Category: Depression

The brain’s emotional mechanism is not completely understood, but research shows that the relationship between food and mood makes up one of the brain-body links. Mood seems to be influenced by the neurotransmitter serotonin, the lack of which makes people feel depressed. Depressed people often crave carbohydrate foods foods. Eating carbohydrates increases the brain’s production of serotonin, which can lead to a heightened sense of calmness and well being. Boosting the amount of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, that also elevates a person’s spirit, along with alertness and concentration, can be achieved by eating protein. If you anticipate feeling anxious before a test or an interview, what could you eat to help make …

Many factors that put individuals at risk for stroke have been identified, including physical inactivity, high cholesterol, obesity, use of alcohol or cigarettes, diabetes and high blood pressure. For the first time, researchers have identified a psychological factor that also affects stroke risk — depression. A study published in the July/August issue of Psychosomatic Medicine reports that increasingly, levels of depression are associated with increasing levels of risk for later stroke. This was true even for those who had only moderate symptoms of depression, and who might not actually be diagnosed with clinical depression. “The suggestion of an increasingly strong relationship between level of depressive symptoms and stroke indicates that reducing …

Various studies have confirmed the prevalence of depression among chronic pain patients, with 50% to 65% of them typically being diagnosed as depressed. It has been shown that depressed chronic pain patients are less likely to respond to treatment for their pain, and that among low-back pain patients, it is the depressed ones who are most likely to avoid physical activity. It is also possible that depressed patients feel their pain more severely than others. All of this means that depression signals a worse prognosis for a chronic pain patient. Since pain is harder to treat than depression, antidepressive therapy is often the best first step on the road to curing …

Depression is an illness that affects many older people. Depression in older people is often triggered by losses that accompany aging, such as loss of a job, good health, and the loss of a spouse or any other significant person or relationship. In some cases, however, it occurs “out of the blue,” for no obvious reason. While depression is considered a mental disorder, its effects on physical health are also well known. In fact, a recent study found that depression may lower the odds of survival among sick older adults. Previous research had shown that depression is more common among hospitalized older patients. Now, researchers from the San Francisco Veterans Affairs …

Coronary heart disease (CHD), chest pain, heart attack – they all occur in your chest, right? Well, according to recent research, various forms of heart disease may actually start in your head. Medical research linking these two topics clearly depicts a bi-directional path of symptom development and disease progression. For instance, previous research has shown that depression is a common problem in patients with coronary heart disease. Major depression is found in nearly 20 percent of patients who have recently had a heart attack. Minor depression is found in more than 25 percent of them. It is also estimated that within one year of a heart attack, one out of three …

Experts have long recognized that many adults with depression had traumatic experiences as children. For example, loss of a parent to death or divorce is a risk factor for adult depression, as is child abuse. Recent research has gone beyond these observed associations to reveal their biological basis. "There is now ironclad evidence to support the preeminent role of early trauma in the development of adult psychiatric disorders," Emory University professor Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., told a group of physicians this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians/American Society for Internal Medicine, in Philadelphia. Nemeroff specializes in clinical neuroscience — the study of the role of the …