In an article entitled “You Are What You Think” I wrote about a form of psychotherapy called cognitive therapy. The premise of cognitive therapy is that our thoughts are quite powerful and if we habitually think in a negative way our mood will follow our thoughts causing feelings of depression. Defeating depression thus becomes a matter of recognizing these faulty thoughts and replacing them with more truthful, positive thoughts.
Are worries about America’s financial crisis making you depressed? University of Alabama at Birmingham Associate Professor Josh Klapow says the key to reducing your stress is to distinguish between “productive worry” and “unproductive worry.”
Productive worry, says Klapow, is thinking about situations you can control and should be used to spur you to take action to reduce your stress. Unproductive worry is thinking about those things
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A new study in the February issue of the Journal of Development & Behavioral Pediatrics reports that an Internet program helps to reduce depression symptoms and prevents future episodes of depression in teens.
The program, called “Project CATCH-IT,” uses proven methods, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral activation and interpersonal therapy, to teach the teens to change their behavior and to learn better
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Chris Naish from the indie band The Wasted Nights had a unique idea for promoting his band: post a viral video on Youtube offering to donate 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the band’s single “Sleep When You’re Dead” to depression and suicide prevention charities.
The song, written by Chris, is about his struggles with depression so you know it’s a sincere effort from his heart. While I haven’t been able to locate any samples
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Just like being too rich and too thin, we tend to think there is no such thing as too much when it comes to lowering our cholesterol. However, new research shows, that in the case of cholesterol, going too extreme may be a bad thing.
The study, published in Journal of Psychiatric Research, found that men with low total cholesterol (165 mg/dL or lower) and depression were at a very high risk for premature death from “external
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Just as it’s important to know that depression is a treatable disease, it’s worth knowing that having had an episode of depression increases your risk down the road for more episodes. That shouldn’t discourage you because proper treatment can make a huge difference. But it’s important to watch for warning signs of repeat episodes of depression.
What’s an episode of depression you ask? An episode is a period of time. For example,
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So you’ve decided you need to see someone for your depression. Now what?
Your first visit should be to your family doctor for a thorough checkup. There are several medical conditions that can cause depression symptoms, such as vitamin and mineral deficiencies, female hormonal changes and thyroid conditions. In addition, several medications may have depression as a side-effect. If your doctor does not find any of these factors as a
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I’m afraid I was a bit insensitive with my Valentine’s Day newsletter last year. Here’s some reader feedback that I received:
“Oh, right, a depression newsletter talking about Valentine’s Day and promoting the sending of Valentines. I would think that there could be one oasis where my grumpy, depressed self could be free of that crap.”
I’ll admit my first reaction was, “How rude! If you don’t like the newsletter, unsubscribe!” Then
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This is a scary time for everyone. Unemployment continues to climb, and many people wonder if their job is secure. People have to make difficult choices for their families in these tough economic times. We are definitely in a financial crisis.
We don’t know when things will improve, so this aspect is out of our control. How can you make the best out of this distressing situation? For starters, think about the things that you
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Depressive disorders come in different forms, just as is the case with other illnesses such as heart disease. Three of the most common types of depressive disorders are discussed here. However, within these types there are variations in the number of symptoms, their severity, and persistence.
Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms that interfere with the ability to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy once pleasurable
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