Category: Depression

The Creative Therapy That Helps Reduce Depression

Higher self-esteem from a common creative therapy that also helps reduce depression.

Higher self-esteem from a common creative therapy that also helps reduce depression.

Music therapy can reduce depression in young people with behaviour problems, research finds.

Music therapy also increased self-esteem compared to those who received the usual treatment without the therapy.

The conclusions come from the largest every study of its kind.

It involved 251 children, only half of whom were given music therapy.

The music therapy itself included things like the therapist asking children to describe how they felt by playing a tune.

All the children in the study were being treated for behavioural, emotional or developmental problems.

The results showed that those who received the music therapy had higher self-esteem and reduced depression in comparison to those that had care as usual.

Professor Sam Porter, who led the study, said:

“This study is hugely significant in terms of determining effective treatments for children and young people with behavioural problems and mental health needs.

The findings contained in our report should be considered by healthcare providers and commissioners when making decisions about the sort of care for young people that they wish to support.”

Ciara Reilly, Chief Executive of Every Day Harmony, a music therapy charity, said:

“Music therapy has often been used with children and young people with particular mental health needs, but this is the first time its effectiveness has been shown by a definitive randomised controlled trail in a clinical setting.

The findings are dramatic and underscore the need for music therapy to be made available as a mainstream treatment option.

For a long time we have relied on anecdotal evidence and small-scale research findings about how well music therapy works.

Now we have robust clinical evidence to show its beneficial effects.”

Related

The study was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, (Porter et al., 2016).

A Worrying Mental Sign Of Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers.

Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers.

Feeling low can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.

Vitamin D may be linked to critical neurotransmitters and inflammatory markers that can cause depression.

Along with low mood, the most important symptoms of depression are:

  1. Decreased interest in life or pleasure.
  2. Energy loss.
  3. Concentration problems.

The conclusions come from a study of 12,600 people whose symptoms of depression and vitamin D levels were examined.

It emerged that people with low vitamin D levels were more likely to be depressed.

The study cannot tell us if low vitamin D is a cause of depression or the result.

The study’s authors explain:

“We found that low vitamin D levels are associated with depressive symptoms, especially in persons with a history of depression.

These findings suggest that primary care patients with a history of depression may be an important target for assessment of vitamin D levels.”

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more Northern climes.

Up to 50% of young women may be deficient in this vitamin, other research has shown.

Professor E. Sherwood Brown, study co-author, said:

“Our findings suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients — and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels — might be useful.

But we don’t have enough information yet to recommend going out and taking supplements.”

Vitamin D levels are now routinely tested during physical exams as deficiencies are linked to other health problems, such as obesity, diabetes and general cognitive decline.

The study was published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Hoang et al., 2011).

Why Some Depressed People Hate Being Told to ‘Cheer Up’ (M)

Why many find it so hard to support people who are depressed.

Why many find it so hard to support people who are depressed.

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How A Depressed Father Affects Their Child’s Mental Health (M)

There is a strong link between paternal depression and child behaviour problems five years later.

There is a strong link between paternal depression and child behaviour problems five years later.

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Why Depression Is A Perfectly Normal Response To Complex Problems

Rather than being an abnormal condition, aspects of depression are actually highly adaptive.

Rather than being an abnormal condition, aspects of depression are actually highly adaptive.

Depression can be a perfectly normal reaction to facing a complex problem.

Rather than being an abnormal condition, aspects of depression are actually highly adaptive.

Being depressed involves devoting time and energy to thinking about the problem, trying to understand its causes and generating possible solutions.

Dr Paul Andrews, an expert on depression, says:

“Depression has long been seen as nothing but a problem.

We are asking whether it may actually be a natural adaptation that the brain uses to tackle certain problems.

We are seeing more evidence that depression can be a necessary and beneficial adaptation to dealing with major, complex issues that defy easy understanding.”

Psychologists label the state of focusing on problems to the exclusion of all else ‘rumination’.

Marriage breakups, chronic illnesses and other difficulties can lead to highly ruminative states.

Depressed people lose their interest in anything apart from their problems.

This can lead to the classic signs of depression, including disrupted sleeping, eating and cutting oneself off from social interaction.

To explore this problem-solving reaction to life’s difficulties, researchers have developed a way of measuring analytical rumination.

After giving the test to 579 people, they found it was related to depression.

Thinking of depression as a natural response to a difficult situation could be beneficial, said Dr Skye Barbic, the study’s first author:

“Instead of discussing the disease as a ‘bad thing’, clinicians may be able to help patients have insight about the potential adaptive purposes of their thinking and how this may be used as a strength to move forward in their lives.”

Dr Zachary Durisko, study co-author, said:

“When working with many people who experience chronic health conditions, depression is often the limiting factor to recovery and goal attainment.

The test can potentially quickly tell us when people are struggling to identify their problems, trying to set goals, or trying to move forward in their lives.

We hypothesize that very different levels of support and care are required throughout these different stages of thinking.”

The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE (Barbic et al., 2014).

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