Resilience Factor Low in Mice with Depression

Scientists have discovered a mechanism that helps to explain resilience to stress, vulnerability to depression and how antidepressants work. The new findings, in the reward circuit of mouse and human brains, have spurred a high tech dragnet for compounds that boost the action of a key gene regulator there, called deltaFosB.

Learn more about Resilience Factor Low in Mice with Depression

British Indian Children Have Better Mental Health Than Others

British Indian children have substantially better mental health than British Whites, new research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine shows.

Learn more about British Indian Children Have Better Mental Health Than Others

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.

Learn more about Telephone Therapy Almost as Effective as Face-to-Face Therapy for Depression

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.

Learn more about Why Later-Life Depression is Harder to Treat

Childhood Cancer Survivors More Likely to Develop PTSD

Young adult survivors of childhood cancers are four times more likely to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than their control group siblings, a Childhood Cancer Survivors Study has found. The study focused on 6,542 childhood cancer survivors over 18 who were diagnosed with cancer between 1970 and 1986 and 368 of their siblings as a control group.

Learn more about Childhood Cancer Survivors More Likely to Develop PTSD

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.

Learn more about Magnetic Stimulation May Be Successful as Depression Treatment

Mood and Anxiety Disorders Affect Many Older Adults

Rates of mood and anxiety disorders appear to decline with age but the conditions remain common in older adults, especially women, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Learn more about Mood and Anxiety Disorders Affect Many Older Adults

Children Who Lose a Parent to Suicide More Likely to Commit Suicide Themselves

Losing a parent to suicide makes children more likely to die by suicide themselves and increases their risk of developing a range of major psychiatric disorders, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center that is believed to be the largest one to date on the subject. A report on the findings will appear in the May issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Learn more about Children Who Lose a Parent to Suicide More Likely to Commit Suicide Themselves

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.

Learn more about African-American Men with Chronic Pain at Higher Risk for Depression

Therapy via Teleconference Proves Effective

New research finds that obtaining therapy via teleconference is just as effective as face-to-face sessions. “Previous studies have shown that phobia therapy via teleconferencing was just as efficient as face to face contact,” says lead researcher Dr. Stéphane Guay, a psychiatry professor at the Université de Montréal who is also director of the Trauma Studies Centre at the Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital’s Fernand-Seguin Research Centre. “We wanted to see if the process could also be used for post-traumatic stress treatment.”

Learn more about Therapy via Teleconference Proves Effective

Connect with an Elements Recovery Adviser