Depression is quite common. In fact, depressed mood is the fourth most common symptom that patients complain of when they see their primary care physician. About 10% to 25% of women will have have major depression at some point during their lifetime and they will be especially vulnerable during their reproductive years. Mood disorders like depression worsen the morbidity and mortality rates of other medical disorders. In addition,
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A government-appointed panel is urging all doctors to routinely screen their teen patients for depression.
According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which sets guidelines for doctors on a wide variety of health issues, nearly 2 million teens suffer from depression, but most go undiagnosed.
Because depression leads to lingering sadness, social isolation, school problems and even suicide, screening and early treatment
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is the third in a series on cognitive behavioral therapy and how faulty or negative thinking (cognitive distortions) can affect your depression. Faulty thinking, often called thinking errors, may exist in your head, but you can train your brain to think differently and more positively.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is just one of many types of talk therapy that can be used effectively to treat depression as well as anxiety
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People with a high family risk for depression had less brain matter on the right side, similar to that seen with Alzheimer’s disease, according to U.S. researchers.
The researchers found with brain scans that there was a 28% thinning in the right cortex (the outer layer of the brain) in those with a family history of depression.
The findings were based on imaging studies of 131 people aged 6 to 54 with a family history
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Eli Lilly has received FDA approval for a combo pill called Symbyax to be used for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression.
Symbyax, which combines the ingredients of the antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine) with the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine), is approved for patients with major depression who have not responded to two separate trials of different antidepressants.
It was originally approved by the FDA in
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As we discussed in my last blog post, your thoughts can affect your mood. Your thoughts may be negative and also can be inaccurate. Inaccurate thoughts are also called “cognitive distortions.”
Cognitive distortions can be so ingrained that they become “core beliefs” that you live by. An example is “I have never been successful at anything, so why even try?”
Some specific examples of cognitive distortions are:
If you find yourself falling into a slump during the winter months, but feel much better when spring arrives, you may have what is known as seasonal affective disorder.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a mood disorder, characterized by symptoms like increased sleep and appetite, weight gain, irritability, sensitivity to rejection and heaviness in the limbs, which occurs when the circadian rhythms of the body are disrupted.
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Forest Laboratories, maker of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitorLexapro (escitalopram oxalate), announced on March 20, 2009 that the FDA had approved the drug for the acute and maintenance treatment of major depression in adolescents 12-17 years of age.
The Associated Press reported last month that the Justice Department had filed a complaint against Forest Laboratories alleging that they had been promoting the off-label use
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Forty-six years after “The Bell Jar” author Sylvia Plath committed suicide by gassing herself while he slept in another room, her son, Nicholas Hughes has also chosen to take his own life.
On Sunday, his sister Frieda told The Times that Hughes had hanged himself on March 16 at his Alaskan home after a long battle with depression.
Hughes was 47, unmarried and had no children. He was a professor of fisheries
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If you haven’t, this blog will help you to understand how your thinking can affect your mood. The thoughts in your head can affect the way you feel, which can affect your behaviors.
For example, say you are talking with a group of other people. Your mood is good and you have been experiencing a positive day overall. The subject turns to a complaining session regarding work. Others chime in about how awful their job is, how they’re
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