Everyone ruminates from time-to-time, but what is the best mental distraction?
Nine nutrients that play a vital role in mental health.
The survey found that two-thirds would be ‘concerned’ about the performance of a co-worker with this issue.
The type of people who are more sensitive to negative emotions.
The type of people who are more sensitive to negative emotions.
People who are more open to experience are at higher risk of depression.
People who are open to experience are more likely to be imaginative, sensitive to their feelings, intellectually curious and seekers of variety.
In particular, people who are into art and in touch with their emotions are more likely to experience depression.
It may be because artistic people are more sensitive.
The conclusion comes from a study of 143 people who were given tests of personality, focusing on the personality trait of openness to experience:
“Open individuals exhibit an increased awareness of, and receptiveness to, their feelings, thoughts, and impulses, as well as a need for variety, or a recurrent need to enlarge and examine experience.”
Some people in the study had never been depressed, some were depressed in the past and the remainder were currently experiencing depression.
The authors explained the results:
“Depressed participants (both current and past) scored significantly higher than nondepressed participants on the broad factor of Openness, as well as on both Openness to Aesthetics and Openness to Feelings.”
Sensitivity to the arts is probably linked to sensitivity to negative emotions, the authors write:
“It seems more likely that individuals who are attuned to beauty and the arts might be more sensitive, in general, and might therefore be more sensitive to, and affected by, negative events and stimuli.”
An appreciation of art and the experience of depression may be strongly linked:
“…the experience of depression may lead to an existential ”reexamination of the purpose of living,” and consequently bring the depressed individual “in touch with the mystery that lies at the heart of ‘tragic and timeless’ art”
[…]Similarly, Ludwig (1994) suggested that the experience of depression (as well as other emotional problems) serves to fuel the writers “motivation for expression, . . . providing them with the basic ingredients for their art’.”
The study was published in the Journal of Personality Assessment (Wolfenstein & Trull, 1997).
How to reduce the damage done by this depressive personality trait.
How to reduce the damage done by this depressive personality trait.
The personality trait of perfectionism is linked to higher depression risk, a review of ten different studies finds.
People who are perfectionists are worried about making mistakes and they tend to be heavily critical of themselves.
They feel pressure from society to perform to a high standard and they think others are continually judging their performance.
When perfectionists fail to meet their lofty standards, they tend to get depressed.
Practicing self-acceptance or self-compassion is one of the best ways of dealing with perfectionist tendencies.
The conclusions come from research collecting together the results of 10 separate studies including 1,758 people.
The results showed that neuroticism, or ‘negative emotionality’ is the personality trait most strongly linked to depression.
However, being a perfectionist is associated with an additional risk.
The authors explain their results:
“In our meta-analysis of 10 longitudinal studies composed of undergraduate, community member, psychiatric patient, outpatient and medical student samples, neuroticism was the strongest predictor of change in depressive symptoms.
Even so, all seven perfectionism dimensions still predicted change in depressive symptoms beyond neuroticism.”
One aspect of perfectionism is feeling societal pressure.
The authors write:
“…socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, self-criticism, and perfectionistic attitudes add incrementally to understanding change in depressive symptoms beyond neuroticism.”
Perfectionism is problematic because high standards are so hard to reach consistently.
The authors write:
“…people high in perfectionistic concerns appear to think, feel and behave in ways that have depressogenic consequences [causing depression].
Such people believe others hold lofty expectations for them, and often feel incapable of living up to the perfection they perceive others demand.
They may agonize about perceived failures and have doubts about performance abilities because they experience their social world as judgmental, pressure-filled and unyielding.”
The study was published in the European Journal of Personality (Smith et al., 2016).
Taking a B12 supplement is one of the easiest ways to combat this problem. Adults need around 1.5 mcg per day.
Taking a B12 supplement is one of the easiest ways to combat this problem. Adults need around 1.5 mcg per day.
Depression can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency, another study finds.
People with low levels of vitamin B12 are at a 50 percent higher risk of depression.
Around one-in-eight older adults in Ireland, where the study was carried out, have a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Many more people are not deficient but, nevertheless have low levels of vitamin B12.
Other signs of a prolonged vitamin B12 deficiency include memory issues, confusion, irritability, depression and even psychosis, which is starting to believe things that are not true.
Physical rather than mental symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency include headaches, fatigue, breathlessness and pale skin.
Taking a B12 supplement is one of the easiest ways to combat this problem.
Adults need around 1.5 mcg per day.
For those who have problems with absorption, regular shots may be required.
Usually, symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency will clear up with treatment over time.
Dr Eamon Laird, the study’s first author, said that food fortification is one option:
“There is a growing momentum to introduce a mandatory food fortification policy of B-vitamins in Europe and the UK, especially since mandatory food fortification with folic acid in the US has showed positive results, with folate deficiency or low status rates of just 1.2% in those aged 60 years and older.”
The results come from an Irish study that followed almost 4,000 people across four years.
While a vitamin B12 deficiency was linked to depression, there was no connection with a folate deficiency.
Professor Rose Anne Kenny, study co-author, said:
“Given the rise in loneliness and depression in older adults after the onset of COVID-19 restrictions, this study highlights the importance of increasing B12 intake or supplementation to help mitigate against potential risk factors of depression in older adults. “
The study was published in the British Journal of Nutrition (Laird et al., 2021).
The parts of the brain linked to this trait were shrunken in people with depression vulnerability.
The parts of the brain linked to this trait were shrunken in people with depression vulnerability.
Displaying a lack of trust in others is an early sign of depression.
People who find it hard to trust — which is, after all, at the heart of social relations — are at a higher risk of developing major depressive disorder.
And neuroscientists have found that the part of the brain that processes trust-based information is shrunken in people with depression vulnerability.
Indeed, this change in the brain can predict the onset of depression one year in advance.
The conclusions come from a neuroimaging study that examined the gray matter volume of over 500 people in Japan.
Dr Alan S. R. Fermin, the study’s first author, explained the motivation:
“Our question was: Can we use social personality information to predict the development of mental disorders, such as depression?
Having tools that help identify early signs of mental disorders could accelerate medical or other therapeutical interventions.”
Being able to trust others is crucial, but it requires an expectation that others comply with social norms.
Unfortunately, the world is full of evidence that people are not trustworthy: there is gossip, bullying, harassment and violence in many places.
So, trust requires a leap of faith.
People who find it difficult to take this leap can become isolated and develop depression.
Dr Fermin said:
“In our study, we not only replicated the association between low trust and depression but also demonstrated that brain regions associated with trust were also associated with the degree of depressive symptoms one year in advance.
Overall, we found that the brains of lower trusters showed reduced gray matter volume in brain regions involved in social cognition.
Also, we found that this gray matter volume reduction among low trusters was similar to the brain of actual depressive patients.
Thus, even though our participants hadn’t received any diagnosis of depression, their brains were already showing signs of depression.”
The brain scans revealed that people with high levels of depression symptoms and low levels of trust had reduced gray matter volume in a whole series of regions.
These regions are involved in how we control our emotions and predict other people’s mental states.
It is not yet known what causes these brain regions to shrink.
Dr Fermin said:
“We hope that our findings could support the development of institutional and social policies to increase social trust—for example, at work, school, or public space—and prevent the development of mental disorders.”
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Fermin et al., 2022).
Some people’s personalities naturally have greater resistance to mental health problems.
Some people’s personalities naturally have greater resistance to mental health problems.
Extraverts are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety or any other form of mental health problem, research finds.
Extraverts tend to enjoy other people’s company, are often full of energy and tend to be talkative.
Other people give extraverts energy and they have a tendency to feel bored when alone.
The conclusions come from a study of 441 people in Finland who were given tests of personality, depression and anxiety.
The study also found that people who are neurotic are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.
The study’s authors write:
“…the personality dimension neuroticism is strongly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the personality dimension intraversion is moderately associated with depressive symptoms among participants in this urban general population.”
Neuroticism, the authors explain, is:
“…characterized by proneness to anxiety, emotional instability, and self-consciousness, whereas extraversion involves positive emotionality, energy, and dominance.”
People who are both neurotic and introverted are at higher risk of depression and anxiety.
However, those who have stable personalities and who are extraverted are less likely to experience depression and anxiety.
The study was published in the journal Depression and Anxiety (Jylhä et al., 2006).
A question that can help control negative emotions.
A question that can help control negative emotions.
Understanding how you feel — and being able to describe it — can protect against depression, research finds.
Young people who could describe their emotions in more precise ways were better at fighting off depression caused by stressful life events.
Differentiating emotions helps people to regulate them more effectively.
For example, identifying a feeling as frustration, rather than just ‘feeling bad’, can better help a person deal with it.
So, the simple question that may help protect against depression is: how do I really feel?
The study included 193 adolescents who reported their emotions four times a day over a week.
When they were were followed up 18 months later, young people better at differentiating their emotions were less susceptible to depression.
Dr Lisa Starr, the study’s first author, explained:
“Adolescents who use more granular terms such as ‘I feel annoyed,’ or ‘I feel frustrated,’ or ‘I feel ashamed’ — instead of simply saying ‘I feel bad’ — are better protected against developing increased depressive symptoms after experiencing a stressful life event.”
On the other hand, those who did not distinguish between being ashamed or annoyed, for example, were more likely to let stressful life events get them down.
Dr Starr said:
“Emotions convey a lot of information.
They communicate information about the person’s motivational state, level of arousal, emotional valence, and appraisals of the threatening experience
A person has to integrate all that information to figure out — “am I feeling irritated,” or “am I feeling angry, embarrassed, or some other emotion?”
It’s going to help me predict how my emotional experience will unfold, and how I can best regulate these emotions to make myself feel better.”
It may be possible to increase people’s sensitivity to their emotional states, Dr Starr said:
“Basically you need to know the way you feel, in order to change the way you feel.
I believe that NED could be modifiable, and I think it’s something that could be directly addressed with treatment protocols that target NED.
Our data suggests that if you are able to increase people’s NED then you should be able to buffer them against stressful experiences and the depressogenic effect of stress.”
The study was published in the journal Emotion (Starr et al., 2019).
Psychological studies support these six fascinating ways of fighting depressive symptoms.
Psychological studies support these six fascinating ways of fighting depressive symptoms.
It’s often assumed that it’s depression that causes a pessimistic view of the future.
But it could be the other way around, a study finds.
Being pessimistic about the future may actually cause depression.
There are three ways in which thinking about the future may cause depression:
Depression also likely feeds back into more negative views of the future, creating a vicious circle.
Try to address the way you think about the future — is there a way to be a little more optimistic about it?
A Mediterranean diet including fruits, vegetables and legumes can prevent depression, a large study finds.
People only had to make relatively small changes to see the benefits.
Depression could be partly down to a lack of essential nutrients.
The benefits of the diet are likely related to higher levels of omega 3 and other essential nutrients.
Regular face-to-face communication reduces the risk of depression in older adults by half, a study finds.
In comparison, socialising by phone or email does not have the same beneficial effect.
Dr Alan Teo, who led the study, said:
“Research has long-supported the idea that strong social bonds strengthen people’s mental health.
But this is the first look at the role that the type of communication with loved ones and friends plays in safeguarding people from depression.
We found that all forms of socialization aren’t equal.
Phone calls and digital communication, with friends or family members, do not have the same power as face-to-face social interactions in helping to stave off depression.”
It has long been known that social connections are vital for a person who is experiencing depression.
Research finds that it’s not just social groups which help those with depression, crucially it’s identifying with that group which helps alleviate depression.
The conclusions come from an Australian study of patients both at risk and diagnosed with depression who had joined a number of local groups.
These patients who strongly identified with the groups they’d joined — whether at the hospital for group therapy or in their hobbies — said they felt supported because they were ‘in it together’.
Comparing yourself to other people on Facebook has been linked to depressive symptoms, a study finds.
While the social network can be a useful way of connecting with others, there may be psychological dangers.
Mai-Ly Steers, the study’s first author, said:
“One danger is that Facebook often gives us information about our friends that we are not normally privy to, which gives us even more opportunities to socially compare.
You can’t really control the impulse to compare because you never know what your friends are going to post.
In addition, most of our Facebook friends tend to post about the good things that occur in their lives, while leaving out the bad.
If we’re comparing ourselves to our friends’ ‘highlight reels,’ this may lead us to think their lives are better than they actually are and conversely, make us feel worse about our own lives.”
A technique called ‘Socratic questioning’ can help depressed people recover, a study finds.
Socratic questioning is used by many therapists to help patients explore new perspectives on themselves and the world.
Socratic questioning differs from ‘normal’ questioning by focusing on fundamental issues and concerns.
For example, if a patient feels their life is a failure because of a divorce, the therapist might ask:
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