“More Patients in Scotland Given Antidepressants”
The BBC reports that the number of people in Scotland taking antidepressants has increased by 5% in the past year with most of the patients being women and those in the poorest parts of the country. “We are now looking at the flabbergasting statistic of more than one in seven people in Scotland being prescribed antidepressants this year,” Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said. “We urgently have to look at better alternatives than simply parking people on medication in the hope things don't get any worse, with no aspiration for complete recovery."
Fast-Food and Commercial Baked Goods Cause Depression
Researchers in Spain followed 8.964 subjects who had never been diagnosed with depression followed for over six years, finding that consumers of fast food...
Anxiety Accounts for Bipolar False Positives
Researchers found that of 1,534 patients assessed at Australia's Black Dog Institute Depression clinic, a significant number received a false positive diagnosis of bipolar...
“The Medicalization of Mood: Worse Than Nothing, or Just Ineffective?”
In his blog Psychology Salon, psychologist Randy Paterson explores what the balance of evidence is showing us after 60 years of increasing medical treatments...
Consumer Reports Recommends Against Antipsychotics for Depression
Consumer Reports recommends against antipsychotic "augmentation therapy" for depression. The consumer watchdog magazine finds that the unproven efficacy, harmful side effects, availability of alternatives,...
“‘They’re Waking Up’: Reducing Drugs for Dementia Patients Yields Dramatic Results”
Canada's Global News reports that "A couple of years after a national initiative began to reduce the use of anti-psychotic medication, some people are...
“Maybe Companies Should Chill on Employee-Happiness Programs”
Will Davies, author of The Happiness Industry, does a Q&A on the ways companies are misusing psychological research on happiness. “I think that one thing that often gets lost in lots of the discussions of happiness (especially in the business world) is the possibility that happy work may mean less work.”
Exercise, Depression, and Bias
Scientific American reviews the effect of exercise on depression, the effect of encouragement to exercise on exercising, the effect of bias on the consumption of...
“For Depression, Prescribing Exercise Before Medication”
The Atlantic writes "Aerobic activity has shown to be an effective treatment for many forms of depression. So why are so many people still...
Antenatal Depression Associated w/Mom’s Childhood Maltreatment
Maternal antenatal depression is highly correlated with a history of the mother having been mistreated in childhood, and these two facts significantly increase the...
Senator Pursues Questionable Pharma/Academic Ties
Senator Chuck Grassley continues his pursuit of questionable financial ties between the pharmaceutical companies and research by asking the National Institutes of Health (NIH)...
Sensitivity to Anxiety is Related to Psychiatric Multimorbidity
Researchers in Israel found that sensitivity to the physical and psychological experiences of anxiety was strongly correlated with PTSD, depression, anxiety disorder, panic attacks,...
Pharmas Exiting Antidepressant Market
As patents expire on current antidepressants pharmaceutical companies are getting out of the market, according to an article in yesterday's Vancouver Sun. In the latest...
“You’re Making Your Depression Worse: Self-Help is Bringing Us Down”
Salon magazine reflects on "The Puzzling Reality . . . that human depression is increasing in an era when environmental conditions are relatively benign. The average citizen...
Discrimination Impacts Mental Health: Especially Among the Educated
A cross-sectional study of 1,994 individuals in a deprived area of Japan found that perceived discrimination was significantly associated with depressive symptoms and a...
“The Surprising Reason Americans Might Feel Helpless and Depressed”
Alternet attributes America's depression epidemic to corporations and right-wing politics, which feed our sense of learned helplessness, exploiting "the various ways that we all...
Efficacy & Effectiveness of Treatment for Depression in RCTs & Daily Practice
A study from the Netherlands found that outcomes for 598 patients in treatment for mild to moderate depression were significantly less in practice than...
“Is the World More Depressed?”
Tanya Luhrmann writes in the NY Times that, although diagnosis and pathologization of human experience has increased, "there is reason to believe that mental...
Depressed People Surf Differently
In a study to be published in a forthcoming IEEE Technology and Society researchers at Missouri University recruited 216 undergraduates, finding that the 30% who...
Depression Linked to Dementia in Later Life
A retrospective study of 13,535 long-term Kaiser Permanente members found that depressive symptoms in mid-life (1964-1973 for this cohort) were associated with a 20%...
No Evidence For Antidepressants in Depression With Dementia
In a review and meta-analysis of double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomly-assigned trials of antidepressants marketed in the U.S., researchers at the University of California failed to...
“New Pill for Boosting Female Libidos Off to a Slow Start”
Ed Silverman reports that only 80 prescriptions for Addyi, or Flibanserin, were filled in the drugs’ first two weeks on the market.
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Losing Your Home While Pregnant Makes You Depressed
Data derived from a study of 662 new mothers reveal that the 8% of them who had lost their homes to foreclosure in the...
Review of Evidence for Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Depressive Disorders
Researchers in Germany review and evaluate the evidence for non-pharmacological treatment of depressive disorders, finding an "adequate level of evidence" for psychotherapeutic intervention, marital/couples/family...
