Category: Mental Health

10 Brutal Workplace Truths: How Jobs Destroy Mental Health (P)

From depression to suicide risk, 10 studies show how workplaces are sabotaging mental health.

We spend roughly one-third of our adult lives at work, so it would be handy if it didn't make us miserable.

A growing body of psychological research is revealing surprising and often unsettling truths about the modern workplace, from boardroom to factory floor.

Whether the result is depression, loneliness, poor physical health or existential boredom, these 10 studies expose the hidden forces that shape how we feel about our work — and ourselves.

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The Critical Mistake Many Therapists Make When Treating Mental Illness (M)

Distress and well-being are not two sides of the same coin and what that means for treatment.

Distress and well-being are not two sides of the same coin and what that means for treatment.

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The Foods That Boost Mental Wellbeing In 2 Weeks (M)

It reduces depression and anxiety, increases happiness and leads to higher social-emotional well-being.

It reduces depression and anxiety, increases happiness and leads to higher social-emotional well-being.

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What Your Dreams Say About Your Mental Health

After treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

After treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

People whose dreams are more positive have better mental health.

However, those who have more negative dreams tend to experience more anxiety while they are awake as well.

Indeed, after treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

It may be because people who can regulate their emotions better while awake can also keep their emotions more positive while they sleep.

For the study, 44 people kept a dream diary for three weeks, recording what they remembered each morning.

They also rated the emotions they experienced with the dreams.

The results showed that people who experienced more positive dreams generally had greater peace of mind while awake as well.

Ms Pilleriin Sikka, the study’s first author, said:

“These findings show that if we want to understand how dream content is related to waking well-being, it is not enough to measure only the symptoms of mental ill-being but we should measure well-being in its own right.

Surprisingly, those aspects that are typically considered and measured as ‘well-being’ were not related to dream content.

So there seems to be something unique about peace of mind and anxiety.”

Anxiety while waking was linked to negative dreams, the authors explain:

“…individuals with more symptoms of anxiety expressed more negative affect in subsequent dream reports and rated their dreams to contain more negative affect.”

Previous studies have linked depression and anxiety to worse dreams:

“People with different mental health disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression), sleep disorders, and health behavior problems report more nightmares and negatively toned dreams in general.

Interestingly, the reduction of depressive symptoms as a result of antidepressant treatment has been shown to accompany a corresponding change in dream affect.”

Related

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

The Type Of Meat That Contributes To Manic Episodes

Manic episodes can lead to dangerous risk-taking and delusional thinking — it frequently requires hospitalisation.

Manic episodes can lead to dangerous risk-taking and delusional thinking — it frequently requires hospitalisation.

Eating processed meats like beef jerky and salami is linked to manic episodes.

Manic episodes are a symptom of bipolar disorder and involve becoming euphoric, restless, experiencing a reduced need for sleep and having a racing mind.

Manic episodes can lead to dangerous risk-taking and delusional thinking — it frequently requires hospitalisation.

People who ate nitrate-cured meats were 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalised for mania as those who had not eaten the food, the researchers found.

Professor Robert Yolken, study co-author, said:

“We looked at a number of different dietary exposures and cured meat really stood out.

It wasn’t just that people with mania have an abnormal diet.”

The results come from 1,101 people with and without psychiatric disorders.

It wasn’t clear from this study how much cured meat was linked to mania.

However, the researchers also carried out a lab study on rats.

Some they fed store-bought beef-jerky and these started to show signs of mania within two weeks of eating the meat.

Professor Yolken said:

“We tried to make sure the amount of nitrate used in the experiment was in the range of what people might reasonably be eating.”

The scientists also tried feeding the rats nitrate-free meat — these did not show symptoms of mania, suggesting it was the nitrate causing the problem.

While small amounts of cured meats are unlikely to set off manic episodes in humans, further research is required.

Ms Seva Khambadkone, the study’s first author, said:

“It’s clear that mania is a complex neuropsychiatric state, and that both genetic vulnerabilities and environmental factors are likely involved in the emergence and severity of bipolar disorder and associated manic episodes.

Our results suggest that nitrated cured meat could be one environmental player in mediating mania.”

The researchers think that bacteria in the gut mediate the link between nitrates and mania.

Professor Yolken said:

“There’s growing evidence that germs in the intestines can influence the brain.

And this work on nitrates opens the door for future studies on how that may be happening.”

The study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry (Khambadkone et al., 2018).

Mental Illness Is 66% More Common In People With These Allergic Conditions

Could these allergies be affecting your mental health more than you think?

Could these allergies be affecting your mental health more than you think?

People who have asthma, hay fever and eczema are at an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders.

The Taiwanese study of 46,647 people with allergic diseases and 139,941 without allergies, found a 66 percent higher risk in those with conditions known as the three ‘A’s.

These are asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and atopic dermatitis (eczema).

Scientists have speculated that the link could be down to inflammation.

Inflammation is a critical component of allergies and is also linked to psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety.

Some studies have even suggested that asthma medications can lower the risk of psychiatric disorders.

It could also be that conditions like depression and anxiety set off allergic diseases.

Dr Nian-Sheng Tzeng, the study’s lead author, said:

“As a clinician, I observed that some patients with the three ‘A’s appeared to suffer emotionally.

Therefore, I wanted to clarify whether these allergic diseases are associated with psychiatric disorders.”

The study — which covered a 15-year period — found the rate at which people without allergies developed mental health problems was 6.7 percent.

Among those with allergies, though, 10.8 percent developed a psychiatric disorder.

Dr Tzeng said:

“We would like to let clinicians who care for patients with allergic diseases know that their risk for psychiatric diseases may be higher.

Assessing their emotional condition and monitoring their mental health could help to avoid later psychiatric problems.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry (Tzeng et al., 2018).

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