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Depression & Mental Health FAQs
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 40 million Americans living today will suffer from major depressive illness during their lives. Seasonal affective disorder is major depression that appears in the fall or winter and goes away in spring, thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Postpartum depression occurs within four weeks of a women giving childbirth. Most new mothers suffer from some form of the �baby blues.� Postpartum depression, by contrast, is major depression, thought to be triggered by changes in hormonal flows associated with childbirth. Catatonic depression is a rare form of major depression characterized by (at least two): Stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, peculiarities in voluntary movement, and repetition of other people's words or actions. - mcmanweb.com
Psychotic depression is a rare form of depression characterized by delusions or hallucinations, such as believing you are someone you are not and hearing voices.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the US population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder. Depression is a chronic illness that exacts a significant toll on
America's health and productivity. It affects more than 21 million
American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of
disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44.
Lost productive time among U.S. workers due to depression is estimated
to be in excess of $31 billion per year. Depression frequently
co-occurs with a variety of medical illnesses such as heart disease,
cancer, and chronic pain and is associated with poorer health status
and prognosis. It is also the principal cause of the 30,000 suicides
in the U.S. each year. In 2004, suicide was the 11 th leading cause of death in the United States, third among individuals 15-24.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is presently on track to becoming the world's second-most disabling disease (after heart disease) by the year 2020. Depression is responsible for some $87 billion a year in lost productivity in the US (a conservative estimate), and according to Bank One, is responsible for most lost work days in its employees after pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, one million people worldwide die by their own hand, most as a result of a mood disorder. Finally, the linkage between depression and a host of physical illnesses makes it arguably the world's greatest killer.
Research presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Canadian
Psychiatric Association shows a marked link between bipolar disorder
and migraines. The odds of migraine in persons with bipolar disorder were 40% higher than the general population. Data
obtained from 36,984 people aged 15 and over, who screened positive for
manic or depressive episodes with migraine, were compared against those
who screened positive for mania but who didn�t suffer from migraines. Amongst
males, 14.9% of those with manic episodes were also diagnosed with
migraines compared with 5.8% of the general population. Amongst
females, 34.7% had both migraines and bipolar disorder compared with
14.7% who only had migraines.unquote.gif While the research was
skewed towards persons who were already diagnosed with bipolar
disorders, what does it mean for people who suffer from migraines but
who may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder?
Migraines and headaches aren�t fully understood but the manifestations are very real and debilitating for their sufferers: Throbbing pain Nausea Heightened sensitivity to light or sound Seeing dots, wavy lines, flashing lights, or blind spots Difficulty with speech, sensation, or movement
An estimated 2.1 million
American adolescents have experienced major depression within the last
year, according to a new comprehensive government study. Researchers
surveyed more than 67,000 young people ages 12 to 17 and found that one
in 12 had suffered from serious depression in the previous year.Nearly
13 percent of girls had struggled with depression, compared to less
than 5 percent of boys. Odds of depression increased with age -- just 4
percent of 12-year-olds experienced depression but that climbed to 11
percent for older teens.
Our DF Members
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New Light on Seasonal Depression
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By:Hara Estroff Marano
For 11 million people in the U.S. the cool crisp days of fall don’t bring a renewal of energy but rather a descent into depression. The body slows down. They feel mental and physical fatigue. They crave carbohydrates and gain weight. They’re slow to wake in the morning—a faint echo of seasonal patterns of response among other animals. But for them the change in energy level is so extreme they have trouble functioning.
The problem is probably as old as patterns of human migration to latitudes distant from the equator. Seasonal affective disorder, as it’s known, or SAD, is rare in those living within 30 degrees of the equator, where daylight hours are long, constant, and extremely bright.
But for the 11 million Americans, fall brings a collision of two vulnerabilities—one to depression, the other to seasonality. The problem is set off by a shortage of light. As the seasons change and days shorten, they do not get enough light to end the body’s internal night.
Consequently come morning and their bodies fail to shut off production of melatonin, a hormone produced in the pineal gland that has a slowing effect on the nervous system. This biological signal of lengthening nights sets off a cascade of responses resulting in depression.
While normal people also experience a seasonal increase in melatonin production, they do not become depressed in response to it. SAD sufferers do, and their depression lifts in spring, when longer days signal their bodies to shut off melatonin in the morning.
The best and most specific treatment for SAD is substantial early-morning exposure to full-spectrum light. But a Philadelphia researcher now finds that the body’s biological clock is most sensitive to the blue portion of the light spectrum His findings promise not only to dramatically improve treatment for those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder but to revolutionize indoor lighting for everyone.
According to George Brainard, Ph.D., professor of neurology at Jefferson Medical College, the body’s internal clock is most sensitive to short-wavelength blue light. Previously he and colleagues had found that blue light is more effective than other light in halting body production of melatonin,.
Because melatonin production affects circadian rhythm, the researchers set out to test the effect of blue and green light on sleep patterns and other physiological and behavioral functions. Sixteen healthy subjects lived in a lab for nine days, where they received a daily dose of 6.5 hours of highly concentrated blue or green light.
Remarkably, blue light was twice as effective as the same amount of green light at resetting the subjects’ biological clocks, the team recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The study proves that the eye is home not only of the visual system but also a separate system of receptors that runs on light to keep circadian time. “There exists a second, non-visual photoreceptor system that drives the body’s internal clock,” Brainard says.
He expects that the discovery will have an immediate impact on the therapeutic use of light for treating winter depression and circadian disorders. “Some makers of light therapy equipment are developing prototypes with enhanced blue light stimuli.”
Using only the more potent blue wavelengths will allow for the development of more effective, more portable and more tolerable devices. It will also significantly cut down the amount of light exposure needed.
Currently, SAD sufferers who expose themselves to full-spectrum white light for at least a half hour every day are more than 65% likely to experience relief of their symptoms, often within a few days. However, says Brainard, the intensity required, about 10,000 lux, is uncomfortable to look at and often causes glare headaches. Nor are all light boxes portable, posing treatment difficulties for frequent travelers.
Trials are now underway to test the therapeutic effect of blue light on SAD patients.
Brainard also predicts that the research findings will usher in a revolution in architectural lighting. “Home and work lighting could be optimally regulated for circadian effects,” he says.
“For thousands of years, man has been active during the day and restful at night. In modern times, our indoor environment is much dimmer and has a different pattern than daylight. In contrast, we have light on at night in our homes. In the future, lighting could accommodate not only the visual system, but the secondary system that regulates our biological clock as well.”
This is good news for everyone. For all of us, light is a powerful synchronizer of circadian rhythms, and we now know that the brain contains specific nerve pathways for daylight to shut off melatonin production.
It is especially good news for those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder, for whom light is a specific remedy that turns off nightly melatonin secretion. It’s also good news for all those jet-lagged travelers and the nearly 40 million Americans who suffer from sleep disorders.
Source: Psychology Today
This content is Copyright Sussex Publishers, LLC. 2006.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs 2
What is Clinical Depression? Clinical
depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can
change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your
ability to work and study, and how you interact with people. Clinical
depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a
condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot
"pull themselves together" and get better. Depression can be
successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health
care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek
help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few
weeks.
Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health World Health Organization Finds Depression Often Goes Untreated By Salynn Boyles WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Sept.
6, 2007 -- Depression has a greater impact on overall health than
arthritis, diabetes, angina, and asthma, but it all too often goes
unrecognized and untreated, a report from the World Health Organization
(WHO) suggests. more... Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health
For Additional Information About Depression Write To: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
For free brochures on depression and its treatment call: 1-800-421-4211. or visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
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