Archives for September 2009

Despite many families worrying about paying the mortgage or losing their job, American researchers claim that in fact it allows us to enjoy life more as we are not working all the time and forces us to keep back on guilty pleasures.

They concluded that during hard times our health and well being improved because it forced people to cut back on indulgences such as drinking, smoking and eating rich foods while many were less stressful and could sleep more.

The study, from the University of Michigan, found that death rates during the early 1930s fell, before increasing again when the economy picked up. Studying health trends during the 20 years around the Great Depression, from 1920 to 1940, the researchers found life expectancy increased by 6 years between 1929 and 1932, from 57 to 63.

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 Economic downturns may not be good for your bottom line but they might be a boon to your health, according to a study on health trends during the 20 years around the Great Depression.

Researchers from the University of Michigan found U.S. life expectancy increased by 6 years between 1929 and 1932, from 57 to 63, with the increase occurring for both men and women and for whites and non-whites.

The number of deaths from disease, accidents and infant mortality during the Great Depression also fell.

"The finding is strong and counterintuitive," said researcher Jose Tapia Granados from the university's Institute for Social Research. "Most people assume that periods of high unemployment are harmful to health."

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Q: Doug, you’ve been, as one subscriber recently dubbed you, "the town crier of America" for some time now, warning about what you call the Greater Depression. Do you really see that as being what’s ahead for America? You have seen the country seemingly headed for the precipice before, but it somehow missed going over the edge… what makes you think that it’s going to happen this time?

Doug: Clearly it’s a judgment call. There are things that could put off what I see as the inevitable, for another cycle. It seemed in the ’70–’71 recession that things could have gone over the edge. Even more so in the ’74 recession. Things were even more serious in the ’80–’82 recession. And actually, in the early ’90s, it once again looked like we were going to bite the dust.

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In the feel-good French movie Amélie, audiences are introduced to an eccentric old character held hostage by his home and his own body. He's dubbed "The Glass Man."

Raymond Dufayel was born with bones as brittle as crystal. All the furniture in his Parisian apartment is padded, explains the narrator, and a simple handshake could crush his fingers. He's been trapped inside his home for 20 years and leads a small, lonely life.

In the 2000 thriller Unbreakable, a comic book specialist played by Samuel L. Jackson, nicknamed "Mr. Glass," is convinced he's found a real-life superhero in an unremarkable security guard played by Bruce Willis. His obsession is fuelled by his own crystalline skeleton and a villainous drive to find purpose for his lonesome, handicapped life.

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Among adults, depression and anxiety are closely linked yet distinct entities. Historically, the association has been generally applied to teens and adolescents.

This distinction may be modified to be a “joined” relationship in a new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). Adolescent depression and anxiety disorders are presently classified separately in the revised fourth edition of the DSM (DSM-IV-TR).

According to a Dutch researcher, however, the two disorders are distinct in children and adolescents and should continue to be reported as such.

Dr. William W. Hale III, a researcher of the Langeveld Institute for the Study of Education and Development in Childhood and Adolescence at Utrecht University, presented his thoughts in a recent publication in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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Antidepressant and antipsychotic use has risen significantly in Turkey along with the growing number of people who see psychiatrists, a local paper Turkey Daily News reported here on Wednesday. The paper reported that antidepressant consumption jumped to 26million boxes in 2008 as against 14 million boxes in 2003, raising the value of the sector to 12.1 billion Turkish Liras (about 8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008 from 4.8 billion liras in 2002.

The daily quoted Halis Ulas, foreign relations secretary of the Turkish Psychiatry Society, as saying that there has been a boom in recent years in antidepressant and antipsychotic use. However, Ulas said there is no need to worry about national mental health because the drugs are not being consumed because of an increase in actual need but because of their rising popularity.

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Over the last several years, researchers have reported that depression is associated with life-threatening conditions.

According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV TR, 2000), up to 15% of individuals with severe Major Depressive Disorder die by suicide.

In addition, depression frequently co-occurs with other mental disorders that carry significant health risks (e.g., substance-related disorders and eating disorders).

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DépressionIl is important to distinguish between depression and depression. While depression is a normal reaction to certain life events and has a limited duration, depression is a real illness that requires treatment. The risk of suffering from depression during our life is 17%. The duration of depression is usually long. It can even extend over one or two years if not treated.

Depression: All about depression - In the presence of depression, imbalances affect three neurotransmitters in the brain: serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit messages from one nerve cell to another.

Thus, a decrease of serotonin often leads to loss of sleep, decreased appetite, anxiety and thoughts haunting, a decrease of norepinephrine causes a loss of energy and negative thoughts, while a decrease of dopamine causes a lack of interest and pleasure as well as disorders of concentration. These biological changes explain why some depressed people are unable to respond to signs of encouragement.

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The survival rates of cancer patients can be affected by depression, according to University of British Columbia researchers. To determine the effects of depression on cancer patients' disease progression and survival, UBC psychology graduate student Jillian Satin and colleagues analyzed 26 studies they could identify related to the topic.

The UBC researchers found 9,417 patients in the studies that examined the effects of depression on patients' cancer progression and survival and their analysis was published online Monday by the American Cancer Society journal Cancer.

"We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others and also in patients who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder compared to patients who have not," said Satin, in the UBC release Monday.In the combined studies, the death rates were as much as 25 per cent higher in patients with depressive symptoms and 39 per cent higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression.

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The survival rates of cancer patients can be affected by depression, according to University of British Columbia researchers. To determine the effects of depression on cancer patients' disease progression and survival, UBC psychology graduate student Jillian Satin and colleagues analyzed 26 studies they could identify related to the topic.

The UBC researchers found 9,417 patients in the studies that examined the effects of depression on patients' cancer progression and survival and their analysis was published online Monday by the American Cancer Society journal Cancer.

"We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others and also in patients who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder compared to patients who have not," said Satin, in the UBC release Monday. In the combined studies, the death rates were as much as 25 per cent higher in patients with depressive symptoms and 39 per cent higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression.

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