Depression

After reading this article, you will be familiar with:The function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenalaxis and the significance of cortisolin the etiology of depression.

According to a large international study, BD-II mixed depression can easily be misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder. Proper assessment and treatment of mixed depression in BD-II could have a positive impact on outcomes in bipolar disorder.

A recent survey of 1,200 Australians found that many respondents did not understand how best to help people with depression.

Depression and dementia or Alzheimer's disease often go together. The presence of dementia may also increase the odds of depression. What can clinicians do to treat these two often comorbid conditions?

Mood and well-being are believed to be regulated by mechanisms of estrogen and progesterone. How effective are they in the treatment of major and minor depression?

Can PET scans show differences in suicide risk among depressed patients? What are the risk factors for high-lethality suicide attempts versus low-lethality attempts?

Zubenko and colleagues recently released results from the first genome-wide linkage survey for genetic loci that influence the development of unipolar mood disorders in 81 families identified by individuals with recurrent, early-onset, major depressive disorder. The survey found 19 loci that appear to influence vulnerability to depressive disorders.

"Can a Depressed Parent be A Good Parent? You Bet!" This campaign, launched by the Children's Hospital in Boston and Screening for Mental Health, Inc. aims to raise awareness of parental depression and encourage parents to openly talk about their illness with their children.

The use of alternative treatments--like acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs, dietary supplements--for postpartum depression is becoming widespread. Dr. Hendrick discusses the benefits and risks of these alternative treatments and research that is being done to ensure their safety for new mothers

Rather than looking at the biological basis for depression, it may be more useful to look at the patient's worldview and how that may have primed them for depression. Examining events that took place in the patient's past lead to a solution to their current depression.

More women than men are diagnosed with depression. Yet, men who are troubled by depression are also more likely to die, even when suicide is removed from the factors of consideration. Vascular depression, hyperintensities within the brain, physiological changes and late-life onset provide both insight and more questions into the nature of depression and this enigmatic paradox.

Our perceptions about antidepressant efficacy have been inflated by the "file drawer" effect: the selective publication of positive studies and suppression of negative ones.

Psychiatrists, neurologists, primary care physicians, physician assistants, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and other mental health care professionals. Continuing education credit is available for most specialties. To determine if this article meets the requirements of your specialty, please contact your state licensing board.

A case history illustrates the need to consider psychosocial approaches to treating postpartum depression.

Diabetes doubles the likelihood of comorbid depression, which impairs functioning and quality of life. This mood disorder has a unique importance in diabetes because of its associations with treatment noncompliance, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and an increased risk for diabetes complications.

Dietary supplementation of SAM-e--naturally produced and physiologically necessary compound for living cells--is being investigated for its use as a viable treatment for depression.

In response to encouraging results from a small pilot study of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for treatment-resistant depression, researchers are now expanding the study to approximately 200 patients in 20 sites across the United States.

Most studies have found clear gender differences in the prevalence of depressive disorders. Typically, studies report that women have a prevalence rate for depression up to twice that of men (Bebbington, 1996; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987).

Children whose parents have been diagnosed with affective disorders are far more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness-especially affective disorder-than their peers whose parents do not have mood disorders (Beardslee, 1998; Burge and Hammen, 1991; Downey and Coyne, 1990).

The most common psychiatric sequelae following trauma include major depressive disorder, somatoform pain disorder, adjustment disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In law, trauma that precipitates PTSD is viewed as a tort, which stems from the root word "torquere" (to twist), as does the word torture. In a sense, plaintiffs do allege torture in personal injury cases. A tort constitutes a civil or private wrong, as opposed to a criminal wrong, and rests on the general principle that every act of a person causing damage to a legally protected interest of another obliges that person, if at fault, to repair the damage (Slovenko, 1973).

It is now customary psychiatric practice to think of a patient's illness as primarily biological in origin-so much so that, for many illnesses, published practice guidelines almost exclusively describe medication strategies.

Daniel F. Kripke, M.D. has studied the relationship between biological rhythms and depression since the early 1970s. He states that seasonal responses in many mammals are controlled by the photoperiod. Therefore, it seemed that depression might be analogous to winter responses and that light might be an effective treatment.

Despite the development of better-tolerated antidepressants and more effective applications of nondrug modalities like cognitive-behavioral therapy, depressive disorders are often chronic or recurrent. The researchers point out that there has been relatively little evaluation of chronic depression, with most studies addressing short-term treatment of acute episodes.

In Western psychiatry, depression is considered a major cause of suicide. But research from China calls that assumption into question. More than 300,000 suicides occur annually in China, nearly 10 times the number of suicides in the United States.

An investigational compound that blocks the neurokinin "substance P" has demonstrated robust antidepressant effect in preliminary clinical testing against paroxetine (Paxil) and placebo. This finding has been described by as "a breakthrough discovery" in mental health care.