Depression
Changing Way of Thinking is Key to Battling Depression
Moderate to severely depressed clients showed greater improvement in cognitive therapy when therapists emphasized changing how they think rather than how they behave, new research has found.
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Telephone Therapy Almost as Effective as Face-to-Face Therapy for Depression
Treating clinical depression on the telephone is nearly as effective as face-to-face consultations, a new Brigham Young University study has found. The trial run included 30 people newly diagnosed with major depression. Instead of eight scheduled visits to the clinic, the participants covered the same material during a series of phone calls with the therapist. Calls varied in length, ranging from 21 to 52 minutes. The patients did not receive antidepressant medication.
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Why Later-Life Depression is Harder to Treat
Scientists have found an important clue in the quest to understand why people who suffer from depression in later life are harder to treat and keep well in the long term. A study led by Toronto’s Baycrest has found that older adults with depression don’t respond normally to emotional stimuli, such as when they see happy, sad, or neutral faces.
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Magnetic Stimulation May Be Successful as Depression Treatment
Some depressed patients who don’t respond to or tolerate antidepressant medications may benefit from a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain with a pulsing electromagnet, a study suggests. This first industry-independent, multi-site, randomized, tightly controlled trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) found that it produced significant antidepressant effects in a subgroup of patients, with few side effects.
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Discrimination Leads to Depression in Minority Children
A new study found that minority children who are exposed to more racism and discrimination often experience more symptoms of depression. The study was presented May 2 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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People with Depression Eat More Chocolate as Symptoms Increase
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that women and men eat more chocolate as depressive symptoms increase, suggesting an association between mood and chocolate. Results of this paper, co-authored by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at UCSD School of Medicine, appears in the April 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
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African-American Men with Chronic Pain at Higher Risk for Depression
African-American men with chronic pain related to an accident, injury, illness, surgery, or other causes were more likely to experience depression, affective distress, and disability than white men with chronic pain, according to a new study by the University of Michigan Health System. The persistent pain black men experienced was more severe which might lead to greater disability, but the study by U-M researchers give clues to other factors that drive the downward spiral to depression and disability.
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Patients Experience More Side Effects from Depression Medication Than Psychiatrists Admit
A study from Rhode Island Hospital shows that patients report side effects from medication for the treatment of depression 20 times more than psychiatrists have recorded in charts. The researchers recommend the use of a self-administered patient questionnaire in clinical practice to improve the recognition of side effects for patients in treatment. The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Volume 71, No. 4, now available online ahead of print.
Biological Link Between Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
Scientists at the University of Western Ontario have discovered the biological link between stress, anxiety and depression. By identifying the connecting mechanism in the brain, this high impact research led by Stephen Ferguson of Robarts Research Institute shows exactly how stress and anxiety could lead to depression. The study also reveals a small molecule inhibitor developed by Ferguson, which may provide a new and better way to treat anxiety, depression and other related disorders. The findings are published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
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Molecule Could Lead to New Treatments for Depression
There has been little progress in the way we treat depression and anxiety for over thirty years, but a recent study at EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) may open the door to new strategies. In an article published online in Molecular Psychiatry, researchers from two laboratories at the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) explain how understanding the functioning of a molecule called MIF, or macrophage migration inhibitory factor, may change the way we treat depression.
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