Mental Health News

Jobs, Cleaner Exhaust Fumes May Be Behind Fall in U.K. Suicides By Chantal Britt Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Jobs and less toxic car exhaust fumes may be behind a drop in suicides among young men in the U.K. to the lowest level in 30 years, researchers said in the British Medical Journal. Reductions in antidepressant use among under-18s have not led to an increase in suicidal behavior in youngsters, another study found. Researchers at the University of Bristol set out to explain why suicide rates in young people in England and Wales have declined steadily in the past 10 years after year-on-year increases from the 1970s to the early 1990s. They found that a rise in employment, government efforts to curb suicides, and laws to reduce carbon monoxide in cars may be preventing deaths. ``Favorable changes in several different factors -- levels of employment, substance misuse and antidepressant prescribing as well as policy focus on suicide and vehicle exhaust gas legislation -- may have contributed to the recent reductions, co-author David Gunnell, a professor of epidemiology at the university, wrote. Gunnell explored trends in suicide in young men that showed a decline since 1998, after increases in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. The overall suicide rate for 15- to 24- year-old men in England and Wales dropped to 8.5 per 100,000 in 2005 from 16.6 per 100,000 people in 1990. While rates for women are also at their lowest levels since 1968, the proportion of those who choose hanging has jumped, the research showed. Antidepressants In a separate study also conducted at the Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics and IMS Health, researchers studied effects of the antidepressant restrictions on suicides. They found no evidence that reducing the levels of prescriptions of antidepressants in half led to an increase in deaths from suicide or hospital admissions as a result of self harm. Regulators in 2003 restricted antidepressant prescription to adolescents and children, when trial data raised concern that antidepressants may lead to suicidal thoughts or attempts. Only half of adults and a quarter of adolescents who suffer from depression in the U.S. take antidepressants, and nearly half of all adults discontinue after just a few weeks, Gregory Simmons from the Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, wrote in an accompanying editorial. ``In truth, it would be surprising if antidepressants had any effect -- positive or negative -- on the risk of suicide in the general population, Simmons said. ``Only 3 percent of adolescents dying by suicide in New York City had toxicology data showing recent use of antidepressants." To contact the reporter on this story: Chantal Britt at cbritt@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: February 15, 2008 00:23 EST

Violence In Mental Health Units - UNISON Reaction, UK Article Date: 15 Feb 2008 - 1:00 PST Commenting on the joint Healthcare Commission and Royal College of Psychiatrists report into assaults on nurses working on mental health wards, Gail Adams, UNISON Head of Nursing, said: "The level of violence and aggression towards nurses on mental health wards makes shocking reading. It is clear that more needs to be done to protect staff and risk assessments, training and a good skills mix are the key to achieving that. "It is vital that thorough risk assessments are carried out on each patient. The report misses the importance of the information that carers can provide about any previous history of violence. "Adequate staffing levels and a good skills mix will also encourage an air of calmness on a ward. Where there are staff shortages, or a lot of agency and bank staff, the ward can become more frantic and patients will pick up on that. "It is also important that all staff should also be well trained in the same techniques, so they work together to contain any violence or aggression. "However, we should not stereotype mental health patients as being violent, this is far from the case. If a patient attacks a member of staff, there should be a zero tolerance approach and if found competent, they should be liable to prosecution."

Suicide levels for young men "lowest for 30 years" Suicide levels for young men "lowest for 30 years" Full Story The rate of suicide among young men in England and Wales has fallen to the lowest level for more than 30 years, according to new research. A study by the University of Bristols Department of Social Medicine found the percentage of men aged 15 to 24 who take their own life has almost halved since a peak 18 years ago. In 1990, there were 16.6 suicides for every 100,000 men aged 15-24 but by 2005 the rate had fallen to 8.5 per 100,000, the lowest level since 1974. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, said catalytic converters on cars have reduced the number of lives taken using poisonous exhaust fumes but there has also been a fall in suicides by other methods including hanging - the most common method used by young men. Researchers said factors which create an increased risk of a person committing suicide, such as unemployment and divorce, also decreased during the same period. In men aged 25-34, the rate fell by a third from the peak rate of 27.8 deaths per 100,000 men in 1998 to 15.7 deaths per 100 000 men, the lowest level since 1978. The report, entitled Suicide rates in young men in England and Wales in the 21st century: time trend study, said from 1950 to 1998 rates of suicide in men aged under 45 doubled in England and Wales, while rates in women and older men declined. During the 1990s, suicide accounted for about a fifth of all deaths in young men. Researchers said the suicide rate for young women had been more stable, remaining below four per 100,000 women for most of the period 1968 to 2004 and dropping to just above two per 100,000 by 2004. The method women are most likely to use has changed, however, from self-poisoning to hanging. Release Date 15/02/2008 Source Press Assoiation Country England & Wales

Dail debate for teenagers Dail debate for teenagers Full Story Around 200 teenagers will gather in the Dail today to debate and vote on issues related to education and mental health reform. Dail na nOg is the national youth parliament and is overseen and funded by the Office of the Minister for Children. Delegates are elected by their local Comhairle na nOg throughout the country. Childrens Minister Brendan Smith will address the delegates and a question-and-answer session will be chaired by RTEs Aine Lawlor. The discussion on mental health will focus on suicide, bullying, peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and support services available to teenagers. Education reform talks will centre on reform of the curriculum, assessment and points system, teaching of languages and sports and physical activity. Dail na nOg provides young people with an opportunity to raise their concerns and meets annually. Release Date 15/02/2008 Source Press Association Country Ireland

Government "failing vulnerable older people" Government "failing vulnerable older people" More than one million people aged over-50 feel they are "severely excluded" from society, a report by Age Concern said today. The charity said the Government was "failing" vulnerable older people and called for ministers to make a cross-departmental commitment to help the most disadvantaged. The Out of Sight, Out of Mind report also recommends that councils should carry out a "comprehensive review" of their services under the terms of their agreements with central government. The report said: "Being severely excluded is not just about being poor, feeling lonely or lacking mobility. "It is a complex issue which involves facing multiple hardships and being cut off from the things the rest of society takes for granted." The report found that 400,000 people aged 50 to 64 were severely excluded, 360,000 people aged 65 to 79 and 400,000 aged over 80. Other findings include: :: 50% of severely excluded people over 50 are in poor health; :: 40% of severely excluded people over 50 are lonely; :: People aged 50-64 are eight times more likely to be severely excluded if they rent their home privately rather than own it; :: Over half the homes privately rented by over 50s are considered "non-decent". The report said the Government had done a lot to help old people by introducing pension credit, the winter fuel allowance, improved NHS facilities and concessionary bus travel. But, it said: "Despite this progress, much less has been done to tackle severe social exclusion among older people." Many people have failed to claim benefits they are entitled to or access the service available to them, the report said. Gordon Lishman, Age Concerns director general, said: "It is often said that we should judge the society we live in by the way we treat older people. "How we treat the most excluded older people is even more of a litmus test and one that, sadly, the Government is currently failing. "Without stronger ministerial leadership, and a significant change in the mindset of policy makers and service providers, over a million severely excluded older people will continue to suffer in silence." A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "The Government is fully committed to tackling the social exclusion of older people, which is why since 1997 we have succeeded in lifting over a million pensioners out of poverty. "We want all pensioners to have a decent and secure income, and a pensioner is now less likely to be in poverty than a person of working age. "We are taking action across Government to address the problems faced by older people, including policies to promote greater independence and wellbeing." Release Date 15/02/2008 Source Press Association CountryUnited Kingdom

Study: Boy Babies More Likely To Cause Post-Partum Depression February 14, 2008 8:51 p.m. EST Isabelle Duerme - AHN News Writer Nancy, France (AHN) - A recent study concluded that the births of male babies expose mothers to higher levels of post-partum depression. Experts from the French university Nancy 2 drew their findings from an experiment involving 181 women who had given birth. The scientists measured that one-third of the test subjects had experienced postnatal depression (PND). Of the nine percent that the scientists diagnosed with severe PND, three quarters had given birth to boys, said Times Online. Based on the data gathered from questionnaires asking the subjects about their quality of life in terms of physical functions, bodily pain, mental health, emotional condition, social behavior and general health, experts determined that 70 percent of women who gave birth to male babies reported a lower quality of life, compared to those who gave birth to girls. "Postnatal depression is very common and poses a major public health problem, especially if it is not diagnosed and treated," said Professor Claude de Tychey, study author. "When we launched our research, our main aim was to study the effect that gender has on PND. But the overwhelming finding of the study was the fact that gender appears to play a significant role in reduced quality of life as well as an increased chance of severe PND." The UPI reported that the lower quality of life experienced by the 70 percent of women who gave birth to boys was evident, whether or not they actually suffered from PND. For those with PND, women who had girls had higher quality-of-life scores compared to those who had boys. "Postnatal depression can have a considerable impact on women as it can affect both their physical and mental health," said de Tychey. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Body-mind Meditation Boosts Performance, Reduces Stress October 9, 2007 Science Daily — A team of researchers from China and the University of Oregon have developed an approach for neuroscientists to study how meditation might provide improvements in a persons attention and response to stress. The study, done in China, randomly assigned college undergraduate students to 40-person experimental or control groups. The experimental group received five days of meditation training using a technique called the integrative body-mind training (IBMT). The control group got five days of relaxation training. Before and after training both groups took tests involving attention and reaction to mental stress. The experimental group showed greater improvement than the control in an attention test designed to measure the subjects abilities to resolve conflict among stimuli. Stress was induced by mental arithmetic. Both groups initially showed elevated release of the stress hormone cortisol following the math task, but after training the experimental group showed less cortisol release, indicating a greater improvement stress regulation. The experimental group also showed lower levels of anxiety, depression, anger and fatigue than was the case in the control group. "This study improves the prospect for examining brain mechanisms involved in the changes in attention and self-regulation that occur following meditation training," said co-author Michael I. Posner, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon. "The study took only five days, so it was possible to randomly assign the subjects and do a thorough before-and-after analysis of the training effects." The IBMT approach was developed in the 1990s. Its effects have been studied in China since 1995. The technique avoids struggles to control thought, relying instead on a state of restful alertness, allowing for a high degree of body-mind awareness while receiving instructions from a coach, who provides breath-adjustment guidance and mental imagery while soothing music plays in the background. Thought control is achieved gradually through posture, relaxation, body-mind harmony and balanced breathing. The authors noted in the study that IBMT may be effective during short-term application because of its integrative use of these components. IBMT has been found to improve emotional and cognitive performance, as well as social behavior, in people, said lead author Yi-Yuan Tang, a professor in the Institute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory for Body and Mind at Dalian University of Technology in Dalian, China. Tang currently is a visiting scholar at the University of Oregon, where he is working with Posner on a new and larger study to be conducted in the United States. The current study did not include direct measures of brain changes, although previous studies have suggested alterations have occurred in brain networks. Posner said the planned studies in the United States will include functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine any brain network changes induced by training. In summary, the 11-member team wrote: "IBMT is an easy, effective way for improvement in self-regulation in cognition, emotion and social behavior. Our study is consistent with the idea that attention, affective processes and the quality of moment-to-moment awareness are flexible skills that can be trained." At this point, the findings suggest a measurable benefit that people could achieve through body-mind meditation, especially involving an effective training regimen, but larger studies are needed to fully test the findings of this small, short-term study, Posner said. The findings appear online ahead of publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors with Tang and Posner were: Yinghua Ma, Junhong Wang, Yaxin Fan, Shigang Feng, Qilin Lu, Qingbao Yu and Danni Sui, all of the Institute of Neuroinformatics and Laboratory for Body and Mind at Dalian University of Technology, Ming Fan of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences in Beijing, and Mary K. Rothbart, professor emerita of psychology at the University of Oregon. Tang also is affiliated with the Key Laboratory for Mental Health and Center for Social & Organizational Behavior, both located in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The project was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education of China and the UOs Brain, Biology and Machine Initiative. Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by University of Oregon.

Study proves exercise can lift depression October 9, 2007 Exercises benefits are on par with antidepressants Regular exercise could help lift the cloud of major depression as effectively as an antidepressant, research shows. "A lot of people know from their own experience that when they exercise, they feel better," says James A. Blumenthal, a professor of psychology at Duke University and lead author of the study. But anecdotes and gut feelings do not amount to clinical proof. So Mr. Blumenthal conducted a placebo-controlled clinical trial, the first time the gold standard of research has been used to compare exercise with antidepressants for treatment of major depression. He sorted 202 patients into four groups. After 16 weeks, 47 percent of the people who took the antidepressant Zoloft improved . But 45 percent of those who exercised in supervised groups improved, and 40 percent of those who exercised on their own improved, a statistically insignificant difference from the drug group result. About 30 percent of those in the placebo group improved, a finding consistent with the placebo effect. Exercise, Mr. Blumenthal speculates, may increase endorphin or serotonin levels, so-called feel-good brain chemicals. The study was published in the September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. Los Angeles Times

Mental health assessment for mother who abandoned toddler 09 October 2007 A central Queensland court has been told a woman abandoned her three-year-old daughter at a Rockhampton primary school yesterday after she threw a tantrum. The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has not entered a plea to a charge of endangering a child and has been ordered to face a mental health assessment. Police prosecutor Sean Janes told the court the woman had moved to Rockhampton from Brisbane a week ago and went to the Glenmore State School yesterday morning to ask about enrolling her five-year-old son. Senior constable Janes said when her daughter refused to take her hand she left her in the school grounds, near the busy Bruce Highway. The prosecutor said the toddler had a history of running on to roads. Constable Janes said police found the woman more than 10 hours later, after the story had aired on radio and television news bulletins. She has been released on bail to re-appear in court next month. The toddler and her two siblings are now in the custody of the Family Services Department.

Identifying Mental Illness October 9 2007 There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about persons needing psychiatric help and the role of psychiatrists. Among the many ailments affecting us, mental illness is least understood both by the public and even among doctors. It is a precursor to various ailments, and a lot of expensive tests and unnecessary medication can be avoided if the problem is identified as early as possible. Behaviour Symptomatic of Mental Illness: Mental illness is an ailment which needs to be treated clinically (like diabetes, hypothyroidism). Contrary to popular belief, mental illness cannot be mitigated by yoga, meditation, witchcraft, black magic or prayer. The following abnormal behaviour also constitutes mental illness in varying degrees, such as abusive, short tempered nature, lazy attitude, unable to persist in any work or vocation, unable to succeed in any endeavor. Individuals undergoing multiple consultations, multiple tests - scan, x-ray, blood, master health check-up, taking self-medication for chest pain, stomach pain, neck and low back pain, headache - without an apparent diagnosis of disease. There is also a form of mental illness termed Somatization - Hypochondriasis. Here, the patient needs sympathy from family members. Empathy and scientific treatment from a good physician or psychiatrist does help. - Dr P Anandhan, Psychiatrist Mind care Clinic 93807 96970

Mental health program cuts hospital stays 08/10/2007 A home care program for mentally ill people has seen the amount of time clients spend in hospital drop by more than 90 per cent. Mission Australia runs the program in conjunction with the New South Wales departments of Health and Housing. Over the past year, 24 participants in the scheme spent a combined total of 28 days in hospital compared with more than 350 days the year before. Spokeswoman Bronwyn Howlett says having a normal routine at home helps keep people with mental health problems off the streets. "It assists people in maintaining their accommodation so that they do not become homeless and then fall into that cycle of continuing to be homeless," she said. Ms Howlett says even short hospital visits can be a major setback. "It is about keeping contact with your community and maintaining the normal routines that you would in normal day life, which get interrupted when you get re-admitted back into hospital sometimes," she said. "Even if it is only for a couple of days, it can reduce your confidence in going out and things like that." New South Wales Mental Health Minister Paul Lynch says the scheme will help keep 1,000 people out of hospital this year. "It is good also if you can more effectively use your resources so that you do not have people in hospital that do not need to be there," he said.

Community touch a mental health goal 10/8/07. NEW MENTAL HEALTH LEGISLATION will put the emphasis on greater community treatment. Director of the Psychiatric Hospital Tennyson Springer spoke to the DAILY NATION about mental health yesterday following a church service at the Whitehall Methodist Church to mark the start of Mental Health Week. "We have just had a review of the mental health legislation to make provision for empowering the nurses to function effectively in the community. "We have also increased the number of clinics we do within our primary health care system, as well as our outpatients, so that people can be cared for in the community close to where they live," he said. He added that the global direction was community mental health, because it was recognised that people spending long periods of time in hospital developed a level of institutionalisation which did not help their healing process. Springer said community care was where they wanted to take mental health, but acknowledged it would not occur overnight because of the prevailing view of mental health. He estimated that it would be possible within another ten to 15 years. Springer said progress had also been made with lowering the level of abandonment of the mentally ill. "It is still too high, and for us as a nation on the verge of First World status it is still very high. "What we are trying to do is put more people and more services in the community . . . what we are hoping to establish is day services so that those people can bring their families in the day, have the care provided that is necessary, and take them back home in the evening. "This way everybody wins because they do not get institutionalised," said Springer. During the service Brother Anthony Sobers said adults could influence the lives of young people if as parents, or grandparents and relatives they clearly demonstrated their faith in God. Sobers said that, as leaders, adults needed to appreciate their own faith since it was critical to the development of young people. He said if it was demonstrated in the workplace, home and community, then it would help. The theme of this weeks celebrations is Mental Health In A Changing World:Impact Of Cultural Diversity. (WB)

Free test offered to spot depression OCT. 8, 2007 GREENSBORO — Suicide is among the nations leading causes of death, and depression figures into most suicides. That is why national and local organizations have designated Thursday as National Depression Screening Day. Free screenings for depression will be offered at several sites in Guilford County. Participants also can receive information on depression and how to seek help for themselves or loved one. The need to identify people with depression is clear because 60 percent of all people who commit suicide have depression, said Blair Benson, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Greensboro. But 80 percent to 90 percent of those with depression respond well to treatment, she added. "The same way we expect to be physically healthy, we should also expect to be mentally healthy," she said. "So if you have symptoms of depression, you should get them treated." People also should know what symptoms to look for in friends or family members who might suffer from depression. "Just like diabetes, we would not expect our loved ones to take care of (diseases) on their own," Benson said. "We should not expect (them) to take care of their mental health issues on their own." Failure to address depression can have tragic consequences. Suicide is the fourth-leading cause of death among adults ages 18 to 65, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. More Americans — about 19 million — have depression than have coronary heart disease, cancer and AIDS combined, the foundation said. About a third of depressed people attempt suicide; half of them succeed. Thursdays screenings are sponsored by the Guilford Countys Mental Health Awareness Coalition, composed of government agencies and nonprofits. Screeners will be clinicians from the Guilford Center, High Point Regional Health System, Moses Cone Behavioral Health, and the UNCG Psychology Clinic. Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lalexander@news-record.com

At therapys end October 8, 2007 PEOPLE come into Andrew Leuchters office, saying they are better, saying they want to stop. "Oh, gosh, it happens all the time," says Leuchter, a psychiatrist at UCLAs Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. "They say they feel OK, that they do not need drugs or any other help, and that they have recovered. On one hand that is very encouraging, but on the other hand we have to be very careful, because the cost of being wrong -- if they are not ready -- can be very high." These are not drug addicts saying they want to go cold turkey. They are not alcoholics. These are people with depression who want to stop treatment. Nearly 20 million Americans suffer from some form of depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. About 14% of adults now take antidepressants -- triple the percentage during the late 1980s -- and most stay on them for at least six months. A study published in this months issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry estimated that mental disorders, largely depression, cost Americans 1.3 billion days of normal activity each year. Many people with such illnesses say they feel hopeless, helpless, unable to face life, unable to find solutions to their problems, and at times think of killing themselves. Some of them do. Depression treatment, such as antidepressant drugs Prozac or some version of talk therapy, can help about two-thirds of sufferers. But as it does, patients start to ask: Am I better? Am I cured? Can I stop my therapy? The answers are not simple. Measuring depression is hampered because there iss no physical marker that indicates whether a patient has it or does not. Information about that comes from behavior, thoughts and feelings, which can not be assessed as easily as, say, blood pressure. Rating scales can show how far symptoms, such as trouble sleeping, have receded, but psychiatrists say they put even more stock in a patients overall mood: whether he or she takes joy from life again and whether the person thinks he or she is back to a pre-depression emotional state. That too can be difficult to determine. Now results from large, long-term studies are beginning to paint a clearer picture of the course of depression and are sharpening decisions about stopping treatment. If a person has had just one episode of depression, the chances of a long-lasting recovery are fairly good. But those chances go down with every subsequent episode. Once people reach their third episode, Leuchter says, "then we need to discuss ongoing maintenance therapy, even if they are feeling better. I do not like to use the phrase lifetime treatment with patients. But, essentially, that is what we are talking about."   A lingering battle One woman, a 41-year-old professional pet sitter who lives in Los Angeles, has been battling depression since she was a child. (She prefers to remain anonymous because, she says, depression is still a taboo subject.) "I lost my dad when I was 10, and I never seemed to be able to get over it," she says. She remembers crying on the school bus, crying a lot. At home, she did not want to get out of bed. Her body ached with a vague pain. She says at times she had to push herself to go to the bathroom. She had trouble seeing herself growing older. There did not seem to be any point. But it was not until she was 22 that she got some help. "I was working as an aide in a pediatricians office, and I was just crying all the time. It was over nothing, but it was uncontrollable," she says. "One day the doctor took me aside. He said, Look, we can not help you here with something like this. But you can get help. And it was the first time somebody used the word depression with me. It was the first time somebody took me seriously." The pediatrician referred her to a psychotherapist and to other doctors who prescribed antidepressants. She saw the therapist for a year and a half, "and I learned coping skills. I learned not to internalize things completely all the time." Medications were a rockier road. "I went through Paxil, and then Wellbutrin," she says. "I would be fine for a time. Then I would go back to being depressed." It is not unusual for patients to try multiple antidepressants and multiple dosages. There is a lot of tinkering, because doctors still do not understand precisely how these medications work. They have theories. The dominant one involves maintaining a balance in the brain of chemicals that seem to be involved in mood and emotions. When Prozac, the granddaddy of modern antidepressants, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1987, it was because taking the drug improved the moods of depressed patients. Doctors then knew the drug made more of the chemical neurotransmitter serotonin available in the brain. They assumed -- and still think -- the two things are connected. Serotonin flows across tiny gaps from one brain cell to the next. Then the cell that originally released the chemical absorbs it again. The process is called reuptake. What Prozac appears to do is block that reuptake, so more serotonin lingers in the gap, ready to be taken up by other brain cells. If depression is indeed caused by low serotonin levels, this method -- while not increasing the absolute amounts of the chemical in the brain -- should leave more serotonin out in the open for more brain cells to use. Some antidepressants, such as Effexor, do the same thing with another mood-regulating brain chemical, norepinephrine. Still, because no one really knows what a low, normal or high level of these neurotransmitters is, there is a lot of trial and error involved in taking the drugs. "We use many different doses and many different drugs because people seem to respond to them differently," says Ellen Frank, a clinical psychologist at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She has spent 25 years studying depression treatments. "Once we find something that works for a patient, we tend to stick with it," she says. "The dose that gets you well keeps you well."

Acupuncture - Treat insomnia depression anxiety with acupuncture October 7, 2007 Whilst it is widely known in the western world as an alternative therapy for chronic pain, acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety is a traditional method for the Chinese. Since acupuncture is an individualised treatment, controlled studies are difficult to execute, but those that have been carried out suggest that acupuncture may, indeed be an effective intervention for the relief of insomnia depression anxiety. Anyone that has a problem such as acute depression, stress or anxiety must need a proper treatment for their problem. A good option for them would be acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety which will be sure to help them because acupuncture is a holistic means that helps in the integration of body and mind functions to solve all kinds of problems in a natural as well as effective manner. Thus, it is safe to say that acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety is a far better means of treating insomnia depression anxiety as compared with taking anti-depressant pills, or even drugs for combating anxiety. Elevates a Person’s Mood In fact, acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety is a great means of elevating a person’s mood and so it pays to know a bit about what acupuncture is before considering it as a viable means to treat insomnia depression anxiety. Acupuncture is a treatment method that involves sticking fine needles into certain parts of the human body which results in relief from pain and also disease. It works in that it balances the life energy also called “Chi” that in turn causes the spiritual as well as physical and also emotional balances to be enhanced. When choosing acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety as a treatment method, one must realize that there are different techniques used and it could mean getting acupuncture with or without the use of needles. Often, the cause behind a person suffering from migraines and headaches is a lack of proper blood circulation and acupuncture can help restores the blood circulation which makes the mind clear and betters the concentration while also making a person more positive in his or her feeling. Acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety is probably the best alternative and when a person suffers from insomnia he or she will not be getting enough sleep and with acupuncture you will find that it helps to send complex signals to the brain that induces a person to relax and also get enough sleep thereby curing the disease. Along with insomnia, depression as well as anxiety are other ailments that cause different physical as well as mental diseases for which acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety is most suitable as it involves inserting needles in the ear cartilage, skin as well as on fingertips and some other meridian points in order to let the energy flow that had been blocked. This new and free flow of energy will cure depression, and also anxiety almost immediately. That is why it is most advisable to opt for acupuncture for insomnia depression anxiety rather than turn to chemically produced drugs.

Post traumatic stress hits kids of cancer patients Sep 26, 2007 By Michael Kahn BARCELONA (Reuters) - Children whose parents have cancer often suffer post-traumatic stress symptoms that adults underestimate, Dutch researchers said on Wednesday. The study, which the researchers said was the first to track post traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents over an extended period of time, found many children of cancer patients suffered telltale signs of the disorder. These symptoms included recurring nightmares, an inability to stop thinking about the disease as well as conscious efforts to avoid hearing or knowing anything about their parents condition, they told the European Cancer Conference. "We thought the symptoms would decline after time but even after one to five years after the diagnosis, the children still had symptoms," said Gee Hazing, a health scientist at the University Medical Centre in Groningen, who led the study. Experts say post traumatic stress disorder symptoms include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response. A person may initially respond to the trauma with horror or helplessness, then may persistently relive the event. The recently completed study did not actually test whether children had the disorder but rather looked for symptoms of PTSD in 49 youths aged 11 to 18 years old starting during the first year after a parents cancer diagnosis. After first learning a parent had cancer, 29 percent of the children showed post traumatic stress symptoms serious enough to justify psychological help, the researchers said. This number dropped by the end of the first year as kids seemed to adjust to the fact a parent had cancer, especially if the parents health improved, Huizinga said. But surprisingly, as time wore on, another group of children started showing an increase of symptoms, perhaps due to the cancer returning or having the time to think more - and fret - about the disease, she added. "We thought the symptoms would decline over time," Huizinga said. The study also found that girls seemed to have the most problems, perhaps because these children may feel responsible for taking on more duties at home with a sick parent, Huizinga said. The team also suggested that the effect on children whose parents have cancer was bigger than many serious, chronic diseases because dying from cancer was so possible. "We think cancer may have more impact because a parent might die of the disease," Huizinga said. "With a lot of chronic diseases that is often not the case."

Mental health charities in need Thursday, 13 September 2007, Mental health charities are having to spend too much time "begging" for money instead of focusing their time on helping young people, they say. The Mental Health Foundation has called for more funding for the voluntary sector. It pointed out charities often play an invaluable role for children needing help with mental health problems. The call was supported by the childrens tsar for England, Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green. Experts said children are often intimidated by state services and instead turn to them for help. One in 10 children aged five to 16 has a mental health problem at any one time. And government figures show 40% of these are not getting specialist NHS help from services such as the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The Mental Health Foundation, in its report Listen Up!, said children often prefer to turn to GPs or the voluntary sector, but charities are struggling to cope with the numbers needing their services. The report said the voluntary sector provides welcoming and accessible services that are attractive to young people. But the charity added for those running the services it is a source of continuous frustration that they need to spend valuable time handing round the begging bowl for funding rather than helping young people on the frontline. Problems Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the charity, said: "At a time when our young peoples mental health is worsening, they need places to go with their problems where they feel safe and listened to. "Whether we like it or not young people will usually only approach state-run mental health services if theyre pushed because on the whole they find them unapproachable." The childrens commissioner for England, Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green. He said: "The voluntary sector has a vital role to play in supporting young people with emotional difficulties and they need continuity of funding to help them fulfil that role." A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are fully committed to making continuous improvements to child and adolescent mental health services." And he added: "The voluntary sector clearly have an invaluable role to play in delivering focused and specialist services to meet the needs of children and young people."

Depression affects more than 6.5 million September 13, 2007 Depression affects more than 6.5 million of the 35 million Americans who are 65 years or older, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But often the symptoms of depression, which can include fatigue, overall sadness and loss of interest in activities, go unidentified or ignored among the elderly, says Veronica Poklemba, a clinical nurse specialist at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital in Baltimore. Why is it of particular importance to identify and treat depression in the elderly? Depressed people are in a more difficult position in terms of coping with their physical health problems: It is very hard to follow the diet you need to follow if you are diabetic or put energy into rehabilitation after a stroke. Another aspect is that, according to a [National Institutes of Health] study, the elderly have the highest rate of completed suicides. In addition, 20 percent of those who commit suicide have visited their primary care physicians on the day they die. Forty percent have visited the doctor within one week of committing suicide. And 70 percent have visited their primary care doctor within one month. Why does depression among the elderly so often go unidentified? They arent talking about it to their doctors. There is a stigma [about mental health] to many in this generation. And the physicians are in a time crunch. The elderly have many physical problems and so the physical problems are being addressed. But the elderly arent inclined to talk about [mental health] issues. What are some of the symptoms of depression? Key signs are changes in appetite -- it can go up or down. Sleep difficulties are a symptom, including trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, waking up very early and not being able to go back to sleep, or excessive sleeping. Other symptoms include having difficulty concentrating, decreased energy, lack of interest in the usual activities. Can depression also cause physical symptoms? Since their viewpoint often becomes negative, the depressed person focuses on various aches and pains. A lot of elderly people spend a lot of time going to doctors thinking there is something to be fixed, but all they can do is focus on health issues that would not seem so huge if they were in a better mood. What causes depression among older people? They often have a lot of reasons for whats called "situational" depression -- which implies that there are things going on in their lives that contribute to depression. Maybe they are moving from their homes of 30 to 40 years; that is a dramatic change. In many cases, they also may be living alone, and their friends may no longer be around. They may be dealing with a serious health issue. ... There may be a period of time during which a person is somewhat depressed after losing a significant other, but you would expect that within a few months they would begin to return to activities or interests. Once diagnosed, how is depression treated? I use cognitive behavioral therapy, which means that you help the person look at how their thinking and behavior influence their moods. If you can look at changing your behavior and thoughts, you can change your mood. Therapy seems to work in about 80 percent of cases. Medication also can be used. Research has tended to show that some people do well with therapy and others do well with medication and even more people do well with both. What steps can an elderly person take to maintain good mental health? Do the opposite of the symptoms: Keep involved, stay active, keep doing the things that you have enjoyed. Exercise is important. Some people think that means joining a gym. It can -- or it can be taking a walk. Exercise increases serotonin, which is a chemical that stabilizes moods. And so does sunlight. ... Another thing to remember is that alcohol is a depressant. If youre a little down, someone might say "maybe you should have a little wine at dinner." You may feel a little lift initially, but ultimately, it is a depressant. What steps can family members take if a loved one seems depressed? Be supportive; invite them out to do things that they have typically enjoyed. Perhaps even point out to the person that they dont seem to be as active as before. ... Get them to talk to a primary care physician. Some people assume that because someone is older or because they have ailments or have suffered a loss, it is natural to be depressed. But you dont have to be depressed just because you are older. Sometimes you just need a little help. What I have found in screening a large number of elderly individuals is that a large majority are coping well and leading satisfying lives. Holly Selby

Honey could reduce effects of ageing London, Sept. 14 (PTI): Worried over ageing? Just start taking a spoonful of honey every day. Yes, according to scientists, honey could help counter the effects of ageing and decrease anxiety, the Daily Mail reported here today. "Diets sweetened with honey may be beneficial in decreasing anxiety and improving memory during ageing," Nicola Starkey of the University of Waikato in New Zealand told the British daily. According to her, this could be due to the antioxidant properties of honey. In fact, Starkey and Lynne Chepulis of the same university came to the conclusion after they conducted their tests on rodents. They raised them on diets of ten per cent honey, eight per cent sucrose or no sugar at all for a year. The rats were two months old at the start of the trial, and were assessed every three months using tests designed to measure anxiety and spatial memory. The honey-fed rats spent almost twice as much time in the open sections of an assessment maze then sucrose-fed rats, suggesting they were less anxious. They were also more likely to enter novel sections of a Y-shaped maze, suggesting they knew where they had been previously and had better spatial memory. It may be mentioned that honey has been used since ancient times as a food, medicine and beauty treatment. It has also been used as an antiseptic therapeutic agent for the treatment of ulcers, burns and wounds. Moreover, honey contains various micro-nutrients said to help prevent some cancers and combat hay-fever.

Most Children With Cancer Are Well-adjusted, Psychologist Reports September 18, 2007 Science Daily — Children under treatment for cancer are generally emotionally well-adjusted and no more depressed or anxious than other children their age, according to researchers at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. In studies of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress and quality of life, children with cancer do as well as, and often better than their healthy peers. "We see them as a flourishing population that has adapted to the stress of having cancer and undergoing treatment," said Sean Phipps, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Division of Behavioral Medicine. "They become quite resilient to the long-and short-term emotional and physical effects of their disease and the treatments." The unexpected finding that children with cancer are emotionally resilient is important because of the dramatic improvement in survival rates of pediatric cancers. "There has been a shift in research toward the concerns of long-term survivors of pediatric cancers," Phipps said. "The ability of these children to cope with the after-effects of cancer is the major issue now. What we are learning from this population might help us learn how to improve the quality of life of children who are not doing so well." Phipps is the author of an article on adaptive styles in children with cancer that appears in the advanced online issue of "Journal of Pediatric Psychology." The article, based on research done by his group and other research teams around the country, was presented at the conference "Psychosocial and Neurocognitive Consequences of Childhood Cancer: A Symposium in Tribute to Raymond K. Mulhern," held at St. Jude in September 2006, in honor of the late Raymond K. Mulhern, Ph.D., a pioneer in psychological research in pediatric oncology at the hospital. The symposiums presentations will also appear in a special December issue of the journal. The low level of depression among children with cancer does not reflect a state of "illusory mental health," Phipps said. That is, these children are not simply clinging to an illusion of mental health by denying distress. Rather, many of them simply have a reduced awareness of emotional distress, and they think of themselves as being well-adjusted and content, a response called a "repressive adaptive style." Children who have a repressive adaptive style have a personality characterized by a positive self-image and avoidance of threat, Phipps said. Such children tend to think of themselves as well-adjusted, self-controlled and content. Only a small percentage of these children experience emotional difficulties that become serious enough to be called pathologic, he said. "The finding that children with cancer are flourishing comes largely from self-report studies in which children discussed their own responses to stresses in their lives," Phipps said. "This is good news that many researchers in the field have been reluctant to embrace. There is a tendency instead to question whether this conclusion is mistaken; whether weve missed something in our studies or have not done the right studies. But the finding has held up over time, and we have not yet found a self-report test that documents in children a high level of difficulty adjusting to their disease." One possible clue to the successful adaptation to cancer and its treatment might be the good care, nurturing and love these children receive, Phipps noted. In addition, they are not confronted with tests in school, bullies or other common stresses their peers face. "A repressive adaptive style appears to provide a pathway to resilience or a route to successful adjustment for these children," he said. "However, it might be only one of several mechanisms that allow them to flourish." The low levels of depression found in children with cancer using self-reporting and other traditional psychological testing led some researchers to believe different tests were needed to study this population, such as tests of posttraumatic stress disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a disorder based on anxiety that follows a terrifying event or ordeal that either harmed or threatened to harm the person. The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder depends on the patient having certain symptoms from several different categories, such as experiencing flashbacks and nightmares; feeling detached; avoiding people or things linked to the trauma; losing interest in activities; and having difficulty sleeping. But investigators found that most children with cancer did not have the full range of symptoms to indicate the disorder. Instead, they had a few of the symptoms that can occur, but not enough of them to qualify for the full diagnosis. This led other investigators to abandon these test and instead look for posttraumatic stress symptoms, even if those symptoms are too few to permit a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. "Even with this strategy, researchers found that children with cancer appear to have lower levels of stress than do individuals who experienced a natural disaster, serious injury, the death of a parent or another type of major stress," Phipps said. A team led by Phipps examined self-reported somatic symptoms of 120 children with cancer who had finished medical treatment at least six months previously. Somatic symptoms are physical problems such as loss of weight, trouble sleeping and loss of energy. The researchers found no differences between children with cancer and healthy controls in self-reported somatic symptoms. In fact, cancer patients reported slightly lower symptom levels. Phipps and his colleagues are also studying several other factors from the growing field of "positive psychology," such as optimism, benefit-finding, post-traumatic growth and the concept that people facing adversity might actually benefit and become stronger from it in many ways. "Research psychologists have historically focused on searching for problems that need fixing, rather than on a persons strengths," Phipps said. "However, our findings suggest that gaining a better understanding of how children are able to remain so well adjusted in the face of difficult life challenges may provide a more fruitful approach to our research." This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and ALSAC. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

Elderly at Highest Risk for Suicide 19th September 2007 Not long after 72-year-old Anne Beale Golsan had retired on disability from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of the house. "Dont come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love Beale." Her niece arrived at the house they shared in Baton Rouge, La., to find police already there. Golsan had killed herself with a gunshot to the head. "Every single day it makes me feel like I wish I could have done something," Jane Golsan Ray said, recalling her aunts death eight years ago. "I wish I could turn back the clock and prevent it. It doesnt get any better, it hurts every day." The elderly are the highest risk population in the country for suicide. But few suicide-prevention programs target them — a result, advocates say, of scarce funding and lack of concern for older Americans. And mental heath experts say the number of elderly suicides is likely to climb as baby boomers enter their twilight years. The overall U.S. suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 people. But for those 65 and older, that figure rises to 14 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which based its findings on 2004 data, the most recent available. Older adults are less likely to seek help and are more lethal in their suicide attempts. So experts say special care is needed to reach out. Dale Smith, 67, said he might not be alive if not for a suicide-prevention program in Spokane, Wash. Two years ago, he attended a meeting at his retirement complex where everyone filled out a screening form for depression, a key risk factor for suicide. Based on his answers, a caseworker and psychiatrist later visited Smith at his home, where they discussed what turned out to be a lifetime of depression. They developed a plan of medication and therapy that Smith says probably saved his life. "Im not unique. I think theres a lot of individuals out there who do suffer from depression and they have no clue," he said. "They just know theyre not happy. They are tired, they want to pull the covers over their heads and not look at the world, and they dont know what it is." But many older Americans have fewer options for treatment than younger people. "Its a not-so-subtle social-political assignment of resources," said Donna Cohen, a professor in the Department of Aging and Mental Health at the University of South Florida. Ten states passed laws last year intended to curb suicide among children and young adults. But only two — New Jersey and New Mexico — passed laws addressing suicide among the elderly, according to Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, a national advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Depression is underdetected at all ages, mental health groups say. But much more funding is available for treating younger people, including $82 million in federal money approved in 2004. The situation prompted Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who lost his father to suicide, to propose funding more suicide-prevention programs for the elderly and changing a Medicare coverage rule that forces seniors to pay more for outpatient mental health services than other medical care. Some advocates and mental health workers say they also have to battle a prevailing notion that depression is a normal part of aging. "It is not natural and should be treated at all times," said Dr. Paula Clayton, a psychiatrist and medical director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Janice Hodge of Sandy, Ore. said she didnt realize until after her 91-year old father, Anthony Liberto, died that he had been depressed. He was struggling to care for his 85-year-old wife, who suffered from Parkinsons disease. He did not work and he could no longer play golf, his favorite pastime. Friends and family still visited, but they say he spent much of his time lying on the couch and growing frustrated with suggestions that he place his wife of 62 years in a nursing home. Eventually, he shot his wife and killed himself, leaving a note that read: "Sorry we had to leave this way, forgive me. Love, your Dad." Experts say there need to be services tailored to the elderly because they handle depression differently than younger patients. In Spokane, the program that helped Smith, called Elder Services, trains people who come in contact with the elderly — from bank tellers to postal carriers — to notice signs of trouble, such as mail piling up or bills going unpaid. Those people can then notify social workers. In San Francisco, Patrick Arbore founded the Friendship Line in San Francisco in 1973 after seeing the lack of understanding some suicide hot line workers displayed for older people. The line, which lets people call just to talk or get support, now handles more than 3,000 calls a month. About one-quarter of the callers have suicidal thoughts, a staffer said. But most just want a compassionate listener. "Its about reminding people that they are still a part of their community," Arbore said. "Those connections bind us to life."

New mental health court could be operating within two week September 19, 2007 GENESEE COUNTY -- Efforts to launch a special court for mentally ill offenders cleared a major hurdle on Wednesday, and backers say the new court could be operating within two weeks. "At this point, its a go," Chief Genesee Circuit Judge Archie L. Hayman said. "Its very good news because were going to be able to focus on those people who have mental issues and direct them into a position where they can get help. "It should reduce the number of cases coming through the system ... and the county jail. And it should protect the public because they are not out there committing minor crimes." Hayman on Wednesday signed a new administrative order after judges in Flint District Court agreed to a procedural change that will allow the county to implement the new court. The State Court Administrative Office had refused to sign off on the plan unless mental court cases are assigned to the judge who will handle them -- Genesee Probate Judge Jennie E. Barkey. The judges agreed that Barkey can hear the cases while sitting as a district court judge, Hayman said. The new mental health court is the first of its type in Michigan, although similar concepts have been used in other states for years, court officials said. In August, Hayman and other judges signed an order establishing a process to divert mentally ill people who commit crimes into a long-term treatment regimen run by Genesee County Community Mental Health. Under the plan, mentally ill people who commit various misdemeanor and felony crimes would be brought before Barkey and given the option of entering treatment. If they agree, they could avoid a criminal conviction by completing a year-long treatment regimen. But the SCAO said Barkey cant hear the cases unless they are assigned to her. That arrangement concerned the district judges because mental health court diversions would skew caseload numbers used by the state to calculate workload and allocate judges. On Wednesday, all but one of the judges voted to implement the court under an agreement that all cases remain in district court, said Hayman, who also serves a chief judge of Flint District Court. Barkey can hear cases as a district judge because all county judges are cross-assigned, meaning they can sit as judges in other courts. Although he supports the concept, Flint District Judge Herman Marable Jr. wanted a six-month review of the new court, rather than the one year set forth in the order, Hayman said. "All of the judges support the concept of a mental health court," he said. The SCAO also had concerns about the process for identifying who should be allowed to participate in mental health court. But Hayman said the new order addresses all of the SCAOs concerns. For now, the mental health court is limited to cases arising in circuit court and Flint District Court because Central District Court isnt participating. Hayman said judges are still trying to get a drug court off the ground but havent been able to solidify funding. Flint District Judge Ramona M., Roberts has been meeting with community organizations, with the city attorneys office also involved. "We think (a drug court) is very crucial in assisting with a mental health court," he said. "A lot of times people have drug issues along with mental health issues."

Sweating out the stress 19/09/07 WORKING UP A SWEAT Aggies are channeling the stress of college life into daily workout routines. Excercising is just one of the methods experts suggest to ease the stress that goes along with being a college student. Brian Lenz wipes the sweat off his face as he finishes his two-to three hour workout, by doing a "cool down run" to help him think about the things that have occurred in his life that day. Now in his third year at A&T, Lenz believes that being a full time student, working part time and having a social life is stressful. "I try to put my priorities first and put the partying and hanging out second. Being at the gym for a couple of hours helps me clear my mind from everything and be able to think straight about my life." Lenz is among the many students at A & T who works out daily to avoid the stress that college students may feel. According to The New York Times, 80 percent of college campuses in the United States have noted significant increases in serious psychological problems, including severe stress, depression anxiety and panic attacks related to stress. Lenzs workout partner Nick Baylis, a senior, said that he believes professors should be a little easier on students. Lenz disagreed with his friend and said that hard work makes a stronger and better person. Hard work does make a better person, but if the stress is not reduced, that individual can suffer from high blood pressure, obesity, low resistance and inflammatory illnesses, says health experts. "Exercising weekly can help relieve stress," said Dr. Chris Aiken, a University of Virginia and Yale Medical School graduate and now a psychiatrist at A & T. He agreed with Lenz by saying that exercising is a way to relieve stress. But that is just one way. Other ways are eating properly and also getting at least six to eight hours of sleep daily. Aiken believes that college years are very stressful. He said that finding a mate, having real friendships, learning to be independent and having a successful job can put too much pressure on your brain. "That is too much gear shifting for the brain to do all at once," said Aiken. He also pointed out that thinking of more than one thing at once is not what makes you stressed. Being stressed is caused by the hormones in your body that are released and constantly going up and down and putting too much pressure on your brain. According to Aiken, 30 percent of people will develop a mental illness because of stress, such as bipolar disease, depression and even a panic attack. He suggests exercising to students because it can reduce the chances for them or anyone to experience any of the side effects.

Maternal Depression And Controlling Behavior Associated With Increased Stress Response In Infants   20.09.2007 Science Daily — Teenage pregnancy is widely recognized to be a major public health concern. These young mothers face many life challenges and they have an increased risk for becoming depressed. How might the behavior of these young mothers be related to later psychiatric or behavioral problems in some of their offspring? A new study being published in Biological Psychiatry on September 15th suggests an association between a history of depression in the mothers, a particular style of mothering, "maternal overcontrol", and increased stress reactivity of their infants. Azar and colleagues measured the cortisol levels of infants both before and after a brief mild stressor. They found that a lifetime history of major depression in the mother and a maternal pattern of intrusive and overstimulating behavior toward their infant ("maternal overcontrol") were associated with an increased release of the stress hormone, cortisol, in the infants following the mild stress exposure. The infants of mothers with a history of depression had also had lower pre-stress cortisol levels. Also, there was a correlation in the cortisol levels between mothers and their infants. These findings add "to our small but growing body of knowledge on neurobiological differences in stress responses between infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers", noted Dr. Azar. John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, adds, "Teenage mothers and their offspring are both, in their own ways, vulnerable. As a result, teenage pregnancy is thought to be a setting for preventative educational programs that might help teenagers better cope with their upcoming challenges." He also points out that, "We do not yet know the long-term consequences of maternal overcontrol, but should it prove to have negative long-term effects, it is conceivable that this type of behavior might be targeted in preventive educational programs." Dr. Azar concludes, "Practically, the open question is that of the long-term effects: are these infants at increased risk for psychological or physical stress-related illnesses later in life. If so, why? Given that the adrenocortical system is known to be plastic and hence easily influenced in both positive and negative ways, we believe that it is very important to eventually identify which of these babies are more vulnerable to stress." The article is "The Association of Major Depression, Conduct Disorder, and Maternal Overcontrol with a Failure to Show a Cortisol Buffered Response in 4-Month-Old Infants of Teenage Mothers" by Rima Azar, Daniel Paquette, Mark Zoccolillo, Franziska Baltzer and Richard E. Tremblay. Dr. Azar is affiliated with the University Health Network, Womens Health Program, Toronto General Hospital in affiliation with the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Paquette is with the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal and the Research Institute for the Social Development of Youth (RISD)-Montreal Youth Center in Quebec, Canada. Dr. Zoccolillo is with the Department of Psychiatry, while Dr. Baltzer is with the Department of Pediatrics, both at McGill University & McGill University Health Centre-Montreal Childrens Hospital in Quebec, Canada. Dr. Tremblay is affiliated with the Research Unit on Childrens Psychosocial Maladjustment at the University of Montreal. This article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 62, Issue 6 (September 15, 2007), published by Elsevier. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Elsevier.

Chronic Stress Can Steal Years From Caregivers Lifetimes September 20, 2007 Science Daily — The chronic stress that spouses and children develop while caring for Alzheimers disease patients may shorten the caregivers lives by as much as four to eight years, a new study suggests. The research also provides concrete evidence that the effects of chronic stress can be seen both at the genetic and molecular level in chronic caregivers bodies. The findings, reported recently by researchers from Ohio State University and the federal National Institute of Aging, were published in the Journal of Immunology. These are the latest results from a nearly three-decade-long program at Ohio State investigating the links between psychological stress and a weakened immune status. Previous studies have examined medical students, newlyweds, divorced spouses, widows, widowers and long-married couples, in each case, looking for physiological effects caused by psychological stress. In their recent study, Ronald Glaser, a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, and Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychology and psychiatry, teamed with Nan-ping Weng and his research group from the National Institute of Aging. Earlier work by other researchers had shown that mothers caring for chronically ill children developed changes in their chromosomes that effectively amounted to several years of additional aging among those caregivers. That work, remarkable as it was, looked only at a broad community of immune cells without identifying the specific immune components responsible for the changes. The Ohio State-NIA team wanted to identify the exact cells involved in the changes, as well as the mechanisms that caused them. They focused on telomeres, areas of genetic material on the ends of a cells chromosomes. Over time, as a cell divides, those telomeres shorten, losing genetic instructions. An enzyme – telomerase – normally works to repair that damage to the chromosome, Glaser said. “Telomeres are like caps on the chromosome,” said Glaser, head of Ohio State s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. “Think of it as a frayed rope – if the caps werent there, the rope would unravel. The telomeres insulate and protect the ends of the chromosomes. “As we get older, the telomeres shorten and the activity of the telomerase enzyme lessens,” he said. “Its part of the aging process.” For the study, the researchers turned to a population of Alzheimers disease caregivers they had worked with before, and compared them with an equal number of non-caregivers matched for age, gender and other aspects. They analyzed blood samples from each group, looking for differences in both the telomeres and the enzyme, as well as populations of immune cells. “Caregivers showed the same kind of patterns present in the study of mothers of chronically ill kids,” Glaser said, adding that the changes the Ohio State/NIA team saw amounted to a shortened lifespan of four to eight years. “We believe that the changes in these immune cells represent the whole cell population in the body, suggesting that all the bodys cells have aged that same amount.” The caregivers also differed dramatically with the control group on psychological surveys intended to measure depression, a clear cause of stress. “Those symptoms of depression in caregivers were twice as severe as those apparent among the control group,” Kiecolt-Glaser said. “Caregivers also had fewer lymphocytes,” Glaser said, “a very important component of the immune system. They also showed a higher level of cytokines, molecules key to the inflammation response, than did the control group.” Other experiments showed that the actual telomeres in blood cells of caregivers were shorter than those of the controls, and that the level of the telomerase repair enzyme among caregivers was also lower. Kiecolt-Glaser said that there is ample epidemiological data showing that stressed caregivers die sooner than people not in that role. “Now we have a good biological reason for why this is the case,” she said. “We now have a mechanistic progression that shows why, in fact, stress is bad for you, how it gets into the body and how it gets translated into a bad biological outcome.” Much of the Ohio State work is now shifting to studies on how to intervene with that stress in hopes of slowing the weakening of the immune system in highly stressed people. This research was supported in part by both the National Institute of Aging and the National Institutes of Health. David Beversdorf and Bryon Laskowski, both at Ohio State, and Amanda Damjanovic, Yinhua Yang, Huy Nguyen and Yixiao Zou, all with the National Institute of Aging, worked on this study. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Ohio State Universit

Depression In Women With Migraine Linked To Childhood Abuse 5th September 2007 Science Daily — Childhood abuse is more common in women with migraine who suffer depression than in women with migraine alone, according to a study published in the September 4, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology "This study confirms adverse experiences, particularly childhood abuse, predispose women to health problems later in life, possibly by altering neurobiological systems," said study author Gretchen Tietjen, MD, with the University of Toledo-Health Science Campus and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers surveyed 949 women with migraine about their history of abuse, depression and headache characteristics. Forty percent of the women had chronic headache, more than 15 headaches a month, and 72 percent reported very severe headache-related disability. Physical or sexual abuse was reported in 38 percent of the women and 12 percent reported both physical and sexual abuse in the past. These results for abuse are similar to what is been reported in the general population. The association between migraine and depression is well established, but the mechanism is uncertain. The study found women with migraine who had major depression were twice as likely as those with migraine alone to report being sexually abused as a child. If the abuse continued past age 12, the women with migraine were five times more likely to report depression. "The finding that a variety of somatic symptoms were also more common in people with migraine who had a history of abuse suggests that childhood maltreatment may lead to a spectrum of disorders, which have been linked to serotonin dysfunction," said Tietjen. "Our findings contribute to the mounting data that show abuse in childhood has a powerful effect on adult health disorders and the effect intensifies when abuse lasts a long time or continues into adulthood," said Tietjen. "The findings also support research suggesting that sexual abuse may have more impact on health than physical abuse and that childhood sexual abuse victims, in particular, are more likely to be adversely affected." The study also found women with depression and migraine were twice as likely to report multiple types of abuse as a child compared to those without depression, including physical abuse, fear for life, and being in a home with an adult who abused alcohol or drugs. "Despite the high prevalence of abuse and the increased health costs associated with it, few physicians routinely ask migraine patients about abuse history," said Tietjen. "By questioning women about their abuse history we will be able to better identify those women with migraine at increased risk for depression." The study was supported by a grant from the American Headache Society. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Academy of Neurology

Study Finds Flaws With How Primary Care Physicians Treat Patients Depression 5th September 2007 By Mary Agnes Carey, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor Most patients with depression who receive treatment from primary care physicians do not receive care consistent with quality standards, according to a new RAND Corporation study. While most primary care physicians did a good job of diagnosing and beginning treatment for depression, and followed specific treatment guidelines more than 70 percent of the time, the primary care doctors did a poor job of following up with patients, researchers found. Fewer than half of the patients in the study completed the minimal course of treatments for either antidepressant drugs or psychotherapy, and only slightly more than half the depressed patients who were not treated were monitored closely, according to a RAND news release. The lowest quality of care occurred among patients who exhibited the most serious symptoms, including patients who showed evidence of suicide or substance abuse. The study found that among patients who had a previous suicide attempt, just 35 percent were referred to a mental health specialist over the next six months, according to the study, which was published in the September edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Physicians had high rates of adherence to just a third of the 20 measures of quality that researchers examined, and had low rates of adherence to nearly half of the treatment recommendations studied, according to the RAND report. “These findings are important for patients since most cases of depression are diagnosed and treated in primary care settings,” said the study’s senior author, Lisa V. Rubenstein, who is also a senior scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Right now, primary care physicians don’t have the tools necessary to decide which patients to treat and which to refer to specialized mental health care.” The RAND study, billed as one of the first to assess primary care providers’ adherence to a comprehensive set of treatment guidelines for depression, examined the experiences of 1,131 patients with depression who were treated in 45 primary care practices across 13 states. The study sites ranged from small private practices to large managed care sites, and about 10 percent of the study’s patients were treated by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs medical practices. Researchers examined whether physicians and other health providers followed 20 different measures of quality, as well as analyzing patients’ reports about the status of their depression at 12, 18 and 24 months after starting treatment. Patients who received better-quality care reported fewer symptoms of depression up to two years after the start of treatment.

Speedy Drugs for Depression 5th September 2007 A type of drug has been found that starts working much faster against depression than current medications. Behavioural and molecular tests in rats show that the compounds kick into action in days, rather than weeks. But the drugs — called serotonin receptor agonists — wont be replacing Paxil (paroxetine) soon. None has yet been approved for treating depression in humans, and some have been scrapped because of concerns over side effects. But researchers are still keen to pursue them, because the most popular type of antidepressant, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), can take up to two months to start easing symptoms. And for one-third of people with depression, they do not work at all. "This is a very good first step in identifying and potentially having a rapidly acting antidepressant," says Ronald Duman, a drug expert at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. "But there is a lot of work to done." Seratonin sponges SSRIs such as Prozac have become a household name over the past three decades, garnering many millions of prescriptions every year in adults, children and even pets. The drugs work by stopping neurons from greedily keeping hold of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, so allowing more of the pleasure-providing molecule to reach protein receptors in nearby brain cells. But in most patients, the drugs take weeks to work, says Guillaume Lucas, who did the work as a graduate student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "In major depression you have a real risk of suicide," he says. This lag is caused by specialized proteins called autoreceptors, which sop up the extra serotonin. After several weeks these receptors get used to the extra serotonin and release the molecule, allowing it to spread to where it is needed to lift mood. Super recognition Lucas and his supervisor Guy Debonnel, who died last year, reasoned that serotonins action could be increased by activating the proteins that recognize it, rather than by boosting the amount circulating between neurons. This could circumvent the early counteraction of autoreceptors, and speed up the effect. The team found two compounds that did the job — one from a chemical supply company and the other from an abandoned clinical trial for irritable bowel syndrome. In one test, rats were exposed to stress such as water deprivation, flashing lights and crowding for several weeks, while some received an antidepressant. The researchers then tested them for sugar consumption. Depressed rats, the researchers knew from previous studies, are less likely to partake in sweet treats. The rodents that received an antidepressant were less sugar-shy than controls, and the ones that got the new serotonin receptor agonists regained their sweet tooth a week earlier than those given an SSRI. Two other behavioural tests in rats showed that the drugs were fast-acting, as did several molecular studies. After three days, rats receiving serotonin receptor agonists showed signs of new neuron growth — another indicator of antidepressant action — whereas the SSRI-treated rats did not. The results are reported in Neuron1. Challenges ahead Although the studies were done in rats, the researchers suggest that serotonin receptor agonists might also be speedier than SSRIs in humans. "We can expect therapeutic benefits to appear four to five times more rapidly," says Lucas, who is now at the University of Montreal. Lucas, who has patented the idea of melding serotonin receptor agonists with SSRIs, hopes to see clinical trials start as soon as compounds are found that are safe in humans. Sanofi-Aventis, a pharmaceutical company based in Paris, is testing another serotonin receptor agonist as a treatment for dementia, he says. The study stands out because it looked at several different ways of monitoring depression in rats and found the same answer, says Duman. But he cautions: "It really has to be taken with a grain of salt because these are rodent models, and theyre a long way from what could happen in human studies of depression."

Measuring Depression 5th September 2007 Science Daily — It is hardly surprising that clinically depressed people act differently than healthy people. Quantifying the difference, however, can be difficult. Now a collaboration of physicists and psychiatrists in Japan has found a way to clearly and objectively measure depression. The researchers outfitted both healthy control subjects and depressed patients with accelerometers to continuously measure their motions over 5-day periods. Although activity levels in all of the subjects followed power-law patterns (a type of distribution that often turns up in physics studies of natural systems) the activity levels of depressed patients were clearly distinguished from healthy subjects by a number known as the scaling parameter. For patients with major depression, the scaling parameter is significantly smaller than it is for healthy subjects. It can be a challenge to spot differences in behavior between depressed and healthy individuals via simple observation, and self-reported depression assessments are often unreliable. Applying instrumentation and statistical analyses common in physics research could dramatically improve the reliability and accuracy in measurements of depression, and may help in tailoring appropriate treatments for the debilitating ailment. Authors of the article in Physical Review Letters (forthcoming) are T. Nakamura, K. Kiyono, K. Yoshiuchi, R. Nakahara, Z. R. Struzik, and Y. Yamamoto Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Physical Society.

Helping To Raise Mental Health Awareness head> 5th September 2007 Mental health funding issues gained prominence in Virginia political and social circles after the April 16 Virginia Tech massacre. Activists, politicians and state residents began asking questions about improving services and appropriating more money for mental health services in the Commonwealth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 26.2 percent of adults in the United States suffer from a mental illness, which translates to one in four adults in the nation. One in 17 are diagnosed with a severe mental disorder. "Every extended family has been touched by, or knows someone with, a mental illness," said Wendy Gradison, president and CEO of Falls Church-