Posts Tagged ‘depression’
Ways To Lower Anxiety
Friday, November 6th, 2009Skimming through Real Simple magazine at the check out line of the supermarket, I came across Dr. Robert Leahy’s “10 Ways to Cope with Anxiety.” Dr. Leahy is the director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy and the author of many books on the subject. His suggestions will help you calm your nerves:
1) Repeat your worry until you’re bored silly.
“take the troublesome thought that’s nagging at you and say it over and over, silently, slowly, for 20 minutes. It’s hard to keep your mind on a worry if you repeat it that many times.”
Dr. Leahy calls this technique “the boredom cure. “Behavioral scientists call it ‘flooding’. I’m not so keen about this technique for my extremely anxious patients who are having trouble regulating their thoughts and emotions. If your anxiety is on the milder side, however, and you have the courage to do this, I recommend you think about your worries while practicing relaxation techniques to keep your body as calm as possible.
2) Make it worse.
“When you try too hard to control your anxieties, you only heighten them. Instead exaggerate them and see what happens.”
This is a good one. When I suggest it to my patients I call it the ‘Bring it on’ technique or ‘Fake it ’til you make it’. By inviting what scares you, you learn on your time that you can survive your fears instead of waiting to be bushwhacked by them.
Sports psychologists use this all the time. When I was terrified my horse would shy and dump me on the ground, my coach told me to stop trying to keep my mare from bolting. Instead she told me expect her to shy, to look forward to it. That attitude helped me relax and so did the horse.
3) Don’t fight the craziness.
“You mayhave thoughts that lead you to think you’ll do something terribleor that you’re going insane Remember – our minds are creativeevery now and then ‘crazy’ thoughts jump out. Everyone has them.”
In the weeks after my first child was born, when I was exhausted, sleep deprived and in the grips of baby blues, I had thoughts of throwing my screaming baby out the window. Those thoughts terrified me. Tearfully, I confessed my horrible thoughts to my mother who shrugged and said, “We all think something like that at some time. You didn’t act on it, did you?” She assured me I wasn’t crazy. I could relax.
My patients are sometimes surprised when I suggest they allow themselves to imagine doing something outrageous like throwing a banana cream pie at their nasty boss’s puss. Unleashing our creative minds may be just what we need to de-stress.
4) Recognize false alarms.
“Many thoughts and sensations that we interpret as cues for concern-even panic-are just background noise. Think of each of them [rapid heart beat, tensing of muscles] as a fire engine going to another place.”
5) Turn your anxiety into a movie.
“..imagine that your anxious thoughts are a show while you sit in the audience, eating popcorn, a calm observer.”
This is a good way to exercise ‘detachment,’ stepping outside of the anxiety just enough to keep your thinking brain working. Another technique I suggest is to imagine the worry happening to a friend, not you. Then imagine talking to your friend. What would you say to them? How can you be supportive?
6) Set aside worry time.
“Try setting aside 20 minutes everyday-let’s say 4:30 PM-just for your worries. If you are fretting at 10 AM, jot down the reason and resolve to think about it later. By the time 4:30 comes around, many of your troubles won’t even matter anymore.”
7) Take your hand off the horn.
“When you desperately try to take command of things that can’t be controlled, you’re more like the swimmer who panics and slaps the water screaming Instead, imagine that you are floating along on the water with your arms spread outIt’s a paradox, but when you surrender to the moment, you actually feel far more in control.”
Breathe it out.
“Focusing on breathing is a common but effective technique for calming the nerves.”
This a classic, oldy, but goody. If you do it right, deep, mindful breathing is better than Valium.
9) Make peace with time.
“Every feeling of panic comes to an end, every concern eventually wears itself out, every so-called emergency seems to evaporate.”
When we are in the midst of a panic attack we feel it will last forever or else we will die. Remembering the fact that panic attacks and anxiety in milder form is finite, usually not lasting more than ten minutes. Dr. Leahy also counsels:
“Ask yourself, ‘How will I feel about this in a week or a month?’ This one, too, really will pass.”
10) Don’t let your worries stop you from living your life.
“What can you still do even if you feel anxious? Almost anything.”
Not all anxiety is bad. Keep in mind that some highly productive people transform their anxiety into motivation to do better and achieve much, both great and small.
The Psychology Of Balloon Boy
Thursday, November 5th, 2009This past week we saw the news media captivated by the idea that a 6-year-old boy, Falcon Heene had been carried off by a weather balloon. That is until the boy was later found in his own garage attic and shortly thereafter it was revealed on a television news show that the entire incident was likely a hoax. In replying to a reporter’s question, the young Falcon turned to his dad on camera and said, “You guys said that, umm, we did this for the show.” Oops.
The parents – Richard Heene and Mayumi Heene – have all along claimed it was not a hoax or a publicity stunt. Now, according to The New York Times, the parents will voluntarily surrender to police as soon as charges are filed, which is expected to happen on Wednesday.
While the truth continues to unfold, the police in the investigation have concluded it was likely indeed a publicity stunt: “We have evidence to indicate it was a publicity stunt done with the hope of marketing themselves to a reality-television show sometime in the future,” said Larimer County sheriff Jim Alderden on Sunday afternoon at a news conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
So that leaves us with the inevitable question – what could possibly psychologically motivate parents to use their child’s very life in order to further themselves?
We see clues to the answer in some other information that’s trickling out about the parents. ABC News noted that former business partner Barbara Slusser – who chased hurricanes and other storms with the Heenes – that they parted ways when Slusser felt that the Heenes often put their kids in harm’s way. Slusser told ABC News, “The last straw for us was when Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike were heading toward the Texas coastline and Heene wanted to go back there and take the kids.”
So we seem to have a set of parents who already don’t quite understand the idea of how to raise children in a safe, responsible and thoughtful manner, thinking nothing of storm-chasing hurricanes and tornadoes with their young children in tow. Storm-chasing, of course, can be a very dangerous and unpredictable endeavor. One of the reasons adults do it is for the thrill of the unpredictability of the storm – putting oneself in harm’s way to experience a ferocious component of nature. But your children? They aren’t old enough to make such decisions for themselves – they trust their parents’ good judgment and experience.
But an account on Gawker by someone who worked with Richard Heene sheds even more light on the Heenes’ motivation – money and additional fame. This was a family that had been on the television program, Wife Swap, and they had already tasted celebrity. They wanted more of it.
Parents Of Balloon Boy
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009This past week we saw the news media captivated by the idea that a 6-year-old boy, Falcon Heene had been carried off by a weather balloon. That is until the boy was later found in his own garage attic and shortly thereafter it was revealed on a television news show that the entire incident was likely a hoax. In replying to a reporter’s question, the young Falcon turned to his dad on camera and said, “You guys said that, umm, we did this for the show.” Oops.
The parents – Richard Heene and Mayumi Heene – have all along claimed it was not a hoax or a publicity stunt. Now, according to The New York Times, the parents will voluntarily surrender to police as soon as charges are filed, which is expected to happen on Wednesday.
While the truth continues to unfold, the police in the investigation have concluded it was likely indeed a publicity stunt: “We have evidence to indicate it was a publicity stunt done with the hope of marketing themselves to a reality-television show sometime in the future,” said Larimer County sheriff Jim Alderden on Sunday afternoon at a news conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
So that leaves us with the inevitable question – what could possibly psychologically motivate parents to use their child’s very life in order to further themselves?
We see clues to the answer in some other information that’s trickling out about the parents. ABC News noted that former business partner Barbara Slusser – who chased hurricanes and other storms with the Heenes – that they parted ways when Slusser felt that the Heenes often put their kids in harm’s way. Slusser told ABC News, “The last straw for us was when Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike were heading toward the Texas coastline and Heene wanted to go back there and take the kids.”
So we seem to have a set of parents who already don’t quite understand the idea of how to raise children in a safe, responsible and thoughtful manner, thinking nothing of storm-chasing hurricanes and tornadoes with their young children in tow. Storm-chasing, of course, can be a very dangerous and unpredictable endeavor. One of the reasons adults do it is for the thrill of the unpredictability of the storm – putting oneself in harm’s way to experience a ferocious component of nature. But your children? They aren’t old enough to make such decisions for themselves – they trust their parents’ good judgment and experience.
But an account on Gawker by someone who worked with Richard Heene sheds even more light on the Heenes’ motivation – money and additional fame. This was a family that had been on the television program, Wife Swap, and they had already tasted celebrity. They wanted more of it.
Ten Ways To Lower Anxiety
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Skimming through Real Simple magazine at the check out line of the supermarket, I came across Dr. Robert Leahy’s “10 Ways to Cope with Anxiety.” Dr. Leahy is the director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy and the author of many books on the subject. His suggestions will help you calm your nerves:
1) Repeat your worry until you’re bored silly.
“take the troublesome thought that’s nagging at you and say it over and over, silently, slowly, for 20 minutes. It’s hard to keep your mind on a worry if you repeat it that many times.”
Dr. Leahy calls this technique “the boredom cure. “Behavioral scientists call it ‘flooding’. I’m not so keen about this technique for my extremely anxious patients who are having trouble regulating their thoughts and emotions. If your anxiety is on the milder side, however, and you have the courage to do this, I recommend you think about your worries while practicing relaxation techniques to keep your body as calm as possible.
2) Make it worse.
“When you try too hard to control your anxieties, you only heighten them. Instead exaggerate them and see what happens.”
This is a good one. When I suggest it to my patients I call it the ‘Bring it on’ technique or ‘Fake it ’til you make it’. By inviting what scares you, you learn on your time that you can survive your fears instead of waiting to be bushwhacked by them.
Sports psychologists use this all the time. When I was terrified my horse would shy and dump me on the ground, my coach told me to stop trying to keep my mare from bolting. Instead she told me expect her to shy, to look forward to it. That attitude helped me relax and so did the horse.
3) Don’t fight the craziness.
“You mayhave thoughts that lead you to think you’ll do something terribleor that you’re going insane Remember – our minds are creativeevery now and then ‘crazy’ thoughts jump out. Everyone has them.”
In the weeks after my first child was born, when I was exhausted, sleep deprived and in the grips of baby blues, I had thoughts of throwing my screaming baby out the window. Those thoughts terrified me. Tearfully, I confessed my horrible thoughts to my mother who shrugged and said, “We all think something like that at some time. You didn’t act on it, did you?” She assured me I wasn’t crazy. I could relax.
My patients are sometimes surprised when I suggest they allow themselves to imagine doing something outrageous like throwing a banana cream pie at their nasty boss’s puss. Unleashing our creative minds may be just what we need to de-stress.
4) Recognize false alarms.
“Many thoughts and sensations that we interpret as cues for concern-even panic-are just background noise. Think of each of them [rapid heart beat, tensing of muscles] as a fire engine going to another place.”
5) Turn your anxiety into a movie.
“..imagine that your anxious thoughts are a show while you sit in the audience, eating popcorn, a calm observer.”
This is a good way to exercise ‘detachment,’ stepping outside of the anxiety just enough to keep your thinking brain working. Another technique I suggest is to imagine the worry happening to a friend, not you. Then imagine talking to your friend. What would you say to them? How can you be supportive?
6) Set aside worry time.
“Try setting aside 20 minutes everyday-let’s say 4:30 PM-just for your worries. If you are fretting at 10 AM, jot down the reason and resolve to think about it later. By the time 4:30 comes around, many of your troubles won’t even matter anymore.”
7) Take your hand off the horn.
“When you desperately try to take command of things that can’t be controlled, you’re more like the swimmer who panics and slaps the water screaming Instead, imagine that you are floating along on the water with your arms spread outIt’s a paradox, but when you surrender to the moment, you actually feel far more in control.”
Breathe it out.
“Focusing on breathing is a common but effective technique for calming the nerves.”
This a classic, oldy, but goody. If you do it right, deep, mindful breathing is better than Valium.
9) Make peace with time.
“Every feeling of panic comes to an end, every concern eventually wears itself out, every so-called emergency seems to evaporate.”
When we are in the midst of a panic attack we feel it will last forever or else we will die. Remembering the fact that panic attacks and anxiety in milder form is finite, usually not lasting more than ten minutes. Dr. Leahy also counsels:
“Ask yourself, ‘How will I feel about this in a week or a month?’ This one, too, really will pass.”
10) Don’t let your worries stop you from living your life.
“What can you still do even if you feel anxious? Almost anything.”
Not all anxiety is bad. Keep in mind that some highly productive people transform their anxiety into motivation to do better and achieve much, both great and small.
Ten More Ways To Lower Anxiety
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Skimming through Real Simple magazine at the check out line of the supermarket, I came across Dr. Robert Leahy’s “10 Ways to Cope with Anxiety.” Dr. Leahy is the director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy and the author of many books on the subject. His suggestions will help you calm your nerves:
1) Repeat your worry until you’re bored silly.
“take the troublesome thought that’s nagging at you and say it over and over, silently, slowly, for 20 minutes. It’s hard to keep your mind on a worry if you repeat it that many times.”
Dr. Leahy calls this technique “the boredom cure. “Behavioral scientists call it ‘flooding’. I’m not so keen about this technique for my extremely anxious patients who are having trouble regulating their thoughts and emotions. If your anxiety is on the milder side, however, and you have the courage to do this, I recommend you think about your worries while practicing relaxation techniques to keep your body as calm as possible.
2) Make it worse.
“When you try too hard to control your anxieties, you only heighten them. Instead exaggerate them and see what happens.”
This is a good one. When I suggest it to my patients I call it the ‘Bring it on’ technique or ‘Fake it ’til you make it’. By inviting what scares you, you learn on your time that you can survive your fears instead of waiting to be bushwhacked by them.
Sports psychologists use this all the time. When I was terrified my horse would shy and dump me on the ground, my coach told me to stop trying to keep my mare from bolting. Instead she told me expect her to shy, to look forward to it. That attitude helped me relax and so did the horse.
3) Don’t fight the craziness.
“You mayhave thoughts that lead you to think you’ll do something terribleor that you’re going insane Remember – our minds are creativeevery now and then ‘crazy’ thoughts jump out. Everyone has them.”
In the weeks after my first child was born, when I was exhausted, sleep deprived and in the grips of baby blues, I had thoughts of throwing my screaming baby out the window. Those thoughts terrified me. Tearfully, I confessed my horrible thoughts to my mother who shrugged and said, “We all think something like that at some time. You didn’t act on it, did you?” She assured me I wasn’t crazy. I could relax.
My patients are sometimes surprised when I suggest they allow themselves to imagine doing something outrageous like throwing a banana cream pie at their nasty boss’s puss. Unleashing our creative minds may be just what we need to de-stress.
4) Recognize false alarms.
“Many thoughts and sensations that we interpret as cues for concern-even panic-are just background noise. Think of each of them [rapid heart beat, tensing of muscles] as a fire engine going to another place.”
5) Turn your anxiety into a movie.
“..imagine that your anxious thoughts are a show while you sit in the audience, eating popcorn, a calm observer.”
This is a good way to exercise ‘detachment,’ stepping outside of the anxiety just enough to keep your thinking brain working. Another technique I suggest is to imagine the worry happening to a friend, not you. Then imagine talking to your friend. What would you say to them? How can you be supportive?
6) Set aside worry time.
“Try setting aside 20 minutes everyday-let’s say 4:30 PM-just for your worries. If you are fretting at 10 AM, jot down the reason and resolve to think about it later. By the time 4:30 comes around, many of your troubles won’t even matter anymore.”
7) Take your hand off the horn.
“When you desperately try to take command of things that can’t be controlled, you’re more like the swimmer who panics and slaps the water screaming Instead, imagine that you are floating along on the water with your arms spread outIt’s a paradox, but when you surrender to the moment, you actually feel far more in control.”
Breathe it out.
“Focusing on breathing is a common but effective technique for calming the nerves.”
This a classic, oldy, but goody. If you do it right, deep, mindful breathing is better than Valium.
9) Make peace with time.
“Every feeling of panic comes to an end, every concern eventually wears itself out, every so-called emergency seems to evaporate.”
When we are in the midst of a panic attack we feel it will last forever or else we will die. Remembering the fact that panic attacks and anxiety in milder form is finite, usually not lasting more than ten minutes. Dr. Leahy also counsels:
“Ask yourself, ‘How will I feel about this in a week or a month?’ This one, too, really will pass.”
10) Don’t let your worries stop you from living your life.
“What can you still do even if you feel anxious? Almost anything.”
Not all anxiety is bad. Keep in mind that some highly productive people transform their anxiety into motivation to do better and achieve much, both great and small.
Nervous Breakdown
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009A nervous breakdown refers to a mainstream and often-used term to generically describe someone who experiences a bout of mental illness that is so severe, it directly impacts their ability to function in everyday life. The specific mental illness can be anything – depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or something else. But the reference to a “nervous breakdown” usually refers to the fact that the person has basically stopped their daily routines – going to work, interacting with loved ones or friends, even just getting out of bed to eat or shower.
A nervous breakdown can be seen as a sign that one’s ability to cope with life or a mental illness has been overwhelmed by stress, life events, work or relationship issues. By disconnecting from their regular responsibilities and routines, an individual’s nervous breakdown may allow them to try and regroup their coping skills and temporarily relieve the stress in their life.
Someone with a nervous breakdown may be seen as having “checked out” from society temporarily. They no longer maintain their social relationships with others, and find it difficult or impossible to go to work and may call in sick multiple days in a row. People with a nervous breakdown often don’t even have the coping resources available to take care of themselves, or do much more than rudimentary self-care and maintaining. They may over-eat (if it provides them comfort) or simply fail to eat altogether, not feeling the need or energy to do so.
Since a nervous breakdown is not a clinical or scientific term, it’s meaning can also vary in terms of its length and severity, as well as outcomes. Many people who suffer from a nervous breakdown usually seek out treatment (or have treatment sought out on their behalf by a loved one), and treatment is usually on the serious end of the spectrum of all the interventions available. Inpatient hospitalization for a serious nervous breakdown would not be unusual, to help a person become stabilized and find an effective treatment strategy for the mental disorder they’re affected by.
People who suffer from a nervous breakdown and seek out treatment for it will usually recover from the most extreme depths of the “breakdown” within a few weeks’ time (which may be quickened with inpatient psychiatric treatment). Longer-term recovery usually takes months of ongoing outpatient treatment with mental health specialists, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.
A nervous breakdown is not a condition to be afraid of, as it is simply an indication of overhwelming stress and mental illness in a person’s life. Loved ones and friends of someone who is suffering from a nervous breakdown should be supportive of the individual’s efforts in seeking help for it.
What Is A Nervous Breakdown?
Monday, November 2nd, 2009A nervous breakdown refers to a mainstream and often-used term to generically describe someone who experiences a bout of mental illness that is so severe, it directly impacts their ability to function in everyday life. The specific mental illness can be anything – depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or something else. But the reference to a “nervous breakdown” usually refers to the fact that the person has basically stopped their daily routines – going to work, interacting with loved ones or friends, even just getting out of bed to eat or shower.
A nervous breakdown can be seen as a sign that one’s ability to cope with life or a mental illness has been overwhelmed by stress, life events, work or relationship issues. By disconnecting from their regular responsibilities and routines, an individual’s nervous breakdown may allow them to try and regroup their coping skills and temporarily relieve the stress in their life.
Someone with a nervous breakdown may be seen as having “checked out” from society temporarily. They no longer maintain their social relationships with others, and find it difficult or impossible to go to work and may call in sick multiple days in a row. People with a nervous breakdown often don’t even have the coping resources available to take care of themselves, or do much more than rudimentary self-care and maintaining. They may over-eat (if it provides them comfort) or simply fail to eat altogether, not feeling the need or energy to do so.
Since a nervous breakdown is not a clinical or scientific term, it’s meaning can also vary in terms of its length and severity, as well as outcomes. Many people who suffer from a nervous breakdown usually seek out treatment (or have treatment sought out on their behalf by a loved one), and treatment is usually on the serious end of the spectrum of all the interventions available. Inpatient hospitalization for a serious nervous breakdown would not be unusual, to help a person become stabilized and find an effective treatment strategy for the mental disorder they’re affected by.
People who suffer from a nervous breakdown and seek out treatment for it will usually recover from the most extreme depths of the “breakdown” within a few weeks’ time (which may be quickened with inpatient psychiatric treatment). Longer-term recovery usually takes months of ongoing outpatient treatment with mental health specialists, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist.
A nervous breakdown is not a condition to be afraid of, as it is simply an indication of overhwelming stress and mental illness in a person’s life. Loved ones and friends of someone who is suffering from a nervous breakdown should be supportive of the individual’s efforts in seeking help for it.
Depression Treatment
Monday, November 2nd, 2009New research clarifies how neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, are regulated – a finding that may help fine-tune therapies for depression.
Current drugs for depression target the regulatory process for neurotransmitters, and while effective in some cases, do not appear to work in other cases.
Recent findings suggest that synucleins, a family of small proteins in the brain, are key players in the management of neurotransmitters – specifically, alpha- and gamma-synuclein. Additionally, researchers have found elevated levels of gamma-synuclein in the brains of both depressed animals and humans.
In a study presented at the 39th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers observed increased depressive-like behavior in mice where gamma-synuclein acts alone to regulate neurotransmitters, confirming earlier studies by this group.
“These findings show the importance of, and clarify a functional role for, gamma synuclein in depression and may provide new therapeutic targets in treatment of this disease,” says Adam Oaks, a student researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurochemistry at GUMC. “Understanding how current therapies work with the synucleins is important because the drugs don’t work for all patients, and some are associated with side effects including an increased risk of suicide.”
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. A provision patent application has been filed by Georgetown University related to the technology described in this paper, on which Anita Sidhu, one of the authors, is an inventor.
However, some symptoms of depression, such as sleep and appetite disturbances, significant concentration problems, and chronic fatigue, interfere with your ability to make the life changes necessary to eliminate the depression. In more serious depression, suicidal thoughts and urges, and preoccupation with death, may require medication in addition to psychotherapy. Antidepressant medication can help relieve those symptoms, and allow you to make needed life changes. The decision to take medication, in addition to participating in psychological treatment, should be discussed with your treating psychologist and your primary care physician.
Aging Brain
Sunday, November 1st, 2009Surfing the Internet just might be a way to preserve your mental skills as you age.
Researchers found that older adults who started browsing the Web experienced improved brain function after only a few days.
“You can teach an old brain new technology tricks,” said Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatry professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of iBrain. With people who had little Internet experience, “we found that after just a week of practice, there was a much greater extent of activity particularly in the areas of the brain that make decisions, the thinking brain – which makes sense because, when you’re searching online, you’re making a lot of decisions,” he said. “It’s interactive.”
Small is co-author of the research, which was scheduled to be presented Monday in Chicago at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting.
“This makes intuitive sense, that getting on the Internet and exploring and getting new information and learning would help,” said Paul Sanberg, director of the University of South Florida Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa. “It supports the value of exploring the Internet for the elderly.”
Most experts now advocate a “use-it-or-lose-it” approach to mental functioning.
“We found a number of years ago that people who engaged in cognitive activities had better functioning and perspective than those who did not,” said Dr. Richard Lipton, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and director of the Einstein Aging Study. “Our study is often referenced as the crossword-puzzle study – that doing puzzles, writing for pleasure, playing chess and engaging in a broader array of cognitive activities seem to protect against age-related decline in cognitive function and also dementia.”
The new study takes the use-it-or-lose-it concept into the 21st century.
For the research, 24 neurologically normal adults, aged 55 to 78, were asked to surf the Internet while hooked up to an MRI machine. Before the study began, half the participants had used the Internet daily, and the other half had little experience with it.
After an initial MRI scan, the participants were instructed to do Internet searches for an hour on each of seven days in the next two weeks. They then returned to the clinic for more brain scans.
“At baseline, those with prior Internet experience showed a much greater extent of brain activation,” Small said.
After at-home practice, however, those who had just been introduced to the Internet were catching up to those who were old hands, the study found.
“This is a demonstration that, over a relatively short period of time, patterns of brain activation while engaging in cognitive activities change,” Lipton said. “That is at least a first step toward gaining insight into the mechanisms that might allow cognitive engagement to influence brain function.”
But, Small said, beware how you use the Internet.
“You can exercise your mind by using the Internet, but it depends on how it’s used,” he explained. “If you get hooked on gambling or eBay shopping, that may not be positive.
Treatments For Depression
Sunday, November 1st, 2009New research clarifies how neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, are regulated – a finding that may help fine-tune therapies for depression.
Current drugs for depression target the regulatory process for neurotransmitters, and while effective in some cases, do not appear to work in other cases.
Recent findings suggest that synucleins, a family of small proteins in the brain, are key players in the management of neurotransmitters – specifically, alpha- and gamma-synuclein. Additionally, researchers have found elevated levels of gamma-synuclein in the brains of both depressed animals and humans.
In a study presented at the 39th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers observed increased depressive-like behavior in mice where gamma-synuclein acts alone to regulate neurotransmitters, confirming earlier studies by this group.
“These findings show the importance of, and clarify a functional role for, gamma synuclein in depression and may provide new therapeutic targets in treatment of this disease,” says Adam Oaks, a student researcher in the Laboratory of Molecular Neurochemistry at GUMC. “Understanding how current therapies work with the synucleins is important because the drugs don’t work for all patients, and some are associated with side effects including an increased risk of suicide.”
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. A provision patent application has been filed by Georgetown University related to the technology described in this paper, on which Anita Sidhu, one of the authors, is an inventor.
However, some symptoms of depression, such as sleep and appetite disturbances, significant concentration problems, and chronic fatigue, interfere with your ability to make the life changes necessary to eliminate the depression. In more serious depression, suicidal thoughts and urges, and preoccupation with death, may require medication in addition to psychotherapy. Antidepressant medication can help relieve those symptoms, and allow you to make needed life changes. The decision to take medication, in addition to participating in psychological treatment, should be discussed with your treating psychologist and your primary care physician.