Family Dynamics and published in Child Development, explains that teens suffering from depression are at a greater risk of being bullied due to difficulties in establishing f...

Depression Often Leads To Difficulties With Peers In Middle Childhood Children who have difficult relationships with their peers can experience more psychological dysfunction, such as depression...

Understanding A Patient's Mental Health Status Before Hip Replacement Surgery May Improve Education And Care Patients taking antidepressants up to three years prior to undergoing a total hip replacement (THR) were more likely to report greater pain before and after surgery and less satisfaction with their procedure, according to new research presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)...

New Technique Holds Promise For Better Understanding Of Brain Disorders By harnessing quantum dots - tiny light-emitting semiconductor particles a few billionths of a meter across - researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a new and vastly more targeted way to stimulate neurons in the brain...

New Smartphone, A Virtual Therapist And Other Novel Technologies To Treat Depression Brooding in your apartment on Saturday afternoon? A new smart phone intuits when you're depressed and will nudge you to call or go out with friends. It's the future of therapy at a new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine center where scientists are inventing web-based, mobile and virtual technologies to treat depression and other mood disorders...

The Health Impacts Of Comparing Yourself To Others Comparing yourself to others with the same health problem can influence your physical and emotional health, according to researchers who conducted a qualitative synthesis of over 30 studies focusing on the relationship between social comparisons and health...

A Child's Long-Term Development May Be Harmed By Physical Punishment An analysis of research on physical punishment of children over the past 20 years indicates that such punishment is potentially harmful to their long-term development, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)...

New Analysis Finds No Antidepressant-Suicide Link In Youths In 2004, concerns about antidepressant drugs increasing suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young patients prompted the FDA to issue a rare "black box warning." Now, a new analysis of clinical trial data finds that treatment with the antidepressant fluoxetine did not increase - or decrease - suicidality in children compared to placebo treatment...

Suicide Recommendations Lead To Drop In Suicides Across England And Wales According to new research published by The Lancet, there has been a substantial decrease in suicide rates among health authorities across England and Wales that adopted a new range of suicide recommendations...

Measures Must Be Taken To Prevent Depression In Adolescents As one of the most common, unrecognized and untreated health problems among young people, tackling depression is a serious priority for countries worldwide. The psychiatric disorder causes serious social and educational problems for patients, as well as leading to increased risk of suicide and substance abuse...

Depressed Patients Accurately Distinguished From Healthy Controls By Blood Test The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool...

New Study May End 2 Decades Of Suspicion: Does Borna Disease Virus Cause Mental Illness? Over the past 30 years, numerous studies have linked Borna disease virus (BDV) with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder and dementia. Genetic fragments and antibodies to this RNA virus, which causes behavior disorders in a range of mammals and birds, have been found to be prevalent in psychiatric patients, but study results have been inconsistent...

A Parent's Nurturing Results In Larger Hippocampus In Children A recent study by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, states that children whose mothers showed them love and affection from the very beginning have brains with a larger hippocampus, which is a key part of the brain involved with...

Hope For Those With A Depressive Disposition Good news for the 13 per cent of the population with depressive personality traits: their negative outlook does not have to be permanent. This has been shown by psychologist Rachel Maddux in new research from Lund University in Sweden. Depression is a serious and sometimes devastating health problem which affects millions of people worldwide...

Military Suicide Rates Rose According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, between 2005 and 2007, suicide rates among individuals serving in U.S. military services increased, particularly among those in the regular Army and National Guard. The study, which included the entire active duty U.S...