Depression News and Research

Latest Depression News and Research

Scientists present new data on role of treatment preferences in depression outcomes

This study demonstrates that patients' relative preference for medication versus psychotherapy should be considered when offering a treatment to depressed patients because receiving the preferred treatment conveys an additional and clinically relevant benefit in outcome.

21 Feb 2011

Mouse model could help develop new classes of antidepressant drugs

The most widely prescribed antidepressants - medicines such as Prozac, Lexapro and Paxil - work by blocking the serotonin transporter, a brain protein that normally clears away the mood-regulating chemical serotonin. Or so the current thinking goes.

21 Feb 2011

Chronic fatigue syndrome – eased by psychotherapy: Study

New British research suggests that people with chronic fatigue syndrome may be helped the most when standard treatment is coupled with cognitive behaviour therapy or exercise therapy.

20 Feb 2011

Treating depression: A vital step in cancer recovery

With all of the stresses of today’s modern world, depression is unfortunately becoming a common household word for many people in this country and abroad. During the cold winter months, many also struggle with seasonal depression or “winter blues,” known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Depression can be caused by any number of factors, such as chronic stress, inactivity, hormone or neurotransmitter imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, medication side effects, chronic inflammation, or lack of adequate sunshine exposure, among others.

20 Feb 2011

Eating tissue to stay thin

In a recent interview on CNN, Janet Jackson talks about the extreme measures some women in Hollywood take to achieve and maintain a thin body. She says some are even eating Kleenex to stay full so they don't feel hungry. Kimberly Dennis, M.D., and Medical Director at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, a residential treatment center for eating disorders and addictions, warns about the dangers of this behavior, and says there might be deeper problems hidden below the surface.

19 Feb 2011

Author provides tips to combat symptoms of seasonal affective disorder

Winter's chill, dark days, devoid of sunshine can send the best of us spiraling into a bad case of the blues. But those dreary winter months - particularly, February - can debilitate people living with depression.

19 Feb 2011

Deep brain stimulation therapy promising against severe OCD

When obsessive-compulsive disorder is of crippling severity and drugs and behavior therapy can't help, there has been for just over a year a thread - or rather a wire - of hope. By inserting a thin electrode deep into the brain, doctors can precisely deliver an electrical current to a cord of the brain's wiring and soften the severity of the symptoms. "Deep brain stimulation" therapy for OCD won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2009 for extreme cases under its humanitarian device exemption.

19 Feb 2011

Depression doesn't decline with age in addiction-prone women

Unlike alcohol abuse problems and antisocial behavior, depression doesn't decline with age in addiction-prone women in their 30s and 40s - it continues to increase, a new study led by University of Michigan Health System researchers found.

18 Feb 2011

Scientists discover evidence linking brain function variations to birth size, weight of placenta

Scientists have discovered the first evidence linking brain function variations between the left and right sides of the brain to size at birth and the weight of the placenta. The finding could shed new light on the causes of mental health problems in later life.

18 Feb 2011

Critical events influence students to quit college

College students who consider dropping out are particularly sensitive to a handful of critical events including depression and loss of financial aid, according to a study led by Michigan State University scholars.

17 Feb 2011

Study: BP oil spill causes psychological impact on people living in coastal communities

The explosion and fire on a BP-licensed oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 had huge environmental and economic effects, with millions of gallons of oil leaking into the water for more than five months. It also had significant psychological impact on people living in coastal communities, even in those areas that did not have direct oil exposure, according to researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who worked in collaboration with the University of Florida, Gainesville.

17 Feb 2011

Passion for dancing helps beat breast cancer

When Karen Franklin was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, it was her passion for Zumba® that helped her beat the disease. Franklin's story, say experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reminds us about exercise's cancer-fighting benefits.

16 Feb 2011

Grief after loss of a significant other may become a disease

In the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, a group of French investigators headed by Guy Chouinard presents data that indicate that grief after the loss of a significant other may become a disease. One issue facing the DSM-V in the revision of the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) concerns bereavement criterion E, which often leads to exclusion from major depressive episode (MDE).

16 Feb 2011

Studies highlight utility of Paykel's Clinical Interview for Depression in clinical research

In the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, investigators from the University of Bologna, Copenhagen and Cambridge present data that suggest that the most commonly used scale for assessing depression (the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) may not be sufficient and another, more comprehensive and accurate, is available.

16 Feb 2011

Mental health of obese children needs primary focus

The mental health of obese children should be a primary focus of researchers studying childhood obesity, according to Christine Calamaro, PhD, CRNP, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

16 Feb 2011

WINCS detects and measures serotonin levels in brain through deep brain stimulation

Mayo Clinic researchers have concluded that, through deep brain stimulation, a Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration System (WINCS) can detect and measure serotonin levels in the brain. The findings suggest that in the future such measurements of serotonin may help establish a therapeutic mechanism of deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disease.

16 Feb 2011

New review: Multiple interventions might enable work-related outcomes among cancer survivors

For cancer survivors who wish to return to work after treatment, a new evidence review suggests that therapies focusing on a wide range of health interventions might best enable them to do so.

16 Feb 2011

New study finds peer support greatly reduces symptoms of depression

Peer support offers promise as an effective, low-cost tool for fighting depression, a new study by the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan Health System finds.

16 Feb 2011

Non-specialist mental health staff can treat depression with psychotherapy

Depression can be treated effectively with psychotherapy by mental health nurses with minimal training, according to new preliminary research findings.

16 Feb 2011

'Real world' guidelines may effectively prevent cardiovascular disease in women

Practical medical advice that works in the "real world" may more effectively prevent cardiovascular disease in women than recommendations based only on findings in clinical research settings, according to the 2011 update to the American Heart Association's cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women.

15 Feb 2011