Depression Articles

The Importance of Recognizing Depression in Friends Imagine a friend who has always been the life of the party, the one you'd run to for a good laugh. Suddenly, you notice they aren't as lively anymore. Would you know if it's just a passing phase or a sign of something deeper? Understanding depression Depression isn't just a bad day or a fleeting mood. It's a lingering cloud, a weight that doesn't easily lift. Affecting one's thoughts, feelings, and daily activities, it can creep in silently, often masquerading as mere tiredness or moodiness. The role of friends in mental well-being Friends are like mirrors reflecting back what we sometimes miss in ourselves. They play a crucial role in noticing changes that may be subtle to the...

Hey there! Have you ever stopped to wonder why anxiety and depression seem to be skyrocketing in recent times? Let's dive deep into this silent epidemic and uncover how modern society may be fanning its flames. The Birth of a Silent Crisis Historical overview of mental health Historically, mental health was often misunderstood and stigmatized. From being labeled as witchcraft in ancient times to being dismissed as simple hysteria in the Victorian era, it's only recently that we've truly started recognizing and addressing these issues for what they are. Rise of modern society and its impact But as we've grown as a society, so have the challenges. Modern life, with its hustle and bustle, brings with it a new set of problems. You ever...

A lot of talk, and rightfully so, of depression centers around the loss of a loved one, which is one of the most painful things that one can feel, especially if they were close such as a parent and child or siblings or that significant other. People generally understand that and can relate to it, but many don’t seem to have that same feeling towards depression from other types of loss, such as a job, especially if it had been a long term employment. One of the main signs and triggers of depression is the loss of self worth. I don’t have to tell you how this relates to a much needed job. The loss of income can be devastating taking someone who was reasonably adjusted and sending them into a deep spiral when a new position does not...

I am trying very hard not to be a bit snarky over this study, but I’m having a difficult time. It is a pet peeve of mine that people actually study what is pretty much known by the general population already. That working long hours for little pay, struggling to make ends meet or have time with family, causes stress and later on depression. Research out of England polled 2123 male middle-aged civil servants and followed them over a 6 year period. All were considered healthy from a mental health point of view and not depressed at the start of the study, but by the end, 3% had been diagnosed as clinically depressed. But only those that worked more than 9 hours on average and were at the junior or mid level jobs seemed to be...

Despite the widespread negative effects of social media, many college students sleep with their cell phones by their sides or under their pillows. The constant buzzing and dinging of the phone is hard to ignore. This habit has been dubbed FOMO, or the fear of missing out. This fear motivates young people to build up profiles on social media. However, this can lead to awkward situations and even bullying. Positive Researchers have examined the effects of social media on the mental health of adolescents. The study looked at a wide range of variables, including how active the teens were and the context in which they used the social media. It was found that social media use can have a positive or negative impact on a wide range of...

A new study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that women were at more risk for depression if they were less physically active and/or watched more TV. It’s a pretty commonly accepted theory that physical activity has benefits in the mind and thus this isn’t a big surprise. Especially when the findings found that walking briskly was one of the activities that lowered the risk the most. Such exercise often releases endorphins in the blood that make the person happier, not sadder. I’m sure you’ve all heard of runner’s high where the brain fills with a sort of euphoria. So their findings of a 20% lower risk for those that exercised intensely for 90+ minutes per day really does make sense. The TV connection is...

I was shocked when researching an article about Xanax that many people were advising others to just stop taking it. Now I’m not a doctor, so I’m not qualified to say whether you should or shouldn’t be prescribed the medication often used to treat anxiety, but I have done enough medical research as a writer to know that stopping cold turkey can be a dangerous and life threatening mistake. And I wanted to say something here about it in case anyone is considering it. Xanax is a highly addictive medication that is certainly useful, but can have serious consequences when one wants to get off of it. I’m sure you’ve seen people on TV going through withdrawals, usually for illegal drugs like cocaine and such. They are in extreme pain...

You know, this should be filed under the “Captain Obvious” category because anytime someone is experiencing pain, whether it is the head or somewhere else, they aren’t happy and being that migraines can be devastating, it isn’t at all a surprise that there would be higher percentage of people that would experience depression than those that don’t have these horrible headaches. But yet to prove and quantify that theory, a study was done and what they found out is what we would expect. First of all, a migraine is not just a headache, it’s an event that can have detrimental effects on a person’s mental health, especially if they are happening often, rather than infrequently. A typical migraine can last anywhere between 4-72 hours and...

Ah, is there anything the Internet can’t do? Well except find my keys. But can online websites make a difference in helping someone with depression? Well a study in Australia along with online programs have been found to treat depression, showing that 24/7 interactivity in an anonymous environment can help indeed. The Australian National University has live counselors available on the phone for those who are depressed and need to talk, but they wanted to see if people would respond favorably to having information and interactivity in the web environment as well. So they used two online sites. One is called MoodGym. This one creates the cyber equivalent of a behavioral therapist which seeks to get to the bottom of why someone is...

Everyone knows that if you don’t get much sleep for a few days, you usually get a bit slow and perhaps even cranky, the world becoming a much harsher place because your mind is literally exhausted. But now researchers at the University of Gronigen in the Netherlands are conducting tests to understand how sleep deprivation creates symptoms that mimic or even cause depression. Because rats have basically the same brain structure as humans, the rodents were used in an experiment to see what effects the lack of sleep has on the brain. They were only allowed to sleep four hours a day, rather than their normal sleep cycle for the test. After a week, their brains seem to exhibit the same types of issues that were found in the brain of a...

You know, sometimes I admire scientists ability to get paid for obvious studies like this one. The research found that mothers who work are happier than those that are stay at home moms. I could have told them that and I’m not even a woman or a parent. But I am a work-at-home blogger and I’ll be honest, I miss going to work and socializing with my co-workers. It got me out of the house and into society. I’ve also seen what my stay at home niece goes through with her kids crying, screaming and sometimes even fighting over the stupidest things with their siblings like they both want to play with the same toy. It makes me wonder if I was ever that bad as a kid? So what parent wouldn’t want to get away for a bit and socialize with...

Anything that is part of the human condition is up to debate as to why evolution would have a need for that particular element. Of course, some have easy answers like why is it necessary to have two eyes. We all know that the two eyes give us depth perception which helps us to avoid running into things and helps us understand how far we are from a particular object. But when it comes to mental disorders, the answer is not always so clear. One of those is depression. Some researchers speculate that depression is a natural response that helps us focus on the danger that we might be in and come up with a solution after isolated thought. Of course, those that treat patients are usually on the other side of the fence, saying that there...

Back in the 1960’s, psychedelic drugs as they were called, were all the rage and many of these “trips” were created by ingesting what some called Magic Mushrooms, a particular type of fungi. By eating these naturally growing items, users would experience hallucinations and other mental journeys. The reason was because of a substance called psilocybin that had significant impact on the brain’s normal functions. Some scientists had surmised that they had a long term effect of causing panic attacks, depression and paranoid delusions. But a new set of studies are questioning whether these could actually be useful in alleviating the symptoms rather than creating them. Now, before I go on, we are not advocating that anyone start...

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. Around ten percent of the population, according to some studies, suffers from depression, but those determinations have resulted from questionnaires given to the patient which is then evaluated by a doctor whose...

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. For one thing, any sort of illness will weigh on one’s soul if it’s already dragged down. But even in something as simple and non life threatening as a cold, even the slightest things can touch off a sadness that is already deep inside. Things that you normally would let pass seem almost...

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...

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 Harvard School of Public Health in Boston asked 50,000 nurses over 10 years, how much coffee they drank. Nurses are a good subject because they often work in stressful conditions and have a higher risk for depression than many professions. Plus they work very long hours, which as we stated is already a higher factor for the disease as well. What the findings discovered was...

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. Instead those connections actually stay on long after they should and don’t release properly. While this may sound a bit trivial, for a scientist, this is important information because they can use it to perhaps come up with a whole new treatment approach. Networks, like that on the internet, are created in your brain from everywhere to everywhere. Messages, in the form of...

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. This is perhaps what is the hardest for me to handle in my struggles with the disease whose fatigue has caused my mind to be weighed down. I am often slow in responding to questions when asked something and sometimes I am unable to do the things that people expect of me. But that doesn’t make me an infant or a child. I still know what...

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. Rather than reinvent the wheel, they took the data from 41 different studies and analyzed the data to find out the effects of fluoxetine (aka Prozac and others) and venlafaxine (Effexor) in both the time release and immediate formulations on children, adults, and older...