Category: Depression

64% of depression and anxiety patients saw reductions in their symptoms.

Probiotics relieve the symptoms of depression, as well as helping with digestion problems, a new study finds.

The research was carried out on people with irritable bowel syndrome who were also depressed.

Twice as many reported improvements in depression symptoms if they took a specific probiotic.

Dr Premysl Bercik, senior study author, said:

“This study shows that consumption of a specific probiotic can improve both gut symptoms and psychological issues in IBS.

This opens new avenues not only for the treatment of patients with functional bowel disorders but also for patients with primary psychiatric diseases.”

The probiotic is called Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001.

Half of the 44 adults with IBS and mild to moderate anxiety or depression took a daily dose.

Over 10 weeks those taking the probiotic showed improvements in their IBS and depression and anxiety.

64% of those taking the probiotics showed psychological improvements compared with just 32% in the placebo group.

Brain scans revealed changes in multiple brain areas related to mood control.

Dr Bercik said:

“This is the result of a decade long journey — from identifying the probiotic, testing it in preclinical models and investigating the pathways through which the signals from the gut reach the brain.”

The study’s first author, Dr. Maria Pinto Sanchez, added:

“The results of this pilot study are very promising but they have to be confirmed in a future, larger scale trial.”

Other studies have also shown that probiotics have promise in treating depression.

One mouse study in which they were fed Lactobacillus, found that the probiotic reversed  their depression.

Another study found that a multispecies probiotic helped stop sadness from turning into depression.

Recent studies have repeatedly underlined the importance of diet for how we feel.

The new study was published in the journal Gastroenterology (Pinto-Sanchez et al., 2017).

Image credit: Elaine Hsiao

There are over 300 million living with depression around the world.

Depression is the leading cause of disability and ill health worldwide.

There are over 300 million living with depression around the world.

This represents an increase of 18% between 2005 and 2015, according to figures put out by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Almost 50% of people who are depressed do not get any treatment, even in high-income countries.

Two important reasons are:

• Lack of support for people with mental health problems,
• and stigma.

The WHO is currently running a year-long campaign called “Depression: let’s talk”.

Dr Shekhar Saxena, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO, said:

“The continuing stigma associated with mental illness was the reason why we decided to name our campaign ‘Depression: let’s talk’.

For someone living with depression, talking to a person they trust is often the first step towards treatment and recovery.”

Depression usually includes the following, lasting for two weeks or more:

• loss of interest in activities that used to be enjoyed,
• persistent sadness,
• and problems with everyday activities.

Dr Saxena said:

“A better understanding of depression and how it can be treated, while essential, is just the beginning.

What needs to follow is sustained scale-up of mental health services accessible to everyone, even the most remote populations in the world.”

People in the study were suffering from a major depressive disorder.

Yoga and deep breathing classes twice a week are effective treatments for depression, new research finds.

They could be used as alternatives to drugs or in addition to them, the researchers suggest.

The type of yoga used in the study is named after B. K. S. Iyengar.

It is a form of Hatha yoga and focuses on being precise in the postures and the control of the breathing.

For the study, 30 people were given yoga classes and told to practice at home as well.

Dr Chris Streeter, the study’s first author, said:

“This study supports the use of a yoga and coherent breathing intervention in major depressive disorder in people who are not on antidepressants and in those who have been on a stable dose of antidepressants and have not achieved a resolution of their symptoms.”

All the individuals in the study were suffering from a major depressive disorder.

Dr Streeter continued:

“While most pharmacologic treatment for depression target monoamine systems, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, this intervention targets the parasympathetic and gamma aminobutyric acid system and provides a new avenue for treatment.”

Unfortunately, the study did not use a control group, so this weakens its conclusions.

However, a recent study I reported on PsyBlog did compare yogic breathing with a control group.

Here are the study’s conclusions:

“Controlled yogic breathing helps alleviate severe depression, new research finds.

People in the study had depression that had not responded to antidepressant medication.

The [breathing] technique involves a series of rhythmic breathing exercises designed to put people in a calm and meditative state.

Slow and calm breaths are alternated with fast and stimulating breaths.

The new study was published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (Streeter et al., 2017).

These natural components linked to lower levels of depression, stress and anxiety.

People who live in neighbourhoods with more birds, trees and shrubs have lower levels of depression, new research finds.

Whether people live in urban or rural areas; trees, birds and shrubs are linked to better mental health, including lower anxiety, stress and depression.

The conclusions come from a study in which 270 people were surveyed.

They came from a variety of places in the UK, backgrounds and ethnicities.

The results also showed that the more time people spent inside in the previous week, the worse they felt.

When outside, the more birds they could see in the afternoon, the less depressed they were.

It didn’t matter if the birds were robins, blackbirds, blue tits or crows.

Dr Daniel Cox, who led the study, said:

“This study starts to unpick the role that some key components of nature play for our mental well-being.

Birds around the home, and nature in general, show great promise in preventative health care, making cities healthier, happier places to live.”

The researchers took into account people’s personal circumstances, including the fact that some people live in poorer areas.

The results follow on from a previous study by Dr Cox showing that bird watching makes people feel more relaxed and connected to nature.

Nature heals

This study is the latest in an ever-expanding literature on the tremendous benefits to mental health of being out in nature.

Studies have found that being in nature relaxes the mind and boosts the immune system.

Woodlands help to regulate emotional balance and bring ecstasy, joy and calm.

Even looking at green spaces out of the window has been shown to boost mental health.

→ Continue reading: 10 Remarkable Ways Nature Can Heal Your Mind

The study was published in the journal BioScience (Cox et al., 2017).

The supplement reduces inflammation, which is related to depression.

The Indian spice turmeric can help treat major depressive disorder, research finds.

Curcumin — the active ingredient in turmeric — was given to half of 56 participants who were experiencing major depression.

Two doses of 500mg daily was enough to improve several symptoms of depression after one month.

The supplement had the greatest effect on people who also had problems with weight gain, appetite and daytime sleepiness.

Dr Adrian Lopresti, the study’s first author, said:

“In animal-based studies curcumin has been consistently shown to have antidepressant effects and it has been hypothesised that curcumin would have antidepressant effects in people with major depression.

There have been a few positive human-based studies investigating the effects of curcumin in depression.

However, this is the first randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study and over the longest duration.”

Curcumin is thought to be beneficial because it reduces inflammation, which is linked to depression.

Dr Lopresti said:

“The findings from this study suggest that depression can be treated with an agent that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Our findings support consistent research that depression is associated with increased inflammation.

Despite what has been previously believed, depression is not all about brain chemicals such as serotonin.

This could be why there were particularly good results in the subgroup of volunteers with atypical depression because this condition is often associated with higher levels of inflammatory proteins.”

Dr Lopresti continued:

“It would be useful to investigate whether a higher dose of curcumin will have a greater and more rapid antidepressant effect.

But although curcumin has several potential health benefits, I would not recommend it as a first line of treatment for depression yet. More research is required.”

The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Lopresti et al., 2014).

World-first study reveals how diet can treat major depression.

Improving dietary quality successfully treats major depression, a large new study finds.

The three-month study recruited people with major depressive disorder.

One group were given support from a clinical dietitian.

A control group were given access to social support, which is also beneficial for depression.

Those in the dietary group saw great improvements in depressive symptoms.

At the end of the study one-third of people who had changed their diet were in remission from depression.

This compared to only 8% in the social support group.

Professor Felice Jacka, the study’s first author, said:

“We’ve known for some time that there is a clear association between the quality of people’s diets and their risk for depression.

This is the case across countries, cultures and age groups, with healthy diets associated with reduced risk, and unhealthy diets associated with increased risk for depression.

However, this is the first randomised controlled trial to directly test whether improving diet quality can actually treat clinical depression.”

The dietitian encouraged people to eat more of the following food types:

• vegetables,
• fruits,
• wholegrains,
• legumes,
• fish,
• lean red meats,
• olive oil,
• and nuts.

At the same time people were discouraged from eating:

• sweets,
• refined cereals,
• fried food,
• fast-food,
• processed meats,
• and sugary drinks.

Professor Jacka continued:

“These results were not explained by changes in physical activity or body weight, but were closely related to the extent of dietary change.

Those who adhered more closely to the dietary program experienced the greatest benefit to their depression symptoms.”

The study suggests that dietitians should be made available to those being treated for depression.

Professor Jacka said:

“Mental disorders account for the leading cause of disability worldwide, with depression accounting for the large proportion of that burden.

While approximately half of sufferers are helped by currently available medical and psychological therapies, new treatment options for depression are urgently needed.

Importantly, depression also increases the risk of and, in turn, is also increased by common physical illnesses such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Successfully improving the quality of patients’ diets would also benefit these illnesses.”

The study was published in the journal BMC Medicine (Jacka et al., 2017).

Jobs with highest depression rates, herbs that beat antidepressants, the four types of depression and more…

Below are some of the latest findings from psychological research on depression.

(For those of you interested in my ebooks — currently on motivation and anxiety — you might like to know I am now working on a new ebook on depression. More news on this to follow…)

1. Jobs with highest depression rates

Bus drivers top the list of occupations with the highest depression rates.

They are closely followed by real estate agents and social workers.

What do these — and the other jobs with the highest rates of depression — have in common?

It’s dealing with the public, as the study’s authors explain:

“…service industries which require frequent or complex interactions with the public or clients are disproportionately represented…

This supports the theory that the stress of emotional labor could contribute to depression.”

2. Forgetting how to be happy

People who are depressed can’t imagine what it’s like to not be depressed.

It is as though they have forgotten what it is like to be happy.

However, non-depressed people can imagine what it is like to be depressed — they seem to recall the state more clearly.

Ms Constance Imbault, the study’s first author, said:

“It’s not that people with depression aren’t capable of feeling like someone who’s not.

People don’t start out being depressed – it’s that they’ve lost the ability to feel emotion altogether.

They’re apathetic.”

3. Saffron beats antidepressants

Extract of saffron, the exotic spice, is a safer alternative to pharmaceutical antidepressants in mild to moderate depression, recent studies find.

Saffron has fewer side effects and is just as effective in some cases.

The conclusions come from a review of six separate studies that included 230 clinically depressed patients.

All the studies were high-quality randomised controlled trials — although they were small.

4. There are 4 types of biological depression

Four types of depression have been newly identified by researchers using brain scans.

The brain scans revealed distinctly different types of brain activity in each sub-type.

The four different types of depression they identified are:

• Biotype 1 is characterised by anxiety, insomnia, and fatigue.
• Biotype 2 is characterised by exhaustion and low energy.
• Biotype 3 is characterised by an inability to feel pleasure as well as slowed movements and speech.
• Biotype 4 is characterised mostly by anxiety with insomnia along with the inability to feel pleasure.

5. Generalised goals

People who are depressed tend to use more generalised goals than others.

They tend to have goals such as: “I want to be happy.”

The problem with general goals is that they are difficult to achieve

6. Cause of depression in the brain

A part of the brain linked to disappointment at not receiving a reward has been linked to depression by a new study.

The area, called the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, normally becomes active when people fail to get a reward they were expecting.

In people who were depressed, this area was more strongly linked to other areas involved in our sense of self and personal loss.

In other words: depressed people are more likely to suffer self-esteem issues and a feeling of loss if they don’t get the rewards they are expecting.

7. Vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to depressive symptoms and more negative thoughts, new research finds.

Vitamin D deficiency is also linked to cognitive impairments in young people.

Foods that have high levels of vitamin D include oily fish and eggs but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

8. Why antidepressants don’t work for 50%

It is well-known that common antidepressants have little to no effect for up to 50% of people.

New research suggests it is at least partly down to people’s environment whether or not antidepressants work.

Antidepressants may give the brain a chance to recover from depression, but more is needed.

The rest could be down to being exposed to relatively low levels of stress.

9. The correct sleep schedule

Spending eight hours in bed at night helps antidepressants to work more effectively, new research finds.

Of those who spent eight hours in bed, 63% saw improvements in their symptoms while taking antidepressants.

After only six hours sleep, though, only one-third saw improvements.

The antidepressant response was also faster for those who had eight hours sleep rather than only six.

Trying supplements

If you are interested in trying saffron or vitamin D supplements, as researched in the studies above, here are some suggestions:

Spice extract has fewer side effects than pharmaceutical antidepressants (includes suggested supplements and dosage).

Extract of saffron, the exotic spice, is a safer alternative to pharmaceutical antidepressants in mild to moderate depression, recent studies find.

Saffron has fewer side effects and is just as effective in some cases.

The conclusions come from a review of six separate studies that included 230 clinically depressed patients.

Using saffron as an antidepressant was compared with both Prozac and Tofranil (generically known as fluoxetine and imipramine).

All the studies were high-quality randomised controlled trials — although they were small.

Dr Adrian Lopresti, the study’s first author, said:

“So far the literature shows saffron is as effective as pharmaceuticals.

Saffron has had a number of really well designed, robust studies investigating its antidepressant properties and pretty much all the studies have been positive.”

Pharmaceuticals can cause a wide range of side effects.

Some of the most common side effects of pharmaceuticals are:

• sleepiness,
• constipation,
• and sexual problems.

Saffron, though, was not linked to such severe or wide-ranging side effects, Dr Lopresti said:

“Saffron certainly had less severe side effects than pharmaceutical medication.

The most common side effect, which is really only minor, was digestive issues.”

It’s not yet known exactly why saffron works, but it is probably at least partly down to its antioxidant effect.

Saffron contains crocin, which is an anti-inflammatory and crocetin, which is an antioxidant.

Dr Lopresti said:

“What’s been found in the literature over the last ten years is that people with depression have high levels of inflammation and free radical damage associated with oxidative stress.

That led to interesting work looking into antioxidants and anti-inflammatories as antidepressants.”

Dr Lopresti hopes to carry out further studies with more people and over longer periods, he said:

“We need thousands of samples to get a good idea of the side effects, but so far it looks like there is a better safety profile for saffron.”

Supplements and dosage

For anyone interested in trying saffron extract for depression, here are a couple of ideas for supplements, depending on whether you prefer a tablet or a liquid:

The doses used in the studies were 15mg taken twice daily.

They should be taken for 6-8 weeks before making a decision about whether it is helping.

The study was published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental (Lopresti & Drummond et al., 2014).

Saffron image from Shutterstock

How to keep arguments in proportion in your mind and stop a bad mood in its tracks.

Heated arguments can frequently leave us in a bad mood.

But recalling the details of a disagreement in a particular way can actually stop it leading to anxiety and depression, research finds.

The same is true of other types upsetting or stressful events that can put us in a bad mood.

Remembering where you where, exactly what was said, and — vitally — how it could have been dealt with differently, can all help with a bad mood.

Professor Ed Watkins, who led the research, said:

“Christmas and the New Year can be a tricky time for many people’s mood whether it be due to the colder and darker weather, the often common family tensions and quarrels, which sometimes lead to the reopening of old grievances, finances being tight, or the triggering of unfavourable comparisons with how we want to be this year or against “picture-perfect” ideals of a Merry Christmas.

We often see this in an increase in referrals for treatment for depression in January and February.

Staying with the details of what happens and keeping it in context can be one way to prevent these challenges of the festive season becoming something worse.”

In the studies, people were trained to focus on the sensory details of the upsetting experiences.

For example:

• What was the tone of your voice?
• What were the exact words used?
• What exactly happened then?

People who did this recovered more quickly from moderately upsetting experiences.

A clinical trial in patients with depression asked them to focus on and re-imagine stressful events.

They thought about what they could see, hear, smell and feel.

Daily training at spotting the warning signs of stress helped them reduce the symptoms of depression.

Rumination and a bad mood

The findings are surprising because typically running over troubling events, or ruminating, is linked to worsening depression.

But this method of re-imagining is different, Professor Watkins explained, because it is constructive:

“We know that rumination about upsets and losses is a big factor in getting and staying anxious and depressed.

Often clinical depression can follow a difficult life event, such as losing a job, the end of a relationship, illness, or being trapped in a stressful situation.

Furthermore, once people are depressed, the normal hassles and challenges of daily life can themselves lead into more rumination and get blown out of proportion, further fuelling the depression.

So being more concrete by reducing the negative impact of daily hassles can help people to come out of depression,”

Professor Watkins continued:

“We have found in the lab that when people train themselves to think about the specific sensory details, context and sequence of an emotional event, including how it unfolded, they were more emotionally resilient to an unexpected stressor than those who thought about the meaning and implications of emotional events.

Similar studies showed that when people with depression are encouraged to focus on how an upsetting event happened and how it unfolded it improved their ability to solve problems such as arguing with their partner, and with repeated practice, this can in fact hasten recovery out of depression itself.”

The research was conducted in the lab of Professor Ed Watkins at the University of Exeter.