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

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