Depressed Jane

Consumer ads for a class of antidepressants called SSRIs often claim that depression is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, and that SSRIs correct this imbalance, but these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, say researchers in PLoS Medicine. Although scientists in the 1960s suggested that depression may be linked to low brain levels of the chemical serotonin (the so-called “serotonin hypothesis”), contemporary research has failed to confirm the hypothesis, they say… click link for more info.

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Dopamine is one of the brain’s ‘feel good’ chemicals. Alcohol boosts levels of dopamine, hence the popularity of social drinking. No surprise then, that for the treatment of depression, interest is growing in dopamine as a therapeutic target – at least according to presentations at ‘Beyond Serotonin – The Science of Neurotransmitters’ a workshop held at the recent European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) congress held in Amsterdam… click link for more info.

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How parents treat their adolescent children, including the way they discipline them, as well as the kind of life events and social interactions teenagers experience, can affect an adolescent’s risk of depression, regardless of any genetic predisposition towards the mental illness. These findings from researchers at King’s College in London, published in the November/December issue of the journal Child Development, suggest that the environment in which teenagers find themselves has an impact on their risk of depression independent of their genetic background, which is already known to be a strong predictor of depression… click link for more info.

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When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared in 2004 that certain antidepressants are linked to an increased risk of suicide in adolescents, there was surprisingly little data about how depression was being treated in young patients. Now new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine provides critical documentation of the potential misuse of these medications in the years leading up to the FDA’s decision to issue the so-called “black-box” warnings… click link for more info.

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Determining when treatment of a depressed patient can safely be discontinued is important but difficult for clinicians; until now, no tests have been available that are simple to administer in a doctor’s office. Roger McIntyre and colleagues developed a brief 7-item questionnaire to determine if a patient with depression has recovered, and have now evaluated it for use in primary care… click link for more info.

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In a new report commissioned by the working group, Women and Health Protection (funded through the Women’s Health Contribution Program, Health Canada), researcher Janet Currie documents the vast increase in the use of SSRI antidepressants among Canadians. The number of SSRI prescriptions dispensed in Canada went from just under 9 million in 1999 to over 15… click link for more info.

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Swimming with dolphins is an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression, say researchers from the University of Leicester in this week’s BMJ. Their findings support the theory of biophilia, which shows how human health and wellbeing are dependent on our relationships with the natural environment… click link for more info.

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Surprisingly, people with mild depression are actually more tuned into the feelings of others than those who aren’t depressed, a team of Queen’s psychologists has discovered. “This was quite unexpected because we tend to think that the opposite is true,” says lead researcher Kate Harkness… click link for more info.

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How useful is exercise for people with severe depression, anxiety, or chronic mental illness? According to the December issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, hundreds of studies show that it can help-but there are qualifications. The Harvard Mental Health Letter reports that possible explanations for the mood-enhancing effect of exercise include: – enhanced body image- social support from exercise groups- distraction from everyday worries- heightened self-confidence from meeting a goal- altered circulation of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and the endorphins… click link for more info.

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An estimated 17 million adults ages 18 and older (8.0 percent) reported having experienced at least one major depressive episode during the past year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported today. Around two thirds of them reported receiving treatment for that depression in the past year, according to the new report, “Depression among Adults”… click link for more info.

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