Talk Depression

One of the things that makes it hard when you have depression is convincing others that you aren’t just sad. Anyone who has the disease knows how heartbreaking it is when those that you love around you dismiss your heavy pain as something that you should just be able to kick yourself out of. That is because there is not a sure fire test for the disease. Well now researchers, in what could be the best work of them all, are developing a blood test that could actually reliably say whether a person has depression or not.

This week I’ve had a really bad cold and during that time, while lying there suffering with a very evil sinus congestion that medicine didn’t seem to help, I found that my depression seemed much worse than it had been in a bit. I had nothing else to do (except write articles for websites) and so I started to ponder why that is. Now I don’t have millions of dollars to conduct a study into this phenomenon, but I thought I’d share my observations.

Psychologists are discussing rather hotly whether or not grief can be considered depression, and if so, at what point does it go from the natural reaction to the passing of a loved one into possible depression. All for the latest version of the diagnostic "bible" that will be released soon.


Anyone who has lost someone close to them knows the mental anguish that it can cause. Lack of sleep, appetite, deep sadness, the longing to be with them, nightmares, and a host of other symptoms do in fact mirror depression by most clinical definitions. But grief is usually a temporary state and many believe a necessary part of the human condition that shapes us, something not to be stifled away by medicinal remedies that may not be effective and can have side effects for an otherwise healthy person. Others believe that it is treatable and that a person should not have to suffer any longer than necessary.

Which leads to the next debatable topic on the subject, how long...

If you drink a lot of coffee, you know that we just don’t feel right in the morning if we don’t get that first cup of java, but could that blend of rich flavors actually stave off depression? Well there is a new study out that looks at that and while the results aren’t conclusive enough to say whether or not it is, there is some evidence that it’s possible.

The brain is a lot like an internet browser. When you ask for a page, it connects and then gets what it wants and disconnects, doing so for every function that it requires. This way it can focus on what’s truly important and let the other pathways turn off when not being used. But a new study shows that in the mind of a depressed person, this isn’t the case.

I’d like to talk today about the stigma of depression, and in particular, two very annoying and saddening ones.

Has anyone had the assumption that when you are under the dark clouds of whatever form you have, that you lose your IQ as well? That somehow all the common sense and intelligence you had is snuffed out and you are left just a stupid child that has to be led by the hand through everything.

You’ve all heard the ads on TV for various anti-depression medicines that warn that children or young adults taking such medication have an increased risk of suicide. That warning was mandated back in 2005 by the FDA after a study which took into account both SSRI and SNRI drugs showed the potential for higher rates of suicide. But a new study, larger than the one previously undertaken, has shown that may not be true after all, at least for some anti-depressants.

Just recently, Dr. Oz, the popular physician who has a daily show on TV, talked about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a fairly new treatment for diagnosis that works by magnetic means to portions of the brain rather than through drugs or talk therapy. We had an article about it here already, but thought we would revisit the subject.

Depression is often a symptom of deeper issues that need to be resolved, external issues that aren’t reachable by pills. That is why many feel as though talking is a very important part of the process. By learning how to cope with what is bothering us or even to help us fix what is beating us down, we can survive the tribulations that life deals us.

You may not recognize the name or the group that she is in in the US, but Frankie Sandford is arguably one of the best known and best loved girls of the pop group The Saturdays, the UK’s very popular five girl group that is burning up the charts. But many wondered what had happened to her late last year when she disappeared from the scene, the four others filling in for her. In an interview with Britain’s Glamor magazine, she spoke about the panic and depression in her life that had led her there.

She said that since the age of 15, which was a bit after the group S Club Juniors broke up, she had suffered from the disease, but like so many others did not want to discuss it or admit it to others and so suffered in silence. Her coping was to just spend a lot of time in bed and was ashamed that she was not more active. But as an adult, she’s tried to treat the illness through help, but when she felt better after counseling, she stopped going, convinced that she was now okay. But...

I kind of wish this was an April Fool’s thing, but it’s not. A new study says that those comfort foods that people often chow down on such as baked goods and fast food from places like McDonalds and the like can increase the risk of depression in people.

They say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop. I don’t know if that is true or not, but being idle and losing one’s sense of purpose can have a lot of effect on the psyche of someone, enough to sink them into depression. One such case, Clara Barton, who founded the Red Cross, knew this all too well and even considered suicide when she was suddenly without a way to express herself through her work.