Dealing With Depression

Following the death of Robin Williams, we look at the symptoms of depression, how to recognise it in others and how it can be treated

The tragic death of Robin Williams, who is believed to have committed suicide, has put the issue of depression firmly in the spotlight, demonstrating that even those who appear to lead the most charmed lives can fall victim to the black dog of depression. The actor has always been open about his fight with the illness, recently telling an interviewer, "Do I get sad? Oh yeah. Does it hit me hard? Oh yeah." But what do we do when concerned about friends and loved ones who are struggling with these issues?

In the UK, one in four people will experience a mental health problem in the course of a year, and depression is the is the most common type, so it's worth brushing up on the warning signs and knowing how to approach people you're concerned about.

What is depression?

Depression, by its nature, is hard to diagnose. However, the World Health organisation describes depression as "a common mental disorder, characterised by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration." It's also a condition which is incredibly hard to describe and can be experienced in different ways. Sufferers often hide their condition from those around them.

Symptoms

Depression can strike at any time, and can affect anyone, and if you're concerned that a friend or loved one might be depressed, knowing the warning signs can be a big help. "Warning signs include not sleeping, loss of appetite, loss of enjoyment in activities that previously would have excited, irritability (particularly in men) negative thinking and thoughts which are dominated by hopelessness, worthlessness or guilt," explains Dr Paul McLaren, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital Hayes Grove.

The stigma associated with mental illness is diminishing but sadly, it still exists. It's important to remember that depression can affect anyone at any time of their lives, but knowing the risk factors can be useful. "Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological and biological factors," explains Professor Katharine Barnard, a health psychologist based at the University of Southampton. "Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men, and a previous episode of depression increases your chances of developing it again. People with relatives with clinical depression are at greater risk themselves."

Depression or a bad mood?

One issue which can make the identification of depression tricky is the fact that the world has generally become a more stressful place to live in. News reports herald a constant reportage of death and destruction and, closer to home, the financial crisis has wreaked havoc for many of us. So how can we tell whether a friend is simply suffering from a bad case of the blues or potentially experiencing something more serious?

"One of the key questions to ask is about loss of enjoyment," says Dr Paul McLaren. "When we are depressed we lose the capacity to react to good things happening. This is the best way of distinguishing between depression and stress." If you're concerned about a friend's dark moods, try to remember when the situation started. "Watch out for prolonged symptoms lasting for two weeks or more and an inability to ‘snap out of it’ in a few days and resume usual mood," advises Professor Katharine Barnard. "People suffering from depression often feel sad, hopeless and disinterested in life in general."

How to approach the situation

When it comes to approaching a friend or relative you're concerned about, tread carefully. Telling them to "snap out of it" or joking that "life can't be that bad" is unlikely to help someone suffering from depression. "Be frank and open about your concerns," says Dr Paul McLaren. "Don't try to cheer them up or to jolly them along, as this can make someone who is depressed feel more alienated and rejected. Depression is not a life choice that we can switch on and off. It's a serious malfunctioning of the brain that usually requires treatment with a talking-based treatment or medication."

Treatment

The good news is that recent developments relating to the treatment of depression are yielding impressive results, with more sophisticated therapies and medication which doesn't have the side effects which were once common. "The main psychological treatment for depression is cognitive behaviour therapy and there is a strong evidence base for its effectiveness in mild to moderate depression," explains Dr Paul McLaren. "With moderate to severe depression medication is required. While there are a number of drugs available there is no wonder drug, and the newer drugs, while safer, are no more effective than older antidepressants."

Dr McLaren adds that there's continued research into other types of treatment, but a combined approach remains the most effective option. "A new physical treatment is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) which is like ECT but uses a magnetic field to produce therapeutic changes, rather than the electric current which is used in ECT.  However while initial trials in this have been encouraging, its use has remained limited. The most effective treatment for moderate to severe depression is a combination of psychological and pharmacological treatment delivered in a timely manner."

Whether you're concerned about a friend or believe you may be suffering from depression yourself, there are plenty of organisations which can help, details of which are below:

• Mind -  The UK's largest mental health charity.
• Sane - Another large UK charity set up to help people suffering from mental health problems
• Rethink - A UK-based charity which deals with all type of mental health problems, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

http://wellbeing.uk.msn.com/mind-body/dealing-with-depression

How Yoga Changes Your Body, Starting The Day You Begin (INFOGRAPHIC)

The Eastern practice of yoga has become a modern-day symbol of peace, serenity and well-being in the West. More than 20 million Americans practice yoga, according to the 2012 Yoga in America study, with practitioners spending more than $10 billion a year on yoga-related products and classes.

The mind-body practice is frequently touted for its ability to reduce stress and boost well-being, but it also offers wide-ranging physical health benefits that rival other forms of exercise. While the scientific research on yoga’s health benefits is still young, here’s what we know so far about its potential effects on the body. View the infographic below and scroll down for more detailed information.

Infographic by Jan Diehm for The Huffington Post

http://www.vegashealthfitnesschamber.com/?p=1356

Harvard Yoga Scientists Find Proof of Meditation Benefit

By Makiko Kitamura  Nov 22, 2013 

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries -- yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease.

Photographer: Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images

People take part in a meditation day for peace in Colombia at Bolivar Square in Bogota,... Read More

John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work follows a study he and others published earlier this year showing how so-called mind-body techniques can switch on and off some genes linked to stress and immune function.

While hundreds of studies have been conducted on the mental health benefits of yoga and meditation, they have tended to rely on blunt tools like participant questionnaires, as well as heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Only recently have neuro-imaging and genomics technology used in Denninger’s latest studies allowed scientists to measure physiological changes in greater detail.

“There is a true biological effect,” said Denninger, director of research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School’s teaching hospitals. “The kinds of things that happen when you meditate do have effects throughout the body, not just in the brain.”

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

A man practices yoga on the waterfront at Nariman Point in Mumbai.

The government-funded study may persuade more doctors to try an alternative route for tackling the source of a myriad of modern ailments. Stress-induced conditions can include everything from hypertension and infertility to depression and even the aging process. They account for 60 to 90 percent of doctor’s visits in the U.S., according to the Benson-Henry Institute. The World Health Organization estimates stress costs U.S. companies at least $300 billion a year through absenteeism, turn-over and low productivity.

Seinfeld, Murdoch

The science is advancing alongside a budding “mindfulness” movement, which includes meditation devotees such as Bill George, board member of Goldman Sachs Group and Exxon Mobil Corp., and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch recently revealed on Twitterthat he is giving meditation a try.

As a psychiatrist specializing in depression, Denninger said he was attracted to mind-body medicine, pioneered in the late 1960s by Harvard professor Herbert Benson, as a possible way to prevent the onset of depression through stress reduction. While treatment with pharmaceuticals is still essential, he sees yoga and meditation as useful additions to his medical arsenal.

Exchange Program

It’s an interest that dates back to an exchange program he attended in China the summer before entering Harvard as an undergraduate student. At Hangzhou University he trained with a tai chi master every morning for three weeks.

“By the end of my time there, I had gotten through my thick teenage skull that there was something very important about the breath and about inhabiting the present moment,” he said. “I’ve carried that with me since then.”

His current study, to conclude in 2015 with about $3.3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, tracks 210 healthy subjects with high levels of reported chronic stress for six months. They are divided in three groups.

One group with 70 participants perform a form of yoga known as Kundalini, another 70 meditate and the rest listen to stress education audiobooks, all for 20 minutes a day at home. Kundalini is a form of yoga that incorporates meditation, breathing exercises and the singing of mantras in addition to postures. Denninger said it was chosen for the study because of its strong meditation component.

Participants come into the lab for weekly instruction for two months, followed by three sessions where they answer questionnaires, give blood samples used for genomic analysis and undergo neuro-imaging tests.

‘Immortality Enzyme’

Unlike earlier studies, this one is the first to focus on participants with high levels of stress. The study published in May in the medical journal PloS One showed that one session of relaxation-response practice was enough to enhance the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism and insulin secretion and reduce expression of genes linked to inflammatory response and stress. There was an effect even among novices who had never practiced before.

Harvard isn’t the only place where scientists have started examining the biology behind yoga.

In a study published last year, scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles and Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn found that 12 minutes of daily yoga meditation for eight weeks increased telomerase activity by 43 percent, suggesting an improvement in stress-induced aging. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, shared the Nobel medicine prize in 2009 with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for research on the telomerase “immortality enzyme,” which slows the cellular aging process.
Build Resilience

Not all patients will be able to stick to a daily regimen of exercise and relaxation. Nor should they have to, according to Denninger and others. Simply knowing breath-management techniques and having a better understanding of stress can help build resilience.

“A certain amount of stress can be helpful,” said Sophia Dunn, a clinical psychotherapist who trained at King’s College London. “Yoga and meditation are tools for enabling us to swim in difficult waters.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura in London at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-22/harvard-yoga-scientists-find-proof-of-meditation-benefit.html

htpp://www.energysprings.blogspot.com

Mindfulness Meditation May Ease Anxiety, Mental Stress

Image Posted on 28 April 2014 by Carmen Burby

Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter

Posted January 08, 2014

My mom began meditating decades ago, long before the mind-calming practice had entered the wider public consciousness. Today, at age 81, she still goes to a weekly meditation group and quotes Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist monk known for his practice of mindfulness, or “present-focused awareness.”

Although meditation still isn’t exactly mainstream, many people practice it, hoping to stave off stress and stress-related health problems. Mindfulness meditation, in particular, has become more popular in recent years. The practice involves sitting comfortably, focusing on your breathing, and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present without drifting into concerns about the past or future. (Or, as my mom would say, “Don’t rehearse tragedies. Don’t borrow trouble.”)

But, as is true for a number of other alternative therapies, much of the evidence to support meditation’s effectiveness in promoting mental or physical health isn’t quite up to snuff. Why? First, many studies don’t include a good control treatment to compare with meditation. Second, the people most likely to volunteer for a meditation study are often already sold on meditation’s benefits and so are more likely to report positive effects.

But when researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD sifted through nearly 19,000 meditation studies, they found 47 trials that addressed those issues and met their criteria for well-designed studies. Their findings, published in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that mindfulness meditation can help ease psychological stresses like anxiety, depression, and pain.

Dr. Elizabeth Hoge, a psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says that mindfulness meditation makes perfect sense for treating anxiety. “People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power,” she explains. “They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.”

“If you have unproductive worries,” says Dr. Hoge, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. “You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,’” says Dr. Hoge.

One of her recent studies (which was included in the JAMA Internal Medicine review) found that a mindfulness-based stress reduction program helped quell anxiety symptoms in people with generalized anxiety disorder, a condition marked by hard-to-control worries, poor sleep, and irritability. People in the control group—who also improved, but not as much as those in the meditation group—were taught general stress management techniques. All the participants received similar amounts of time, attention, and group interaction.

To get a sense of mindfulness meditation, you can try one of the guided recordings by Dr. Ronald Siegel, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. They are available for free at www.mindfulness-solution.com.

Some people find that learning mindfulness techniques and practicing them with a group is especially helpful, says Dr. Hoge. Mindfulness-based stress reduction training, developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA, is now widely available in cities throughout the United States.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress-201401086967

http://www.energysprings.blogspot.com