The Vitamin That Helps Prevent Depression

Increased intake of this vitamin is particularly important for reducing depression risk.

Increased intake of this vitamin is particularly important for reducing depression risk.

A healthy diet including plenty of folates is linked to lower depression risk, research finds.

Folates include vitamin B9, folacin and folic acid.

Some of the best dietary sources of folates include:

  • vegetables,
  • fruits,
  • liver,
  • and whole-grains.

Folate levels are particularly high in chickpeas, yeast extract, lentils and broad beans.

Losing weight is also linked to a lower risk of depression.

In contrast, eating junk food, sugar and processed foods was linked to increased depression risk by the study.

People who ate more foods like sausages, sugary snacks and drinks, manufactured foods and processed potatoes had higher depression risk.

The conclusion comes from a Finnish study of over 2,000 middle-aged men.

They were tracked for up to 20 years while their diet and mental health was monitored.

In another related study, 140 men and women were assigned to one of two groups.

One group ate a healthy diet while the other continued as normal.

The results again showed that a healthy diet including higher intake of vegetables, fruits, whole-grains and fish was linked to lower depression risk.

Increased intake of folates is particularly important.

Dr Anu Ruusunen, the study’s author, said:

“The study reinforces the hypothesis that a healthy diet has potential not only in the warding off of depression, but also in its prevention.”

The studies were published by the University of Eastern Finland (Ruusunen et al., 2013).

This Parent ‘Passes On’ Depression To Daughters

One family relationship can be particularly damaging for daughters.

One family relationship can be particularly damaging for daughters.

Fathers who experience postnatal depression can ‘pass on’ depression to their daughters, new research finds.

Around one-in-twenty fathers experience postnatal depression, on average.

There was no link found between fathers’ postnatal depression and their son’s depression.

It is not clear why daughters are affected, but fathers’ postnatal depression may affect family functioning, leading to conflict and maternal depression.

It could also be due to a special link between fathers and daughters during adolescence.

The conclusions come from a study of 3,176 families in the UK.

Professor Paul Ramchandani, study co-author, said:

“…we were able to follow up the young people from birth through to the age of 18, when they were interviewed about their own experience of depression.

Those young people whose fathers had been depressed back when they were born had an increased risk of depression at age 18 years.

We were also able to look at some of the ways in which depression in fathers might have affected children.

It appears that depression in fathers is linked with an increased level of stress in the whole family, and that this might be one way in which offspring may be affected.

Whilst many children will not be affected by parental depression in this way, the findings of this study highlight the importance of providing appropriate help to fathers, as well as mothers, who may experience depression.”

Mr Mark Williams, a paternal depression campaigner, said:

“In my experience of working with families, it’s sometimes only the father who is suffering in silence but sadly very few are asked about their mental health after becoming a parent.”

The study was published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry (Gutierrez-Galve et al., 2018).

The Simplest Way To Reduce Depression Risk 50%

The more people do this, the lower their depression risk.

Regular trips out are an easy way to protect against depression, new research finds.

More visits to places like the cinema, museums or the theatre are linked to dramatic reductions in depression risk in later life.

Cultural activities may do more than help people recover from depression, they may help prevent it, the study suggests.

People who went to films, plays and exhibitions every few months had a 32% lower risk of depression.

Those who went every month or more had a 48% lower risk of depression.

Dr Daisy Fancourt, the study’s first author, said:

“Generally speaking, people know the benefits of eating their five-a-day and of exercise for their physical and mental health, but there is very little awareness that cultural activities also have similar benefits.

People engage with culture for the pure enjoyment of doing so, but we need to be raising awareness of their wider benefits too.”

The conclusions come from over 2,000 people over 50 who were tracked for 10 years.

Dr Fancourt said:

‘We were very pleasantly surprised by the results.

Notably we find the same relationship between cultural engagement and depression amongst those of high and low wealth and of different levels of education — the only thing that differs is the frequency of participation.

‘Cultural engagement is what we call a “perishable commodity.”

For it to have long-term benefits for mental health, we need to engage in activities regularly.

This is similar to exercise: going for a run on the first of January won’t still have benefits in October unless we keep going for runs.”

Dr Fancourt continued:

“Depression is a major issue affecting millions of people.

If we are starting to feel low or isolated then cultural engagement is something simple that we can do to proactively help with our own mental health, before it gets to the point where we need professional medical help.”

The study was published in The British Journal of Psychiatry (Fancourt et al., 2018).

9 Signs of Seasonally Affective Disorder (SAD)

People are diagnosed with SAD if they experience these changes during two consecutive winters.

People are diagnosed with SAD if they experience these changes during two consecutive winters.

Seasonally affective disorder (SAD), which usually strikes during the dark winter months, is thought to affect around one-in-ten people.

Many of the following symptoms normally start between September and November and can continue until the following April:

  1. Anxiety
  2. Lethargy
  3. Irritability
  4. Tearfulness
  5. Reduced libido
  6. Low self-esteem
  7. Withdrawing from social situations
  8. Sleep problems
  9. Food cravings

People are diagnosed with SAD if they experience these changes over two consecutive winters.

SAD is more than just getting the blues, it is a form of major depression.

Dr Stephen Lurie, author of a review on SAD, said:

“Like major depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder probably is under-diagnosed in primary care offices.

But with personalized and detailed attention to symptoms, most patients can be helped a great deal.”

Light therapy is a popular way to treat SAD.

Light therapy can be useful for an instant boost, however, one study has found that cognitive-behavioural therapy is more effective in the long-run.

In therapy, people learned to avoid social isolation, which can depress mood.

Therapy also attempts to challenge the idea that the dark winter months are inevitably depressing.

The study found that while people were keen on the light therapy at the start, by the second winter only 30% were still using the equipment.

CBT, though, gave people the skills they needed to cope.

Sometimes SAD can get confused with other mental health problems, said Dr Lurie:

“The important message here is that if you are a patient who has been diagnosed with a mental illness of any kind, don’t just assume that any new mental or emotional problem is due to that illness.

Specifically, if you have ADHD and you feel worse in the winter, don’t just assume it’s your ADHD getting worse.

It could actually be SAD — and you should see your doctor because ADHD and SAD are treated entirely differently.”

The study was published in the journal American Family Physician (Lurie et al., 2007).

3 Types Of Depression Identified

One type does not respond to SSRI antidepressants.

One type does not respond to SSRI antidepressants.

Three sub-types of depression have been identified for the first time, new research reveals.

One type does not respond to SSRI antidepressants, the most common treatment for depression.

The type that does not respond to antidepressants exists in people with experience of childhood trauma, along with certain patterns of brain activity.

SSRIs are thought to work by boosting levels of serotonin in the brain, but they do not work on some people.

Professor Kenji Doya, study co-author, said:

“It has always been speculated that different types of depression exist, and they influence the effectiveness of the drug.

But there has been no consensus.”

For the study, 134 people had blood tests, completed a series of questionnaires and had brain scans.

The results revealed three different sub-types, Professor Doya said:

“This is the first study to identify depression sub-types from life history and MRI data.”

Two of the sub-types were linked to successfully responding to antidepressants.

People with these two type of depression had not suffered childhood trauma and did not have unusually high levels of connectivity between different areas of the brain.

The third type, that does not respond to antidepressants, is linked to unusual activity in the angular gyrus, a brain structure critical for processing language, attention and other areas of cognition.

It is hoped that understanding depression sub-types will aid its treatment.

Dr. Tomoki Tokuda, the study’s lead author, said:

“The major challenge in this study was to develop a statistical tool that could extract relevant information for clustering similar subjects together.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Tokuda et al., 2018).

The Best Way To Treat Depression

It helps change negative thought patterns and enables people with depression to see the world more realistically.

It helps change negative thought patterns and enables people with depression to see the world more realistically.

Changing how you think is the best way to overcome depression, research finds.

Cognitive techniques can help to change negative thought patterns and enable people with depression to see the world more realistically.

Dr Daniel Strunk, the study’s first author, said:

“…our results suggest that it was the cognitive strategies that actually helped patients improve the most during the first critical weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy.”

The study involved 60 patients diagnosed with major depression who were treated by cognitive therapists.

The results showed that an initial focus on cognitive techniques was linked to greater improvements in depression than using behavioural techniques.

Typical cognitive techniques include questioning negative thoughts and running thought experiments.

Behavioural techniques include things like making a plan of action to do things that you enjoy.

The study also found that people who collaborated better with their therapist and committed to therapy did better.

Dr Strunk said:

“If you’re a patient and willing to fully commit to the therapy process, our data suggest you will see more benefit.”

The study is part of a project to understand how cognitive therapy works, Dr Strunk said:

“We’re trying to understand if cognitive therapy leads people to a profound change in their basic self view, or if it teaches them a set of skills that they have to continually practice over time.”

Cognitive-behavioural therapy targets both thoughts and behaviours, but it may be the cognitive aspect that is most useful at first.

Dr Strunk said:

“In our sample of cognitive therapy patients, cognitive techniques appeared to promote a lessening of depression symptoms in a way that was not true of behavioral techniques.”

The study was published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy (Strunk et al., 2010).