The words were linked to conditions like depression and anxiety.
The remedy reduces symptoms in people experiencing the symptoms of depression.
The remedy reduces symptoms in people experiencing the symptoms of depression.
Eating better reduces depression symptoms, new research finds.
Three common diets have similar positive effects, whether people are trying to lose weight, reduce fat or just improve the nutrients in their diet.
There is no need for a special depression-busting diet: simply eating more fruit and veg and avoiding junk food will help.
Dietary changes are particularly beneficial for women, the scientists found.
Dr Joseph Firth, the study’s first author, said:
“The overall evidence for the effects of diet on mood and mental well-being had up to now yet to be assessed.
But our recent meta-analysis has done just that; showing that adopting a healthier diet can boost people’s mood.
However, it has no clear effects on anxiety.”
The conclusions come from almost 46,000 people who were involved in every existing clinical trial looking at diet and mental health problems.
The results showed that all three types of diet — a nutrient boosting, weight loss and fat reduction diet — ease depression symptoms.
Dr Firth said:
“This is actually good news.
The similar effects from any type of dietary improvement suggests that highly-specific or specialised diets are unnecessary for the average individual.
Instead, just making simple changes is equally beneficial for mental health.
In particular, eating more nutrient-dense meals which are high in fibre and vegetables, while cutting back on fast-foods and refined sugars appears to be sufficient for avoiding the potentially negative psychological effects of a ‘junk food’ diet.”
Exercise will boost the positive effects of diet changes, said Dr Brendon Stubbs, study co-author:
“…when dietary interventions were combined with exercise, a greater improvement in depressive symptoms was experienced by people.”
It is not yet clear how diet improves mental health, said Dr Firth:
“It could be through reducing obesity, inflammation, or fatigue—all of which are linked to diet and impact upon mental health.
And further research is still required to examine the effects of dietary interventions in people with clinically-diagnosed psychiatric conditions.”
The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Firth et al., 2019).
The combination worked for every patient in the study.
The most effective way to tackle Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
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 effect of anxiety and depression is similarly damaging as being obese.
It reduced depression and PTSD risk by 50%.
Two-thirds of Americans have this condition.
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).
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).
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