Category: Mental Health

One question can diagnose your future mental health.

Just one question is enough to get a general idea of someone’s future mental health.

It is: “In general, would you say that your mental health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?”

Surprisingly, around 60% of people who are depressed nevertheless rate their mental health as ‘good’.

One year later people who were positive about their mental health were less likely to be in serious psychological distress, even without any treatment.

Good mental health is about more than just a lack of symptoms, it includes being able to cope with life, having meaningful relationships and feeling purposeful.

A rating of ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ could suggest that some help would be beneficial.

Dr Sirry Alang, study co-author, said:

“Self-rated mental health is a very powerful construct that can be useful in clinical practice if we consider it a potential screener for mental health.

Positive ratings of mental health even in the face of symptoms might not be a result of denial but may offer valuable insights about a person’s ability to cope with their symptoms.”

The study was published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (McAlpine et al., 2018).

People felt their pets could tell when they were in trouble.

Pets can help people manage mental health conditions, particularly in times of crisis, new research finds.

People’s emotional relationship with their animals can be intense and they can provide welcome support.

The review of 17 different studies found that people living with mental illness reported a variety of different benefits to having pets:

1. People reported finding pets calming and supportive.
2. People felt their pets could tell when they were in trouble.
3. Pets provided a distraction from upsetting symptoms of mental illness.
4. Pets helped people stay active by providing a stimulus.
5. Pets helped people maintain a positive identity.
6. Owners felt their pets accepted them without judgement.

Some moving examples of how pets helped people were revealed.

In one study, Karin, a child with autism, was comforted by the dog when no one else was available:

“The dog approaches Karin when she’s crying and comforts her by lying next to her and licking away her tears.

The dog hears her, and wherever he is in the
house, he comes to her.

We can’t always comfort her.

Sometimes Karin has said, ‘It’s a good thing we have the dog, otherwise no one would be able to comfort me”

Others talked about the benefits of talking to their cat:

“Sometimes if I talk to the cat, perhaps it’s like being in a confessional, I find I can address things that perhaps I wouldn’t have done normally if I hadn’t have had the cat to talk to.”

Another woman talked about the being suicidal and how her rabbits had helped:

“They are something that is very important in my recovery and helping me not get too depressed.

Even when I was so depressed, I was kind of suicidal.

I never got really bad, but I was suicidal at one time.

The thing that made me stop was wondering what the rabbits would do.

That was the first thing I thought of and I thought, oh yeah, I can’t leave because the rabbits need me.

So they were playing a really big role in that.”

Some disadvantages to pets were also identified, including the cost and emotional burden of looking after an animal.

Dr Helen Brooks, the study’s first author, said:

“Our review suggests that pets provide benefits to those with mental health conditions.

Further research is required to test the nature and extent of this relationship, incorporating outcomes that cover the range of roles and types of support pets confer in relation to mental health and the means by which these can be incorporated into the mainstay of support for people experiencing a mental health problem.”

The study was published in the journal BMC Psychiatry (Brooks et al., 2018).

Organisations should adjust their policies if they care about their employee’s wellbeing.

People who do not separate their work-life from their private life are killing their well-being, according to new research.

Habits like checking and responding to work emails at home or taking the laptop on holiday were linked to lower wellbeing in the study.

Those who mixed work and free time were less likely to engage in activities that would help them recover, like hobbies or sports.

So they returned to work more exhausted and with a lower sense of balance and wellbeing.

Dr Ariane Wepfer, the study’s first author, said:

“Employees who integrated work into their non-work life reported being more exhausted because they recovered less.

This lack of recovery activities furthermore explains why people who integrate their work into the rest of their lives have a lower sense of well-being.”

The results come from a survey of 1,916 people in German-speaking countries across a wide range of sectors.

Dr Wepfer said companies should adjust their policies:

“Organizational policy and culture should be adjusted to help employees manage their work-non-work boundaries in a way that does not impair their well-being.

After all, impaired well-being goes hand in hand with reduced productivity and reduced creativity.”

The study was published in the Journal of Business and Psychology (Wepfer et al., 2017).

Our environment may change the brain’s structure and function in a positive way.

Living near a forest keeps the brain healthier, new research finds.

Even city dwellers who lived closer to a forest had a healthier amygdala, an area of the brain where emotion and stress are processed.

This suggests a link between living near trees and being able to cope with stress.

Ms Simone Kühn, the study’s first author, said:

“Research on brain plasticity supports the assumption that the environment can shape brain structure and function.

That is why we are interested in the environmental conditions that may have positive effects on brain development.

Studies of people in the countryside have already shown that living close to nature is good for their mental health and well-being.

We therefore decided to examine city dwellers.”

The study of healthy aging included data from 341 seniors between the ages of 61 and 82.

They were given memory and reasoning tests as well as brain scans.

Professor Ulman Lindenberger, study co-author, said:

“Our study investigates the connection between urban planning features and brain health for the first time

By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world population is expected to be living in cities.

These results could therefore be very important for urban planning.

In the near future, however, the observed association between the brain and closeness to forests would need to be confirmed in further studies and other cities.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Kühn et al., 2017).

Show popular with teenagers linked to increased internet searches for how to commit suicide.

A Netflix drama called ’13 Reasons Why’ has been linked to internet searches for suicide, new research finds.

The series, which is popular with teenagers, is about the suffering and eventual suicide of a teenage girl.

The girl’s journey is experienced by her friend listening to a series of audio-cassette journals she has left behind.

(If this sounds like just the sort of thing you don’t need on a Monday night after a long day at work, then I for one sympathise.)

In any case, some have criticised the show for presenting an idealised version of suicide that viewers might copy.

Now researchers have analysed internet search data in the US in the days after the show aired.

They found a significant spike in searches for ‘how to commit suicide’ (up by 26%) and ‘how to kill yourself’ (up 9%).

Professor Mark Dredze, a study author, said:

“In relative terms, it’s hard to appreciate the magnitude of ’13 Reasons Why’s release.

In fact there were between 900,000 and 1,500,000 more suicide related searches than expected during the 19 days following the series’ release.”

Previous research suggests that online searches for suicide are linked to actual suicidal behaviour.

Dr John W. Ayers, study co-author, said:

“While it’s heartening that the series’ release concurred with increased awareness of suicide and suicide prevention, like those searching for “suicide prevention,” our results back up the worst fears of the show’s critics: The show may have inspired many to act on their suicidal thoughts by seeking out information on how to commit suicide.”

Jon-Patrick Allem, study co-author, said:

“The World Health Organization has developed guidelines for media makers to prevent this very problem.

It is critical that media makers follow these guidelines.

For instance, these guidelines discourage content that dwells on the suicide or suicide act.

“13 Reasons Why” dedicated 13 hours to a suicide victim, even showing the suicide in gruesome detail.”

Dr Ayers concluded:

“We are calling on Netflix to remove the show and edit its content to align with World Health Organization standards before reposting.

Moreover, the planned second season, and all suicide related media, might undergo testing before wide release to prevent well intended content from producing unintended results.”

The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine (Ayers et al., 2017).