The Brain Structure That Is Shrunk By Major Depression (M)
Research uncovers striking brain differences in depressed individuals.
Category: Depression
The Best Remedy For A Depressive Personality
Around 13 percent of the population has depressive personality traits — but they do not have to be permanent.
Around 13 percent of the population has depressive personality traits — but they do not have to be permanent.
Talking therapies can help to change depressive personality traits.
Although personality is sometimes thought of as fixed, psychotherapy can actually change it.
Around 13 percent of the population have depressive personality traits — but they do not have to be permanent.
People with depressive personality traits often feel down and worried and are frequently dissatisfied with life.
They are also likely to be negative and brooding, as well as having low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness.
Dr Rachel Maddux, who completed the research for her doctoral thesis, said:
“The interesting thing was that therapy not only improved the depression itself, it also ameliorated the pervasive depressive traits.”
The conclusions come from a study of 159 people with chronic depression, 44 percent of whom had depressive personality traits.
The results showed that people with and without depressive personality traits responded to psychotherapy in a similar way.
After treatment, only 11 percent could still be classified as having a depressive personality disorder.
Both cognitive-behavioural therapy and psychodynamic therapy were effective.
Indeed, people with depressive personality traits actually responded better to the treatment than others.
They had less severe symptoms and greater improvements in depression.
Dr Maddux writes:
“…individuals with DPD [Depressive Personality Disorder] experience significant psychological distress, but they appear to respond as well or better than individuals without DPD to various types of treatment.
Thus, DPD should not be viewed as an impediment to successful outcomes.
Further, DPD itself appears to resolve for many individuals over the course of treatment…”
Dr Maddux said:
“…now I know that there is hope for those with depressive personality.
The next step will be to study other factors that could affect the outcome of treatment; biology, childhood and development, trauma, etc.”
The thesis was published on the Lund University website (Maddux, 2012).
How High IQ Influences Your Mental Health
Along with fewer depression symptoms, it was also linked to better sleep.
Along with fewer depression symptoms, it was also linked to better sleep.
Higher intelligence reduces the risk of mental health problems, including depression.
A higher IQ is linked to less self-reported depression symptoms, fewer sleep problems and better overall mental health.
The conclusions come from a study of 5,793 people who were followed for decades.
The results showed that those with higher IQ scores in their youth had better overall mental health when they were 50-years-old, compared to those with lower IQs.
Along with fewer depression symptoms, those with higher IQs also slept better in middle age.
The authors conclude that IQ may have a protective effect against depression in middle age:
“Higher pre-morbid intelligence was significantly associated with less depression, less sleep difficulty, and a better overall mental health status at age 50.
These results were similar to those found at age 40 and they suggest that higher intelligence in youth, in both men and women, may have a protective effect on mental health into middle age.”
However, people with higher IQs were more likely to have received a depression diagnosis by age 50.
This seems to contradict the finding that they self-reported lower symptoms of depression.
The researchers think it may be because intelligent people are more likely to recognise depression and get help for it.
They write that one possible reason is that:
“…people with higher intelligence may also have higher mental health literacy.
Those with higher intelligence might be more able to identify their symptoms of depression, which could motivate them to consult a doctor for diagnosis and advice; they might also be likely to have accurate reporting of such diagnoses in the health module.”
The study was published in the journal Intelligence (Wraw et al., 2018).
Eating This Common Fruit Lowers Depression Risk 20% (M)
Your gut microbiome may hold the secret to boosting serotonin and dopamine naturally.
The #1 Food To Fight Depression — And 11 More Nutrition Dos and Don’ts (P)
Find out which foods can help fight depression and which ones are making it worse.
The Weird Thing Depression Does To The Brain
The study’s finding could help explain depressive symptoms such as loss of appetite and sleep problems.
The study’s finding could help explain depressive symptoms such as loss of appetite and sleep problems.
Major depression is linked to inflammation of the brain. People experiencing clinical depression have 30 percent higher brain inflammation, the recent research found. The more depressed people were, the greater the levels of inflammation. Professor Jeffrey Meyer, who led the research, said:“This finding provides the most compelling evidence to date of brain inflammation during a major depressive episode. Previous studies have looked at markers of inflammation in blood, but this is the first definitive evidence found in the brain.”The brain typically protects itself through inflammation, but too much can be harmful. The inflammation may generate some of the symptoms of depression, including:
- loss of appetite,
- low mood,
- and sleep problems.
“This discovery has important implications for developing new treatments for a significant group of people who suffer from depression. It provides a potential new target to either reverse the brain inflammation or shift to a more positive repair role, with the idea that it would alleviate symptoms.”One potential way of helping to treat depression is by using anti-inflammatories. Professor Meyer warned, however, that brain inflammation isn’t the whole story:
“Depression is a complex illness and we know that it takes more than one biological change to tip someone into an episode. But we now believe that inflammation in the brain is one of these changes and that’s an important step forward.”The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry (Setiawan et al., 2014).
Depression Changes People’s Food Cravings — Here’s How (M)
Depression’s impact on food choice is more complex than we thought.
Income May Determine Whether Marriage Makes You Happier — Or Not
The marriage myth: why tying the knot doesn’t reduce depression symptoms in everyone.
The marriage myth: why tying the knot doesn’t reduce depression symptoms in everyone.
Getting married is linked to lower depression symptoms in some people.
The link is strongest in households where the total income is below $60,000.
For couples earning more than this, marriage does not provide the same benefits to mental health.
In fact, at higher levels of income, people who have never married have fewer symptoms of depression.
The reason is probably that at lower incomes, both partners can pool their resources, enjoy more financial security and so worry less.
Dr Ben Lennox Kail, the study’s first author, said:
“We looked at the interrelationships between marriage, income and depression, and what we found is that the benefit of marriage on depression is really for people with average or lower levels of income.
Specifically, people who are married and earning less than $60,000 a year in total household income experience fewer symptoms of depression.
But above that, marriage is not associated with the same kind of reduction in symptoms of depression.”
Financial security matters
The findings support a theory called the marital resource model.
This is the idea that the physical and psychological benefits of marriage are partly down to the pooling of resources.
Dr Kail said:
“For people who are earning above $60,000, they don’t get this bump because they already have enough resources.
About 50 percent of the benefit these households earning less than $60,000 per year get from marriage is an increased sense of financial security and self-efficacy, which is probably from the pooling of resources.
Also, it’s interesting to note, at the highest levels of income, the never married fare better in terms of depression than the married.
They have fewer symptoms of depression than married people.
All of these are subclinical levels of depression, meaning the disease is not severe enough to be clinically referred to as depression, but can nevertheless impact your health and happiness.”
The study was published in the journal Social Science Research (Carlson & Kail, 2018).
The Sleep Pattern Linked To Lower Depression Risk
The study of 32,000 nurses is the largest ever to look at the link between depression and chronotype.
The study of 32,000 nurses is the largest ever to look at the link between depression and chronotype.
Women who go to bed early and rise early are less likely to develop depression.
Studies have also found that both men and women who are ‘early birds’ have a lower depression risk.
This study of 32,000 nurses is the largest ever to look at the link between depression and chronotype.
Chronotype is the technical term for whether you are naturally early to bed and early to rise, or late to bed and late to rise — or, somewhere in between.
Among the nurses, 53 percent described themselves as intermediate, 10% as evening types and 37 percent as early risers.
The women were followed for four years to see who developed depression.
Dr Céline Vetter, the study’s first author, explained the results:
“Our results show a modest link between chronotype and depression risk.
This could be related to the overlap in genetic pathways associated with chronotype and mood.”
The increased risk for evening types was between 12 percent to 27 percent.
This was after other risk factors had been taken into account, such as being a smoker and having an erratic sleep pattern.
Dr Vetter said:
“This tells us that there might be an effect of chronotype on depression risk that is not driven by environmental and lifestyle factors.”
Genetics plays a fairly large role in whether you are an early bird or a night owl.
However, there are other factors, Dr Vetter said:
“Alternatively, when and how much light you get also influences chronotype, and light exposure also influences depression risk.
Disentangling the contribution of light patterns and genetics on the link between chronotype and depression risk is an important next step.”
The study does not tell us that all night owls are doomed to be depressed and there are also ways of lowering the risk.
Dr Vetter advises:
“Being an early type seems to beneficial, and you can influence how early you are.
Try to get enough sleep, exercise, spend time outdoors, dim the lights at night, and try to get as much light by day as possible.”
The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research (Vetter et al., 2018).
Why Some Very Lonely People Get Depressed — But Others Don’t (M)
Could overthinking loneliness damage mental health?
