Category: Depression

The surprising effect of these drugs on your heart, kidneys, lungs and liver.

Taking antidepressants is linked to a 33% higher risk of death, new research finds.

The risk of a cardiovascular ‘event’ (strokes and heart attacks) was also 14% higher for those taking antidepressants.

This research used data from hundreds of thousands of people collected from many different studies.

Dr Paul Andrews, who led the study, said:

“We are very concerned by these results.

They suggest that we shouldn’t be taking antidepressant drugs without understanding precisely how they interact with the body.”

It is well-known that antidepressants change mood by affecting levels of the neurotransmitter, serotonin.

What is less well-known is that serotonin is also used in the heart, kidney, lungs and liver — indeed all the major organs.

Potentially, the drug could stop the major organs working properly.

Family doctors often prescribe antidepressants on the assumption that they are safe.

However, Ms Marta Maslej, the study’s first author, said:

“Our findings are important because they undermine this assumption.

I think people would be much less willing to take these drugs if they were aware how little is known about their impact outside of the brain, and that what we do know points to an increased risk of death.”

Dr Benoit Mulsant, study co-author and practicing psychiatrist, said we need to know more about how the drugs work:

“I prescribe antidepressants even though I do not know if they are more harmful than helpful in the long-term.

I am worried that in some patients they could be, and psychiatrists in 50 years will wonder why we did not do more to find out.”

For people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease, though, the antidepressants were not harmful, probably because they have a blood-thinning effect.

However, for those otherwise in good cardiovascular health, the antidepressants were harmful, the research suggests.

The study was published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (Maslej et al., 2017).

Depression and anxiety risk much higher in some people using social media.

Using over seven different social media platforms is linked to a tripling in depression risk, psychological research finds.

The study asked about the 11 most popular social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn.

Those who used between 7 and 11 of these, had 3.1 times the depression risk.

They also had 3.3 times the risk of having high levels of anxiety symptoms.

Professor Brian A. Primack, who led the study, said:

“This association is strong enough that clinicians could consider asking their patients with depression and anxiety about multiple platform use and counseling them that this use may be related to their symptoms.

While we can’t tell from this study whether depressed and anxious people seek out multiple platforms or whether something about using multiple platforms can lead to depression and anxiety, in either case the results are potentially valuable.”

There are a number of ways in which using multiple platforms might lead to depression and anxiety, the authors argue:

• Multitasking is known to lead to poor mental health and weakened thinking skills.
• Using more platforms might lead to more opportunities for embarrassing mistakes.

Professor Primack said:

“It may be that people who suffer from symptoms of depression or anxiety, or both, tend to subsequently use a broader range of social media outlets.

For example, they may be searching out multiple avenues for a setting that feels comfortable and accepting.

However, it could also be that trying to maintain a presence on multiple platforms may actually lead to depression and anxiety.

More research will be needed to tease that apart.”

The results come from a 2014 survey of 1,787 US adults aged between 19 and 32.

The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior (Primack et al., 2017).

Brain scans reveal how men and women react differently to depression.

Woman are much more susceptible to depression than men.

At age 15, girls are twice as likely as boys to be experiencing depression.

This could be down to hormonal fluctuations, body image issues, genetic factors or other causes.

Men, though, are more likely to suffer persistent depression.

And for women, depression tends to go in cycles.

Brain scans of adolescents in a new study have found different responses at this young age.

For the research, 106 adolescents with depression had their brains scanned while they looked at happy, sad or neutral words.

The results showed the brains of boys and girls responded in different ways, particularly in the supramarginal gyrus and posterior cingulate.

Both areas have previously been linked to depression.

Dr Jie-Yu Chuang, the study’s first author, said:

 “Our finding suggests that early in adolescence, depression might affect the brain differently between boys and girls.

Sex-specific treatment and prevention strategies for depression should be considered early in adolescence.

Hopefully, these early interventions could alter the disease trajectory before things get worse.”

These early signs in adolescence could be the first indications of the different ways the sexes experience depression.

Dr Chuang said:

“Men are more liable to suffer from persistent depression, whereas in women depression tends to be more episodic.

Compared with women, depressed men are also more likely to suffer serious consequences from their depression, such as substance abuse and suicide.”

Dr Chuang hopes to conduct a larger study in the future:

“I think it would be great to conduct a large longitudinal study addressing sex differences in depression from adolescence to adulthood.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry (Chuang et al., 2017).

The supplement starts to take effect after only two weeks, the researchers found.

Over-the-counter magnesium is a safe and effective way to treat mild to moderate depression, a new study suggests.

The mineral magnesium has already been linked to lower inflammation and improvements in depression.

Now a new randomised controlled trial has tested the effects of magnesium chloride supplements compared with no treatment.

→ Try Dr Jeremy Dean’s ebook “Activate: How To Find Joy Again By Changing What You Do“

For the research, half of 126 people with mild to moderate depression were given 248mg of magnesium chloride per day for six weeks.

After just two weeks, some positive effects of the supplement could be seen.

Those taking magnesium had clinically significant improvements over the six weeks.

People did not have any problems taking magnesium and there were no differences based on sex, age, whether people were also taking antidepressants, or other factors.

More than half of the people in the study said they would continue to take magnesium to help them with their depression.

Ms Emily Tarleton, the study’s first author, said:

“This is the first randomized clinical trial looking at the effect of magnesium supplementation on symptoms of depression in U.S. adults.

The results are very encouraging, given the great need for additional treatment options for depression, and our finding that magnesium supplementation provides a safe, fast and inexpensive approach to controlling depressive symptoms.”

Ms Tarleton says that the next stage is to move on to larger populations to see if the results can be replicated.

While many more studies have investigated antidepressant medications, there is also much evidence of their side-effects.

A survey of people taking antidepressants has found higher than expected levels of emotional numbness, sexual problems and even suicidal thoughts associated with the medication.

Of the 20 adverse effects to antidepressants that people were questioned about:

• 62% said they had ‘sexual difficulties’,
• 52% said they ‘didn’t feel like themselves’,
• 42% noticed a ‘reduction in positive feelings’,
• 39% found themselves ‘caring less about others’,
• and 55% reported ‘withdrawal effects’.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE (Tarleton et al., 2017).

The procedure doesn’t require anaesthesia or sedation, taking around 40 minutes per session.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an effective long-term treatment for depression, research finds.

TMS involves stimulating the brain using magnetic fields.

Magnetic pulses are directed towards the left prefrontal cortex, to stimulate areas of the brain linked to depression.

The pulses help to excite neurons at the site of stimulation and in other connected areas of the brain.

The magnetic pulses are similar to those used for MRI brain scans.

TMS has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration since 2008.

However, this is one of the first studies to look at its long-term effect.

Professor Philip G. Janicak, who led the study, said:

“This is the only prospective, maintenance, follow-up study which assesses the durability of acute TMS benefit in patients with major depression.”

Magnetic brain stimulation is a lot less scary than it sounds.

It doesn’t require anaesthesia or sedation, taking around 40 minutes per session.

People typically have it daily over 4 to 6 weeks.

Professor Janicak, who led the study, said:

“The results of the follow-up study further support TMS as a viable treatment option for patients with major depression who have not responded to conventional antidepressant medications.

After acute response to TMS, a standardized regimen of antidepressant medication maintained the acute benefit in the majority of patients over a six-month period.”

The study was published in the journal Brain Stimulation (Janicak et al., 2010).

Network brain image from Shutterstock

A walk around the park will work, but this could be more fun!

A form of rock climbing called ‘bouldering’ is an effective treatment for depression symptoms, new research finds.

Bouldering involves climbing walls or rocks to a moderate height with no ropes or harnesses.

The study was inspired by German hospitals, some of which have started using climbing as a treatment for depression.

People in the study — most of whom were new to rock climbing — were split into two groups.

Those in the rock climbing group did three hours of bouldering each week for eight weeks.

Ms Eva-Maria Stelzer, one of the study’s authors, explained:

“Bouldering, in many ways, is a positive physical activity.

There are different routes for your physical activity level, and there’s a social aspect along with the feeling of an immediate accomplishment when bouldering.”

The study’s results showed that bouldering reduced the severity of depression by one grade.

For example, if people started the study with ‘moderate’ depression, after eight weeks their depression had reduced to ‘mild’, on average.

Those in the control group felt little change in their depression levels.

Dr Katharina Luttenberger, study co-author, said:

“Patients enjoyed the bouldering sessions and told us that they benefited greatly.

Since rumination is one of the biggest problems for depressed individuals, we had the idea that bouldering could be a good intervention for that.

[For bouldering ] You have to be mindful and focused on the moment.

It does not leave much room to let your mind wonder on things that may be going on in your life — you have to focus on not falling.

Bouldering not only has strong mental components, but it is accessible at different levels so that people of all levels of physical health are able to participate,

Clearly rock climbing is not for everyone, said Dr Luttenberger:

“I’d always encourage patients to do the sport they like — may it be climbing or something else — as sport is a wonderful possibility to prevent all possible sorts of illnesses, mental and physical.”

The study was presented at the 29th annual Association for Psychological Science Convention, in Boston.

Depression symptoms were reduced in almost half the people given the injection.

A single botox injection has been found to substantially improve depressive symptoms, research finds.

Botox is typically used to decrease the appearance of wrinkles in the face.

But, researchers have found that it can also help to treat the symptoms of depression.

Professor Norman E. Rosenthal, who led the study, said:

“This research is groundbreaking because it offers those who suffer from depression and their doctors an entirely new approach to treating the condition — one that doesn’t conflict with any other treatments.”

For the study, 74 depressed people were given an injection to the facial muscles between the eyebrows — those related to frowning.

Half were injected with botox, the other half with a placebo.

The results showed that depression symptoms reduced by 47% in the group given the botox injection.

The reduction was just 21% in the placebo group.

Dr. Eric Finzi, the study’s first author, said:

“This new research supports earlier facial feedback theory of Charles Darwin and William James which suggests that facial expressions influence mood.”

The facial feedback theory suggests that facial expression feedback into our moods.

In other words: our facial expressions are not just the result of our moods, but they can also influence them.

Embodied cognition

The botox injection makes it more difficult for people to frown.

So, with less frowning, people feel less depressed — or so the theory goes.

This is linked to a relatively new area of psychology called embodied cognition.

Embodied cognition is the idea that we think with our bodies.

For example, if you walk in a more bouncy, upbeat way, you also begin to feel in a more bouncy upbeat mood.

In fact, this very study has been done.

The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research (Finzi et al., 2014).

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