Teens with Hard-to-Treat Depression at High Risk for Relapse

Author: Traci Pedersen

Publication Name: Associate News Editor

Date of Publication: December 7, 2010

Teenagers with depression that is very hard to cure needs to lots of continuous care and huge reduction of stress, seriousness of life, and be more forgiven. NIMH released Journal of Clinical Psychiatry that tells teens who been in treatment for 24 weeks have a huge chance of getting depression again. In the study teens were taken different types of medicine to cure depression. Out of 334 participants 61 percent had remission by week 72 but many still had remaining symptoms on that week including low self esteem, fatigue, and get easily mad. The ones who have a more severe depression from the beginning were harder to cure. It is said that ethnic minorities have a higher chance of getting depression again than the whites. From the results of ethnic minorities, authors believe that culture have something to do with depression and recovery but the evidence is not clear.
The results are very important because we need to know how to completely cure depression with no relapse. Medicines that were given to teenagers are Paroxetine (Paxil), Citalopram (Celexa), Fluoxetine (Prozac), Venlafaxine (Effexor) with serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and other types of medicine. They were also treated with cognitive behavioral therapy.
In conclusion this article is about how we can cure the symptoms. The reason on why we should care is because we want to know why the ethnic minorities have a higher rate of relapse than the whites. We want to know more detail if culture factors have something to do with the relapse.

Links To Study: N/A

Article: http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/07/teens-with-hard-to-treat-depression-at-high-risk-for-relapse/21544.html

Submitted By: Matthew Wong

Behind the Facade, Post-Traumatic Stress

AUTHOR: Karen Barrow

PUBLICATION NAME: The New York Times

DATE OF PUBLICATION: November 22, 2010

SUMMARY: Post-Traumatic Stress is psychological disorder commonly diagnosed to patients that are solders who return home from war. If a solder has this disorder they struggle to forget what has been seen while is combat. But not only does post-traumatic stress affect solders, it could also cause trauma towards survivors of natural disasters and mostly a rape victim. Robin Hutchins, 25, lived a normal life until one night she returns home from college and is raped by someone she knew. After a while she coped with what happened and continued to live life regularly. But acts of violence towards her puts Robin in an emotional state causing a severe anxiety attack. This was a drastic affect towards going to school or even getting out of her dorm. She was terrified to leave anywhere alone. After leaving college she had gotten into a car accident making her paranoia more intense. Friends and family believed this isolation thing was just a phase. Also when she went to see some psychologist they claimed she'll eventually get over it. But then she met a logical psychologist who listened to her full story and diagnosed Robin with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (P.T.S.D.)
               Dr. Ochberg, the Michigan State professor, who has never met Ms. Hutchins, estimated that as many as 80 percent of rapes may lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress. But the stigma of rape, along with a general misunderstanding of the disorder and how it can affect anyone who has suffered trauma, often gets in the way of a proper diagnosis. Robin was glad when she heard she had P.T.S.D. She found better ways to help ease her emotions if things get too tense. Still alone, she adopted a companion who then took on training to help P.T.S.D. patients relax. Since then, Robin has made great progress and is slowly getting control of her emotional outbreaks.

ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/health/23voices.html?_r=1&ref=psychology_and_psychologists

SUBMITTED BY: Shannen Quibuyen

Miscarriage and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

AUTHOR: Gad Saad

PUBLICATION NAME: Psychology Today.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: November 28, 2010

SUMMARY: In this article, the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) created after a miscarriage is addressed. PTSD can cause depression and anxiety in the woman who had a miscarriage. The research found helps people identify women that had miscarriages with PTSD and encourage them to seek help.

In the study, they found that symptoms of PTSD for women that experienced a miscarriage include tiredness, troubles sleeping, concentration difficulties, appetite loss, and many crying episodes. These results help friends and families of a miscarriage woman to gain help when symptoms are detected. PTSD causes trauma in the mother-to-be, making her stress level rise and the hopes of creating a family decrease. This study tells parents that experienced miscarriages to process their grief, which is the only way to resolve the problem. In order for the mother-to-be to move on, she must acknowledge that the miscarriage was not her fault or in her control.

When a woman decides on having a child, she begins to bond with him or her right away. Because of this bond, many mothers with miscarriages may instantly have PTSD after it occurs. If the miscarriage happens late in the pregnancy, PTSD is more likely because the baby must be surgically removed from the mother. This shows that bonds between humans are extremely strong, especially those between mothers and children. Because of these strong bonds, deep depression may occur when it ends due to death. This study acknowledges the fact that communication, support, and the seeking of help when faced with depression is vital to finally move on.

LINKS TO STUDY: The American Family Physician

ARTICLE: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/somatic-psychology/201011/miscarriage-and-post-traumatic-stress-disorder

SUBMITTED BY: Connie Giang

How acne and depression feed each other

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Landau

PUBLICATION NAME: CNN Health

DATE OF PUBLICATION: November 29, 2010

SUMMARY: There is a correlation between depression in teens and facial ance outbreaks. Having ance creates stress and lowers self esteem. This is because the media and society tells one that they are supposed to have perfect, airbushed skin as it appears on models in advertisement or actors in television. This stress can cause an increase iin depression and in turn the depression can exacerbate acne. As one can see, this can become a viscious cycle. The acne causes the patient to have low self confidence, hence becoming more depressed, and the stress of this situation again causes the ance to get worse. Although this does seem to be a recurring pattern in teens and young adults, there is no evidence that directly links depression and ance, Psychologist Bobbie Mc Donald says that once teens move out of high school, these symptoms of depression seem to go away for a while. She says that because these young adults are shifting towards a new phase of life, and "redefining" themselves, the are more prone to viewing themselves in a more positive light. Teens easily fall prey to viewing themselves in a negative way if they are different from the norm. Acne can be painful and embarrassing for a young adult to live with, and often the effects of this stress can be seen in depression.

ARTICLE: cnn

Fear Not the Winter Blues

AUTHOR: Henry Emmons, M.D.

PUBLICATION NAME: Psychology Today

SUMMARY: During the winter months, people begin to feel more tired and depressed. The reason behind this is because of the increased levels of melatonin that our bodies produce. The human body automatically produces melatonin, the sleep hormone, when light levels are low. In order to create melatonin, the body uses up seratonin, one of the hormones which keeps us happy. If we were to go to sleep at the time that the brain begins the production of melatonin, perhaps as early as 6pm, there would be no issue. But, because our schedules do not change much with the seasons, we keep ourselves awake, forcing the brain to create more melatonin, which lowers the level of seratonin and makes us more tired.

Researchers have found that 10% of people who live in northern latitudes will develop significant symptoms of depression. As many as 25% of northern populations will develop the milder version, known as SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Fortunately for us, there are ways of combating these "Winter Blues." In order to prevent SAD, you must trick your brain into thinking that it is summer. Scientists suggest that you expose yourself to brighter lights when you feel tired, get about 8-9 hours of sleep each night, eat light foods, exercise in the afternoon, and take B complex, Omega-3, and Vitamin D3.

LINKS TO STUDY: None

ARTICLE: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-chemistry-calm/201012/fear-not-the-winter-blues

SUBMITTED BY: Rosemary Barrass

Despite Warnings, Antidepressants Rarely Trigger Suicidal Thoughts

AUTHOR: Catherine Donaldson-Evans

PUBLICATION NAME: Aol Health

DATE OF PUBLICATION: September 3, 2010

SUMMARY: People on antidepressants are more likely to have suicidal thoughts? Rarely. Researchers in Germany analyzed more than 140,000 European psychiatric patients who were all taking some sort of medicine for depression. Studies found that only a small percentage of these patients were suicidal, numerically speaking, out of 142,090 about 33 patients had thoughts of committing suicide and eighteen tried killing themselves (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry). “In clinical practice, seeing a patient on antidepressants who has thoughts of suicide is extremely rare” said psychiatric Dr. Daniel Carlat. In 2005 about 10 percent of Americans were taking medication for depression. Just like other studies, this study has problems: doctors used reports from the patients themselves about whether they felt suicidal, physicians didn’t watch the patients around the clock, and some patients were on antidepressants such as SSRI and others on benzodiazepines or other tranquilizers. This research counters existing theories that connect antidepressants to suicide. A Welsh psychiatric Dr. David Healy said, “There is no doubt that such medicine [antidepressants] can trigger suicidal feelings”. The issue on whether drugs or medicine can trigger suicidal feelings is controversial and affects all of us because since 1996 the number of users has doubled in 2005 (about 27 million people taking prescription drugs).

LINKS TO STUDY: N/A

ARTICLE: http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/09/03/despite-warnings-antidepressants-rarely-trigger-suicidal-thoughts/

SUBMITTED BY: Lovedeep Uppal

Keeping Young Minds Healthy

AUTHOR: Jeffrey Kluger

PUBLICATION NAME: Times Magazine

DATE OF PUBLICATION: October 21, 2010
SUMMARY: Bethany was a young girl that developed a mental illness by the time she was in fifth grade. She began to question whether or not she truly was attracted to boys. Most children who begin to question their orientation eventually accept and embrace the fact that they are gay. However, Bethany was not homosexual; instead she had a form of OCD that feeds on uncertainty. Even when she instinctively felt that she was attracted to boys, she obsessed over the question of her onrientation. This constant doubt was fed from the fact that there is no scientific way of proving whether a person is attracted to men or women. When Bethany was thirty, she found a website for an OCD institute and found that she fit one of the expressions of this disorder. Once diagnosed, she was able to begin therapies to could cope with her uncertanity.
Studies show that there are high numbers of children who have emotional or behavioral disorders. About one in five children in the U.S. suffers from some sort of mental-health condition, and fifty percent of adults with these conditions were diagnosed before the age of fourteen. The good news is that most of these codnitions can be improved through early intervention. One way for these disorders to be diagnosed in time to be treated and resolved relatively quickly is for parents to notice behaviors that could be signs for a condition such as OCD or ADHD.
ARTICLE: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2026672_2026712_2026677,00.html

SUBMITTED BY: Ginevra Scherini

'Magic mushrooms' ingredient may ease end-of-life anxiety

AUTHOR: Anne Harding

PUBLICATION NAME: CNN Health

DATE OF PUBLICATION: September 6, 2010

SUMMARY: The study suggested that a "guided "trip" on the hallucinogenic drug, psilocybin" could help those terminally ill cancer patients. In the study, twelve patients were given a small dose of the psilocybin, which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. On the other side of this study, the patients were given placebo pills, but those did little help relieve the patients. After one to three months, patients found that they felt less anxious. In six months, the patients' average score on a scale to measure depression had reduced by thirty percent according to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Even in follow-up interviews, the patients said that their experiment with the 'magic mushroom' ingredient gave them a different outlook on their illness and helped them come closer to their friends and family.Also, besides the slight in crease of blood pressure and heart rate, there were no negative side affects of the study. It did not increase any anxiety nor did it add any other psychological problems.

Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, says that these studies were important because it showed people can use these compounds in a safe way to handle the symptoms of anxiety. "They're not substances that should be used recreationally or casually, but nonetheless it appears that we can conduct research with these compounds safely," Griffiths also said. Griffiths was not a part of the actual experiment, but he was one of the professors that researched the topic.

LINKS TO STUDY: http://www.health.com/health/

ARTICLE: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/06/magic.mushrooms.ease.anxiety/index.html

SUBMITTED BY: Meera Narayanan

Parental Depression After Childbirth

AUTHOR: Rick Nauert, PhD

PUBLICATION NAME: Psych Central

PUBLICATION DATE: September 8, 2010

SUMMARY: A study in the UK suggests that many parents develop depression within the first year of their child's birth. More than thirty percent of mothers and around twenty percent of fathers were shown to experience an episode of depression, the biggest risk being within the one year time span after their child was born.

The depression rates were unsurprising, due to the stress associated with a baby - i.e; lack of sleep, more responsibility, and pressure on each of the parents. The rates could also be due to the continuation of anti-depressant use after taking a break during the pregnancy and nursing periods.

The authors add that “There is a well-established link between depression and social and economic deprivation both in the general population and among parents. This finding may reflect the stresses of poverty, unemployment, low employment grade and lower social support among people of lower socioeconomic status”.

Depression in mothers and fathers was identified with diagnostic codes and pharmacy record. All in all, 19,286 mothers surveyed had a total of 25,176 episodes of depression and 8,012 fathers had a total of 9,683 episodes of depression.

Based on the findings, researches have concluded that there should be awareness among clinicians of the risk factors of depression in parents and immediate detection of depression is crucial. Authors also say that in the future, other factors for depression should come into play during research, such as the couple's relationship and stressful life situations.

LINKS TO STUDY: none

ARTICLE: Parental Depression After Childbirth

SUBMITTED BY: Kimberly Truong

Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

Author: Pamela Paul

Publication Name: The New York Times

Date of Publication: August 25, 2010

Summary:The article, “Can Preschoolers Be Depressed” by Pamela Paul, the cases of different preschoolers found to have been diagnosed with depression and how these children interact are discussed. The first example is about a boy named “Kiran” (a fake name to keep the boy’s identity anonymous). He seemed to be a good child while growing up, until his parents noticed that his actions were not as lively and bright as a normal preschooler should be. When Kiran was 5, he was diagnosed with preschool depression.

Depression was originally thought to have only affected adults, and not something that is found in children. Diagnosis of depression for preschoolers has also been a debate because of the belief that children cannot have such a mental disorder. However, ongoing studies show that children can in fact go through depression despite the young age and that depression can surface in children as young as 2 or 3. Although the fact that children can become depressed is true, it is extremely difficult to diagnose the child because there is little that a young child can directly tell about what is going on in their mind and life.

Studies also show that parents who are also depressed, particularly the mother, have a higher chance of their own children having depression. The children become afraid that they are bad children, and that their parents do not love them. In an effort to correct this thinking in children, they are sent to psychotherapy, with a parental unit, to go through “play therapy.” Another type of therapy is known as the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, or P.C.I.T in which parents are taught to “encourage their children to acquire emotion regulation, stress management, guilt reparation and other coping skills” (Paul). PCIT was originally started in the 1970s and has now been modified to work for depression.

Although there are no definite results, PCIT is known to be a proficient method if the parents are an active part of their child’s process of overcoming depression. Psychologist Alicia Lieberman at U.C.S.F. said that “if you intervene early enough to change negative conditions, rather than perpetuate negative behaviors, you really are preventing the development of a full-fledged diagnosis.”


Links to Study: none

Article: Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

Submitted by Julia Wong