Blog Archive

Dementia's Relationship with Mental Health   In 2020, there were an estimated 55 million people living with dementia. 10 million new cases add to the number yearly, and experts believe that someone develops the condition every three seconds. Notably, researchers have always believed that there is a relationship between mental...

Mushroom Consumption May Lower Risk of Depression   Many people know mushrooms to be very healthy food. But few know that it also promotes better mental health. New research conducted by Penn State College of Medicine has revealed that people who consume mushrooms have lower rates of depression. Past studies...

Naomi Judd's Death by Suicide: The Fierce Grip of Mental Illness   On Saturday, April 30, country music legend Naomi Judd took her own life after battling mental illness for years. She died at the age of 76. Like many other people, you may wonder, what could be her reason...

How Cannabis Affects Our Cognition and Psychology   Cannabis has been in use for centuries and is now the most widely used drug available. For its ability to induce relaxation and feelings of excitement, that's pretty understandable. In short, many states have legalized its use. But we know that most...

How We View the Future May Influence How We Recover from Alcohol Use   A slow, long-term view towards life may be key to helping people recover from alcohol use disorder (AUD), a new study finds. Alcohol use disorder is a worrying problem that ravages the United States, creating an...

Treating Substance Use Also Reduces Depression in Youths with Both Problems   Many people use substances like alcohol and cannabis to curb depression. In fact, people seeking relief from anxiety, depression, and pain have the highest risk of developing cannabis use disorder (CUD). This means that substance use and depression...

Medical Marijuana May Lead to Cannabis Use Disorder   There have been claims going around for years that cannabis may effectively treat anxiety, depression, and many other health conditions. However, there aren't sound scientific studies or proofs to back such claims. Instead, contrary to the claim, new research suggests that...

Light Alcohol Intake is Risky After All, Large Study Finds   Experts have always told us that light to moderate alcohol consumption might be beneficial to promote better heart health. In fact, observational analysis of UK Biobank participants showed that light to moderate drinkers had the lowest risk of heart...

Stress during Pregnancy: How It May Affect the Baby   We all go through stress at some point. But when it becomes excessive or goes on for so long, it becomes a cause for concern, for example, in pregnant women. When a woman undergoes stress for long periods during pregnancy,...

Mental Health Treatments: One Parasite Could be the Breakthrough   T. gondii, a common parasite that infects humans and other warm-blooded animals, is known to cause behavioral changes in the infected host. Research into how this parasitic infection alters behavior suggests that the pathway may help develop treatments for schizophrenia...

Parents of Children with ADHD at Risk of Developing Dementia   ADHD is a psychiatric disorder that involves trouble paying attention, being overly active, and having an inability to control impulsive behaviors. It's one of the most common mental illnesses of childhood, and it's also a neurodevelopmental disorder. ADHD usually...

The Link between Chronic Diseases and Mental Health   Chronic diseases and mental disorders can affect anyone, regardless of background, color, or age. Interestingly, people with chronic conditions are also often diagnosed with mental illness. Chronic diseases are usually long-lasting and hardly ever go away completely. This life-long pain and...

Simple Ways to Look After Your Mental Health besides Therapy   Therapy and medication are some of the best ways to keep your mental health issues in check. When you're dealing with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or some other disorder, it helps to consult a licensed psychiatrist or counselor, talk about...

Pregnancy and postpartum depression   Childbearing can be challenging, and different women respond differently to it. While some mothers get excited after childbirth, some fall into depression as they navigate this significant life transition. Depression that occurs after childbirth is known as postpartum depression. However, some women also get depressed...

8 Things You Must Know about Mental Illness                                                      Some illnesses are transient, but mental health disorders are often longer-lasting and complex. They can affect one's daily life and relationships, so it becomes important to be informed about certain realities while living with a mental illness. How much you understand...

Clues to Treating Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Discovered   Although schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are two very debilitating and common mental health issues, their cause has gone undetected for years. They are also very challenging to diagnose and treat. But one thing's for sure; they are both highly heritable, and...

Re-Assessing the Pathway to Alcohol Use Disorder   People have always been thought to become addicted to alcohol use the longer they indulge. That is, they grow so used to the pleasurable effects of alcohol over time that they now need to take larger amounts for them to feel the...

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Associated with Hoarding   Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic condition characterized by attention difficulty, hyperactivity, disorganization, and impulsiveness. It typically begins in childhood, goes into adulthood, and may cause low self-esteem. Hoarding disorder is a behavioral pattern in which the individual excessively accumulates items and has trouble...

The Connection Between Heart Disease and Psychiatric Disorders   Mental health is pivotal to a person's overall health, as it involves their emotional, social, and psychological well-being. In addition, it influences how we think and act. Mental health disorders like anxiety and depression interfere with a person's social behavior and...

How Brain Cell Development Influences Risk of Psychiatric Disorders   A group of researchers has discovered that schizophrenia and a range of mental illnesses are associated with a breakdown in brain cell development. The study was conducted by Cardiff University scientists, jointly led by Dr. Andrew Pocklington. We've always known...

Where Cancer and Depression Meet   People with cancer, and even their family members, often fall into feelings of depression. That's pretty understandable given the thoughts of amazing dreams and bright futures that are now at stake. These feelings of depression can be temporary. However, they become a cause for...

Parkinson's is Often Linked with Depression, But There’s Good News   Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by tremors and difficulty walking and talking. It is progressive, and the symptoms may worsen over time to the point that the individual may freeze on the spot and fall, unable to walk....

Stress Can Lead to Excessive Drinking in Women—Not So in Men   We have always known that stress plays a role in alcohol use. Many people drink to quell the stress and worries -- to feel lighter. But the relationship between stress and drinking is different in men and women....

Will My Anxiety Get Worse Over Time?   You experience anxiety when something troubles your mind, causing you to worry. It could be a social event that's coming up, an impending task you don't know how to handle, or a situation that causes fear. Most times, once the thing causing...

Intimacy and Mental Health: The Connection   Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and what a wonderful time to share love! From warm hugs and friendly conversations to sending of gifts, this season is an avenue to ignite intimacy once more. However, just as much as we express affection...

Risk of Death Increases in Patients with both Cardiovascular and Psychiatric Diseases   Chronic diseases like stroke, heart attack, and diabetes ravage our older population. These problems put the patients at risk of premature death. In fact, over 17 million deaths are recorded from one heart problem or the other...

Battling with Anxiety Disorder? There's Good News for You   Of all mental illnesses, anxiety is the most common. As of 2017, 792 million people worldwide had at least one mental health disorder, and about 284 million out of that (3.8% of the world's population) were suffering from anxiety. Some...

Depression, Suicide, and the American Teen   Of all the mental health challenges people battle, depression is one of those that sap all the juice out of life. People are struggling with self-worth all over the world; suicidal thoughts ravage minds and render lives desolate. And quite sadly, more than...

Digital Solutions Effective for Reducing Signs of Depression   For decades, we've relied solely on face-to-face interactions to treat mental illnesses. Patients need to walk into a therapist's office or discuss via live chat. But research shows that digital interventions (using computers and smartphones) are useful in addressing the growing...

Babies of Depressed Moms Are at Risk of Poor Cognitive Development   If someone were to ask, "Can an infant be mentally affected if the mother suffers from depression? Your answer may instinctively be YES. But you may be compelled to disagree with yourself on second thoughts. How could a...

Relapse—The Science behind the Intense Urge   Why can some people use recreational drugs controllably whereas others get compulsively drawn to it? Why do some individuals get strongly addicted after using drugs like marijuana, exhibiting the drug-seeking habits typical of substance abuse disorder? Why do people relapse even after weeks...

Type 2 Diabetes More Prevalent in People with Mental Health Disorder   Psychiatric disorders impair quality of life and lead to high mortality. Knowing how often mentally disturbed people commit suicide and get into accidents, the high mortality rate comes as no surprise. But that's not even all the risk...

Insomnia and Mental Health—The Link   There have always been talks about whether poor quality sleep leads to mental health problems or if the reverse is always the case. Many researchers have tried to answer the question for years, but their methods often have limitations. Fortunately, a new study has...

A New Understanding of Mental Health Disorders   For a very long time, we've believed that mental health disorders occur spontaneously without any definite cause. We thought that anyone is at risk of mental illness, regardless of background and personality. But it seems we've been mistaken for far too long....

The Benefits of Sleep in Teens’ Mental Health   Youths of today rationally believe that sleeping less amounts to greater productivity. If you ask millennials what it takes to be rich, a considerable percentage would tell you "working late into the night." Some think that the wealthiest people in the...

Curbing the Mental Health Challenge in Cities   City dwellers generally face many issues that negatively impact their mental health. Notably, countries where more people reside in cities have higher rates of addiction, anxiety, and depression than rural countries. With how fast the world is getting urbanized, we ideally should...

How Meditation Can Help You Make Fewer Mistakes   Meditation has gained so much mainstream acceptance in recent years for its benefits. It can help you manage stress, increase tolerance and self-awareness, and even reduce negative emotions. But there's more. New research now shows that meditation can even help you...

How Does Opioid Overdose Affect the Individual?   Opioids are sometimes prescribed to treat pain. Sadly, many people battling one mental health disorder or the other often resort to opioids to "feel good." But opioid gets easily addicting and abused, and its misuse is deadly. Some peddlers even lace the...

Integrated Depression Care Can Benefit Heart Failure Patients   Heart failure is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases among older adults in the United States. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, about half of the patients who suffered heart failure developed depression over time. Many factors contribute to that, including hospital...

Mental Health Benefits of Meditation   Meditation isn't inherently a religious practice. Meditation is a way of using mindfulness techniques to focus your mind and body -- to redirect your thoughts. Meditation can help you increase awareness of yourself and your immediate surroundings rather than focusing on the past and...

How adjusting fatty acid intake can improve bipolar disorder symptoms   Bipolar disorder is a mental condition characterized by alternating extremes of depression and cheer. Like mood swings but on a more frequent and broader scale. During such episodes, the part of the brain responsible for regulating emotions isn't so...

Living with bipolar disorder: brain changes and coping techniques   What is bipolar disorder? As the name suggests, people with bipolar disorder experience alternating extremes of two opposing emotions, depression and excitement. The excitement can be elation or even anger.   How is it like to live with bipolar disorder?...

Gratitude and Its Effect on Mental Health   We all want a happy life. We want to have a well-paying job, a happy family, a beautiful house, and do everything we've always desired since childhood. But while pursuing all of these, we often forget to show gratitude for what we...

Teen Social Media Use May Not Be As Bad As We Thought   These days, a teen's typical day involves a considerable amount of technology use. Young people use social media to reach out to friends, make new ones, get updated on social events, entertainment, and while away time. But...

Covid-19: How Sitting More Increased Feelings of Anxiety & Depression We have always known that a sedentary lifestyle leads to poor physical health. But specific data regarding how it affects mental health wasn't available. The Covid-19 pandemic, which necessitated a stay-at-home order, brought an abrupt change to lives all over...

Sibling Bullying and Mental Health   While we may think that bullying starts and ends in childhood, it's not always so. The physical pains may go away, but not the psychological effect. New research has found that sibling bullying leads to poor mental health later in teenage.    Sibling Bullying...

Opioid Addiction and Childhood Trauma—How are They Connected?   From all that we know, most people who battle opioid addiction have experienced childhood trauma of some sort. Intuition immediately tells us that it's just their way of dealing with pain, to help them suppress the effect of the unpleasant memories....

One's Long-Term Mental Health May Now Be Predicted after Trauma   When an individual experiences a traumatic event, their brain responds. It could be the shocking death of a loved one, an accident, abuse, or some near-death experience. Before now, studies have always shown that different people (their brains actually)...

Poor Quality Sleep is Affecting Students' Mental Health   Being a student is never a piece of cake, especially for college students. Several things call for your attention as a student, one of which is getting good grades. Home works, tests, and exams, therefore, put pressure on students to devote...

In a study done at the Imperial college London and the University of South Carolina, it has been found that inflammation and release of the molecule histamine could be responsible for mood in the brain. This has become a molecule of interest where depression is a concern. There is a...

Thinking that time and resources a person spends on leisure is wasteful is misguided. For people with mental health issues, leisure time can bring about happiness and relieve stress. Higher level of stress and depression needs more than just drugs to make the person whole again. The feeling that leisure...

With the pandemic becoming a global crisis, individuals with mental health issues have suffered more than others. This is because depression and anxiety symptoms have doubled according to clinical psychologists. There is a call for people to help youths and other people who are suffering from mental illnesses. It is...

Several issues affect youths that are suffering from mental illness. This is because of the many triggers that they face in day-to-day life. There are many challenges that social media has created that many people face whenever they visit social media sites.  Although social media was created to make it...

The anesthetic ketamine has been discovered to help people with severe depression. These are new findings that are raising the hopes of the affected persons that it can be a great treatment option for mental health. This is because the drug has an antidepressant effect making it ideal for people...

A study has shown that one in four adults is estimated to be obese in the UK, this number keeps growing daily. All over the world, many people are overweight, and it is not limited to adults only. Childhood obesity has become a major problem in many countries across the...

Physical exercise is advocated in many areas as a way of improving health. It is also good for mental health and well done regularly, the long-term effects are many. Exercise has been associated with mood improvement, self-esteem improvement, mood enhancement, and many more positive effects. People with mental health can...

For a long time, doctors have been looking for treatment for different kinds of depression. Many people are having a difficult time adjusting to the changing economy. With the current pandemic, it is important to deal with depression head-on. Research shows that the use of nitrous oxide and oxygen, also...

When the Coronavirus hit, there was panic and anxiety all over the world. The fear of death, the end of the world, was just an air of fear crippling in every part of the world. Things did not get better when there was a countrywide lockdown in most countries. Staying...

 One of the ways to take care of your mental health is by keeping away from stress. Stress not only does it affects our health, but it could cause overall physical adverse effects. For example, we know that stress can cause wrinkles and make you look older than your age.Another...

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash I read an opinion piece in 2017 that was right on target. Its main point: We need to stop apologizing for our mental health. Now in 2020, it rings more true than ever.  The author recognizes how far we’ve come in reducing the stigma...

Photo by Mario Azzi on Unsplash Realizing you’re suicidal is unquestionably a low point in life, but it should not be an end point. The oft-heard adage is true: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. With time and help, everyone can feel better. This may seem hard to...

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash It’s true that there have always been countless distractions around us, but smart phones have taken that to a new level. With notifications dinging regularly, we’ve gotten used to taking a minute to respond to a message no matter what we’re in the middle...

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash In 2015 I read a study that examines the relationship between spirituality and body image. Its conclusion? Strong religious beliefs coupled with a positive relationship with a higher power are connected to  lower levels of disordered eating and body image concern.  The authors identified a couple particularly...

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash I always think it's fascinating to read up on current research on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Check out this article from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH):  "When in a relaxed state, the brains of children and adolescents with...

Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash Depression tends to worsen with age. Now, during isolation and COVID-19, it is even more important to help our elderly maintain their mental health. If you are elderly and isolated, read on: I have suggestions to help you too! Back in 2015 I read...

Image from Neurohacker.com. Between 1 and 3 percent of the world’s population suffer from debilitating obsessions and compulsions. Their thoughts and behaviors interfere with their relationships, jobs, and quality of life. The good news is that effective drugs and therapies exist for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The bad news is that these established treatments only work...

Photo by Francisco Gonzalez on Unsplash For decades, mental health professionals have heavily emphasized medication in the fight against schizophrenia symptoms. A 2015 study and a follow-up study in 2017 says we should turn that approach around: Focusing more on therapy than on medication yields better results.  That’s good news for the hundreds of...

Photo by Miikka Luotio on Unsplash When it comes to sleep, it looks like alcohol has an effect opposite the one many think it has. It turns out that not only is a nightcap a bad way to  send you off to bed, your drinking habits overall could be affecting the way you sleep....

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash I specialize in treating bipolar disorder. It is a troubling reality for millions of individuals and families around the world. About 1 percent of people across all nations and cultures have the disorder, which can disrupt relationships, cognitive function,  and more. It’s the leading cause of disability...

Photo by Chien Nguyen Minh on Unsplash Serotonin levels are one of the first things you learn about when looking into the biology behind depression and other mental disorders. If there’s not enough of it in your brain, you learn, you’re more likely to be depressed. We’ve always known it’s...

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash There was a 2015 study on suicide that took a different approach: Researchers looked at common characteristics among the relatives of people who had committed suicide. Study participants, including a set of mentally healthy individuals who were parents, brothers, or sisters to suicide completers, were...

As we're entering a (hopefully temporary) era of mass online schooling in the U.S., it's good to be aware of your student's stress level, and teach them how to cope.  Researchers have been researching student stress for a long time. I read this study in 2015 where researchers stepped into the world...

Photo by Esther Wechsler on Unsplash Proper nutrition during pregnancy is important for all women: The nutrients they consume are the only nutrients their babies receive. Lately I’ve been thinking specifically about expectant mothers with eating disorders. The worst of it comes down to this: Women with anorexia and women...

Photo by Ola Mishchenko on Unsplash There’s an emerging field in the treatment of mental health: Nutritional psychology. Mental health professionals are increasingly viewing mental illness from a holistic perspective, and nutrition is one of the factors that come into play. In 2015 a group of researchers pulled together all...

I want to talk about a disorder that is not a mental health diagnosis, but it does affect mental health. About one in 10 women have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), so you probably know someone who has it. It’s a hormonal disorder that impacts on women’s bodies in various ways: People with PCOS...

Thanks to Duangphorn Wiriya for sharing this photo on Unsplash. Loneliness affects us physically, especially during this time of social distancing. It affects our kids, too. There's been a study already from the Journal of American Child and Adolescent Psychiatry on the effects of loneliness and isolation on children in turbulent situations throuough...

Let's talk about social media addiction.  This image is actually from a 2019 blog from Tufts University, which contains this stark statement on the effects of social media: While physical symptoms such as compulsions to check social media sites are obvious to the human eye, more readily studied and subsequently...

In this time of social distancing, Pokemon Go may be just the thing to beat the blues. When I first read some research on this wildly popular game in 2016, the last thing I expected to read was how it was lessening players’ depression and anxiety symptoms. But that’s what users...

People diagnosed with schizophrenia often have trouble functioning in society. Hallucinations and delusions make it difficult to understand reality, thought disorders can disrupt  logical reasoning, and memory impairment can make completing everyday tasks impossible. Psychotic symptoms can be treated effectively with medication, but drugs successfully treating cognitive impairments have been elusive....

Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash. A 2015 study by the National Institutes of Mental Health dove into the previously murky waters of children’s antipsychotic use, and the findings are interesting: Boys are being prescribed antipsychotics much more often than girls are. In the children up to 12 years old,...

Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash I, like millions of people across the world, have been taking in information on the protests going on in America, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.  It actually got me thinking about a 2015 study about cultural empathy training.  I’ve worked with clients with...

Image from Sports Medicine. The science of mental health is evolving. In the past, we’d say someone has schizophrenia or doesn’t; they have autism or they don’t. In recent years, though, we’re talking more and more about spectra. The spectrum of light. You may be aware that instead of diagnosing different types...

Image from Khalifa University. You may or may not notice it, but when you’re depressed, your behavior changes — enough so that your phone can tell the difference. I read an article that recommended apps to track your mood. One of the highest-rated ones was called Dailyo, which is a...

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Back in 2014, I read about a system failure for teens seeking help for self-inflicted injuries: When they go to emergency rooms, they’re often met with what they perceive as degrading treatment from the staff. This perceived lack of kindness perpetuates what researchers...

Image from Wrytin.com We are living through an incredibly divisive time on social media this year. Whether it was information regarding COVID, and now the protests in cities and towns all over the world, tempers are high on social media.  I wanted to write today about one simple tool to...

Photo by Chris Leipelt on Unsplash We’ve all experienced negative effects from lack of sleep — exhaustion, blurry vision, depression, irritability. But lack of sleep also interferes with your ability to store memories. Scientists have long been aware of this connection: Psychologists suggest sleep isolates the brain from the distractions that interrupt memory storage, and...

Vincent Van Gogh has long been a favorite example of a person suffering from mental illness reaching great heights creatively. Some even wonder whether the iconic yellow swirls in his Starry Night painting are indicative of altered vision due to medications he may have taken. Van Gogh suffered from manic depression and committed suicide...

There has been some fascinating research lately on early detection to Alzheimer's disease, and possible genetic components of it in certain people.  Researchers published findings in 2019 on a gene--the APOE4--which seems to play a role in neurodegenerative diseases. Here's a quote from BeingPatient.com and their review of the study: ...

Image from Chowhound. Depression is the leading cause of disability all over the world. Suicide rates are escalating. Families are in despair. What can we do about it? Is there anything besides medication and counseling? How can we prevent it? This answer is unconventional: we could all stand to eat...

Here in Boise we’re starting to shake off any lingering symptoms of winter. That’s good news for people suffering from depression and other mental health conditions. Exercise and sunshine are both simple but effective tools in treating depression, so why not take advantage of both at the same time? A...

My husband sent me an article from the Harvard Business Review a few years ago, and I wanted to share it again because it's full of great tips for how to turn a bad day around!  Here are some of my favorites: Be grateful! It’s impossible to feel depressed and...

For parents who are suddenly homeschooling teenagers during COVID-19, here's a tip: let them sleep in. Studies show that extra sleep for teenagers actually helps shield them against depression and anxiety. It's true! This study from 2017 showed that teenagers with school starting at 8:30am or later had better mental health...

If you’ve ever felt physically exhausted after a long day of thinking too hard, you’re right: Mental exertion is physically exhausting. And in this climate of COVID-19 uncertainty, nearly everyone in the U.S. is most likely experiencing this level of mental fatigue. A 2015 study shows that when we add mental stress...

Image from Medical News Today. Having a couple of drinks before bed may not seem like much, but a 2018 study found that even one drink can compromise the quality of your sleep.  A group of researchers in Finland found that even small amounts of alcohol can alter the quality and...

Image from Forbes. Over the years, I’ve seen mindfulness meditation make a big difference for clients dealing with depression and anxiety. I've learned that mindfulness is good for the heart not just metaphorically, but physically as well.  A 2016 study shows that people who are more mindful — in other words, they are...

I read an interesting study in 2013 about U.S. veterans who were being treated for Depression. It confirms what I have believed all along, that is to get the families involved in the treatment of those suffering with Depression. In this study after questioning patients, it was found that 64% of...

Image from Flo.health. When you first start having perimenopausal symptoms, you may not put two and two together; after all, you’re too young to be going through menopause. The changes in your body can confuse you and drive you to distraction. It is not uncommon to be confused and for...

Image from WebMD.   I don't know about you, but I've been reading up on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) and I wanted to share a few things I learned.   I read this helpful article from NPR about what are the most important things you can do to prepare for the...

Image from Genetic Literacy Project. What is ADHD? ADHD is a term that’s thrown around so frequently these days, we all assume we know what it means. Used to apply to everyone from a kid who misbehaves in school to an adult who has trouble focusing on a single TV...

Image from Psych Central.  Did you know that therapy can help with autism spectrum disorders?  It's true!  I read a research article in 2011 about children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) who suffered from anxiety. Researchers broke the participants into two groups: one group tried out CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and...

Image from MarketingLand.com  In 2011 I read an article in the NY Times called, "Since Talking Doesn’t Pay, Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy."  I found this outlook to be pretty bleak, because helping treat people was what got me into this field in the first place. Treatment means treating the...

Image from Labor Finder. In 2011, I read a statistic that really bothered me, that it was possible that 40% of adults under the age of 25 in Europe were unemployed. All over the United States as well as many other countries are showing increasing rates of mental health problems...

All this week, we've been surrounded with displays of romance. Flowers, chocolates, and jewelry are nice, but a more meaningful gift you can give anyone you love is the gift of listening. In 2018 I read about a study where the researchers measured cortisol (stress hormone) levels in subjects’ spit before and...

Let's talk about EMDR. Eye Movement Desentization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was developed by Francine Shapiro, PhD while she was out walking off an upsetting incident as a psychology student in 1987. Here's what she had to say about that moment:  "I noticed that disturbing thoughts I had been having had...

It’s just a theory so far, but worth a try if you’re up for it: A cold shower might be just the trick to shock your brain out of a depressed mood. I stumbled upon a decade-old article this week detailing a hypothesis along these lines. It points out that modern humans...

Image from MedicalXpress.com.  I've seen fascinating research discussing what types of personality traits tend to lead to happier people.  In general, research suggests that extroverted people are happier than introverted people. This makes sense as it has been found that extroverted people are more likely to surround themselves with people, which we...

From treating neuroses to reducing chronic pain, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to help with many conditions. I wrote a piece earlier this month on how CBT works to manage symptoms of ADHD. Today I wanted to give an overview of how CBT actually works, and why I...

Image from TeaSoul.net There have been numerous articles extolling both the benefits and harmfulness of caffeine. Less often has there been research on the effects on mental health. What’s my opinion? I advise caution in its usage. There has been insufficient studies showing any benefit of caffeine on mental health....

There is a perception that ADHD is an over diagnosed condition in children. There have been studies over the years that have challenged that perception, even suggesting that ADHD is under diagnosed. One chilling study I read in 2010 reported that of the 62% of prisoners who responded to the...

Did you know that increasing your Vitamin D can take the edge off your depression? There is a growing body of evidence that links many mental health conditions to dietary deficiencies.  Check out this 2010 study called "Where all the sunshine?" Researchers combed over many studies that analyzed the connection...

I read this study in 2010 about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as an approach to treat ADHD in adults. When researchers worked with patients on medication for ADHD, CBT worked better than relaxation and educational support in lessening ADHD symptoms.  That's not all! Research supporting CBT as a supplementary treatment for ADHD cropped...

There has been years of research documenting how harmful inflammation can be for the body. In recent years of psychological study, researchers are finding that inflammation also wreaks havoc on the brain.  This research has led to some fascinating discoveries! This 2010 article in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry where researchers...

It’s resolution season, and I’ve got one for you: Make a goal to improve your mental health this year. I talk about it ways to do that in this blog often. Here’s a recap of some changes you can make: Exercise more (maybe try rock climbing?) Cut out sugar Eat more vegetables Make a...

I have some patients with depression who have asked if taking St. John’s Wort is adequate in the treatment of Depression. My answer? It depends. This meta-analysis of 27 clinical trials, totaling more than 3,800 patients, compared St. John's Wort and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a common class of...

When I see patients in my office I would say that 75% have as a major complaint of insomnia or having difficulty going to sleep and/or staying asleep. Many times the problem has been going on for years. But who should you see for persistent sleep issues? Your general practitioner?...

According to the Surgeon General, about 7% of children have diagnosed anxiety. Anxiety can look different for different people. Maybe it's social phobia, or Avoidant Personality Disorder, or Panic Disorder. The point is, they all tend to have similar symptoms: sweaty palms, pounding heart, increased respiratory out put, sick or...

It’s pretty obvious that sitting around watching TV for hours a day is bad for your physical health, but new research shows it’s bad for your mental health, too. In this 2016 study researchers tracked thousands of adults for 25 years. They surveyed the participants about their TV viewing habits and their level...

I read a 2010 study on Omega-3 fatty acids--found in some foods--that it can help prevent onset of psychotic disorders in high-risk populations.  The study suggests that a common supplement that we use for heart disease and stroke prevention may also prevent the progression of psychotic illness in those who...

There's no secret secondhand smoke can cause long-term damage. But did you know it can also have harmful effects on your brain?  This 2010 study connects secondhand smoke exposure and possible links to schizophrenia, depression, delirium and other psychological conditions. It turns out that tobacco also brings on negative moods in...

Thanksgiving is here. Isn’t it such a great holiday? It’s all about being with people you love and appreciating what you have. This probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but even science is behind the idea that gratitude is good for you! To celebrate Thanksgiving, here’s a roundup...

Several years ago I had a patient tell me they had a former counselor who didn't hold them accountable. They contacted me for their therapy because they knew I would hold them accountable for the goals we set together in treatment.  This got me thinking about the role of accountability...

  A Danish study in 2016 found that depression diagnoses go up significantly (8 percent) in the month following the change from Daylight Savings Time back to standard time. Since we've just changed over to standard time this month, let’s be on the lookout for signs of depression. Better yet, let’s be...

It’s probably no surprise to you to hear that perfectionism — ever-unattainable — is bad for your mental health. People who expect perfection are often overly critical of mistakes, which can lead to depression. I read a 2018 study that showed that choosing to view yourself in a compassionate light dampens...

There’s a video going around social media about the Japanese practice of “forest bathing,” and it’s a concept I believe in and love. The Japanese phrase for “forest bathing” — or taking in the forest atmosphere — is “shinrin-yoku,” and the government has been promoting it since the 1980s. Japanese...

Today I want to take a few minutes to go back to the basics: Let’s talk about prescribing medication for depression. It’s a process that my colleagues and I engage in every day, but for new patients it’s unfamiliar and deserves an introduction. When someone comes to me with depression (and we’re talking...

Image from Lancaster University. I get a lot of questions about concerns patients and family members have about troublesome symptoms of memory loss when I am treating them for Depression and Anxiety. They wonder whether they have Alzheimer’s Disease and not Major Depression.  This table is from the National Institute on...

Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette was the first to describe the syndrome that bears his name. The described patient was an 86-year-old French noblewoman who uttered blasphemies involuntarily. Tourette’s causes so much pain, especially in social interaction. If you’re not familiar with Tourette’s, it’s a disorder characterized by repetitive...

According to a new study in the journal Heliyon, published by Elsevier, dysfunctional eating patterns and habits in overweight and obese adults can be triggered by early life experiences that are deeply rooted within patients' personality features. As a result, weight loss interventions like surgery and cognitive-behavior therapy might not be...

Suicides among teens ages 15-19 are the highest they’ve been since 2000, says a new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Here’s a snippet from an NBC analysis of the study: The new study found that in 2017, 6,241 teenagers and adults in their early 20s died by suicide. Young men...

This is second in a two-part series about sleep. Click here to read part one. Last week I wrote about how poor sleep can negatively affect your mental health. If you’re thinking, “It’s not my fault, I just can’t fall asleep at night!” then try this method taught to military pilots in combat zones...

I can’t stress this enough: part of managing your mental health includes getting enough sleep. I’ve written about this here before: in my career I’ve seen how poor sleep can lead to suicidal thoughts, memory issues, even weight gain. According to an article by Harvard Medical School, 50 to 80 percent of patients in psychiatric care have chronic sleep...

New evidence is emerging that some medications for ADHD put teens and young adults at risk for developing psychosis.  According to this study of more than 200,000 people ages 13 to 25, one out of 660 people had an episode of psychosis in a few months after starting a stimulant. This...

As thrilled as kids are with summer break, it can be difficult on parents to muster the same enthusiasm. You’re all out of your routine and it can take time to get used to a new schedule, and get used to each other. If you have a child with developmental...

A recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) makes a case for more mental health professionals–including nurses and social workers–in schools. From the report: School counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists are frequently the first to see children who are sick, stressed, traumatized, may act out, or may hurt...

In 1958, researchers in the UK began collecting data from thousands of children born in a single week that year, creating the National Child Development Study (NCDS), which has been ongoing for nearly 60 years. This is so fascinating to me! Mental health researchers have followed, interviewed and documented these...

Nurses and doctors–those critical caretakers of society!–often carry heavy mental and emotional burdens in the course of their work. Think about it: nurses often witness the worst hours and days of a person’s life. Doctors take care of patients and their families who are faced with accident, illness, disability and...

This opinion piece about civility in politics got me thinking about kindness. How can we learn to be more understanding with those we disagree with? Columnist Dave Brooks gives practical tips on curating difficult conversations you have face-to-face, whether that’s with a group of a few or dozens of people. Scramble...

There is increasing evidence that some of the preservatives, packaging and food coloring in America’s food may be harmful to kids’ physical and mental health. Also, putting plastic in the microwave and dishwasher may cause plastic to leach chemicals into your food. In a 2018 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP),...

This is the third post in a series about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Is there a connection between post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)? I believe there is, and wrote about a study where a Dutch man recovering from a childhood rape was successfully treated for both PTSD and OCD at the same time.  This study from 2014 draws...

This is Part 2 of a three-part series on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). You can read Part 1 here. On this blog we’ve established how to recognize the signs of PTSD. This can befall mothers after a dangerous birth, a newly diagnosed cancer patient, people who’ve been mugged, car crash survivors,...

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you have major depression, especially when you’re living with it.    For some people, depression is a pervasive feeling of sadness or hopelessness. For some, depression means feelings of anger or extreme irritability. People with depression may swing from high levels of activity to...

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after living through extreme stress, a terrifying or distressing event, or a prolonged traumatic experience. What kinds of experiences could lead to PTSD? combat (for military veterans) or violent/life threatening encounters (for police force) a serious car...

I’ve written about this before: exposure to sunlight can help fight depression. Coupled with mild to moderate exercise, being out in the daylight can help fight carbohydrate cravings, weight gain, social avoidance, even fatigue! A 2014 study of office workers compared the mental health of those who had windows in their office, and...

In Gainesville, Florida, officer Shelly Postle teamed up with Makenzie Boyer, a mental health professional to handle calls regarding people with mental health issues. Postle and Boyer handled 434 calls in eight months, making a co-responder team that halted 92 percent of potential arrests of mentally ill people. Boyer said...

The post-Christmas season can be a real emotional low point. Maybe there’s a backlog at work. Maybe your kids’ schedule is thrown off by late nights and holiday excess. Maybe you had a blowup at a family member during Christmas. Whatever may be dragging you down, here are a few...

This title from Time Magazine really does say it all: “Being Generous Really Does Make You Happier.” Researchers from the Unviersity of Zurich in Switzerland told 50 participants that they’d be receiving about $100 in a few weeks. Twenty-five people promised to spend that money on themselves, and twenty-five people committed...

The Christmas season can be overwhelming. Managing traditions, a heavy end-of-year workload, financial stress, even time spent with extended family can contribute to poor mental health. Here are ways you can manage your stress during “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”:  Set boundaries.  This is the most important (and...

Patients with advanced Parkinson’s are singing their way to better mental health, says Elizabeth Stegemöller, assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University. (Click here to see a video of Stegemöller leading her singing group in 2017.) Stegemöller saw patients’ moods improve and their stress decrease, and their motor symptoms fell as well....

The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger is an incredibly empowering book on trauma recovery, written by a woman who has sometimes been nicknamed “the Anne Frank who didn’t die.” The pain of Dr. Eger’s story is hard to fathom. Nearly her entire family, all Hungarian Jews, died in Auschwitz when...

Grandmothers, take note: in Africa, mental health professionals pioneered a method where they used grandmothers and friendship benches to screen people for basic psychiatric services. In 2004, a man named Dixon Chibanda was one of only two psychiatrists in all of Zimbabwe (a country of about 12.5 million people). He had...

I’ve written about the ways gratitude can improve your life. Gratitude can improve your romantic relationships, help you sleep better, decreases depression, even decreases suicidal thoughts. A 2017 study conducted at the University of Seoul, South Korea, focused on the effects of gratitude on neural network functional connectivity, and how gratitude affects...

If you are in your 40s and suspect your memory is already slipping, stress could be the culprit. A new study found that forty-somethings who had high levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in their bodies also had reduced brain volumes and lower cognitive performance. This study–unlike many prior studies of...

What causes nightmares, anyway? Nightmares tend to crop up when we’re stressed, anxious, depressed, on certain medications, or when our sleep is being consistently interrupted (hello, parents of a newborn!). Occasional nightmares are normal, but consistent nightmares can be indicative of a larger problem. The most common mental health disorder associated...

I’ve written about this before: when you use cannabis to manage your mental health, the long-term risks far outweigh the short-term benefits. There is research linking cannabis use to schizophrenia in teens, as well as hallucinations, paranoia and other psychotic symptoms in people with a history of mental illness. New research also...

We’ve written about this before: treating depression can be a family affair. Recent studies are focusing on why a father’s mental health is just as important on their children. This 2017 study out of the United Kingdom drew a strong correlation between depression in fathers and their teenagers, while acknowledging that that past...

“We are not responsible for what breaks us, but we can be responsible for what puts us back together again. Naming the hurt is how we begin to repair our broken parts.”― Desmond Tutu, The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World What wounds do you carry?...

Last week Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testified before the Senate judiciary committee about allegations of sexual abuse. This sparked discussions about sexual abuse in news and social media across the United States. (Several victims even called into C-SPAN to share their stories after watching Dr. Ford’s testimony.) The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Dr....

There’s a debate swirling in American politics right now about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a woman who alleged that Kavanaugh attempted to rape herat a party when they were both teenagers. The arguments have been fierce on both sides: is Ford lying? Is Kavanaugh lying?...

When athletes battle mental health struggles alone, the consequences can be disastrous. Tyler Hilinski, a Washingston State quarterback took his own life in January 2018, only four months after an incredible triple-overtime victory over Boise State. Hilinski’s death started a crucial conversation at Boise State: what more could they do for college athletes...

If you’re dreading the back-to-school transition, you’re not alone. We are well aware how difficult it is to shift a kid from from late night barbecues and lazy mornings into waking up at 6:30 a.m. Juggling earlier bedtimes, packing lunches and managing after-school activities can leave kids and their parents...

The sullen teenage boy is everywhere, so common it’s almost a cultural cliché. But what if it’s actually anxiety? This article from the Deseret News presents another side to the story, where several young men share their stories of grappling with feelings of anxiety, then helplessness, then anger. “There is a difference,...

To treat eating disorders or even obesity, scientists have been turning to neuroimaging–scans of the brain–to teach patients how to understand the path between mind and stomach. In a 2015 study, scientists used neuroimaging to identify what they called “biological markers” or “neural vulnerabilities” in the brains of patients with eating...

Studies on emotion in hemispheres of the brain may have been skewed exclusively toward right-handed people, according to a new study from Cornell University. In hundreds of studies conducted since the 1970s, research has shown that the left side of the brain manages how we approach the world, responding with emotions...

The City of Philadelphia has been planting grass and trees in vacant lots, and the results are extraordinary. A research team measured depression symptoms 18 months before the “greening” and 18 months after and found a 41.5 percent drop for the people living within a quarter mile of a new green space. For people...

I’m always interested in learning how supplements can improve health, and lately I’ve been researching magnesium. It turns out one study shows the supplement can be as effective as SSRIs in treating mild to moderate depression. The FDA hasn’t yet rated magnesium as an effective treatment for depression; they need to...

There’s a bacterium found on the shores of a Ugandan lake that could help reduce our stress. Scientists recently injected it into stressed-out mice with promising results. The bacterium, called Mycobacterium vaccae, reduces inflammation in the brain, which in turn prepares the brain to respond better to stress. These findings...

You’ve heard it before: Exercise is crucial for mental health. That concept is in the news again now because a recent study found exercise can help prevent heart disease in depressed people. The results aren’t surprising, but they come along with some great tips from the researcher who led the study. He...

Did you know memories can be rewritten? There’s a method of treating post-traumatic stress disorder that attempts to erase or dampen the stressful feelings associated with a traumatic memory. Mental health professionals use a few techniques to do this. With one, they distract their patient’s mind with another task while the patient attempts...

One of the most prominent theories about the cause of depression is that it’s the result of serotonin or norepinephrine shortages in the brain. But the thing is, taking drugs that add more of one or both of these chemicals back into the brain doesn’t fix depression for everyone — at least 30...

We’ve known for a long time that people with Type I diabetes are at increased risk for depression. Scientists are now closer to figuring out why. Diabetes (types I and II) and depression have all been linked to inflammation. A new study shows a more specific association: Diabetics suffering from depression have significantly higher levels...

We’ve known for years that people with depression are at higher risk for dementia, but a new study shows it’s more than that. Depression causes all kinds of signs of brain aging. A new study looked at depression’s effect on memory loss, executive function (like decision making) and processing speed in older...

A new study shows more than 40 percent of people diagnosed with depression also suffer from autoimmune thyroiditis, or AIT. The same is true for 30 percent of people diagnosed with anxiety. AIT means the immune system is creating antibodies that mistakenly attack the thyroid, leading to chronic inflammation. Then your...

A new study offers great news for women entering middle age: There’s a good chance you’ll feel less stressed as you get older. Researchers tracked women — aged 42 to 53 at the beginning of the study — for 15 years. They found that most women’s perceived levels of stress dropped significantly...

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week this week, and man, do these teachers deserve our appreciation. A recent study found 93 percent of elementary school teachers are highly stressed. That so many endure this stress and continue their work teaching children is incredible, and as a mother and grandmother, I’m grateful. Researchers suggest big-picture...

The simple answer is maybe. There are a number of studies that linkmarijuana and schizophrenia, but researchers don’t go so far as to say one leads to the other. The most recent study was published at the end of last year. It followed 6,788 people who experienced a psychotic episode induced by substances like alcohol and marijuana between 1994...

If you’re a depressed mom, you might not be giving your children everything they need to develop to their full potential. That doesn’t mean you can’t; it just means you’ve got to be aware of the potential pitfalls. A new study followed Chilean mothers and children from ages one to 16. They...

I read an article this week about college students’ declining mental health and how their schools are responding, and it reinforced my belief that parents and others can do a much better job preparing their kids for the mental and emotional challenges of adulthood. Here are some stats from the article: Anxiety...

When you’re stressed, you can respond in helpful ways or unhelpful ways. Learning early to respond in those helpful ways (“adaptive coping”) can lead to much better mental health down the road. A new study found that obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferers tend to be lacking in these healthy coping skills. Instead, they tend...

Dementia is a terrible thing to watch, and an even more terrible condition to experience. It is defined as a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. There are things you can do now to prevent later dementia, and a new study suggests that the most important is to take...

The younger a girl is when she gets her period, the more likely she is to show symptoms of depression and antisocial behavior. That association lingers into adulthood, a new study finds, with grown women who started their periods early staying more depressed than their peers. Parents and health care providers, be...

Rates of cannabis usage have more than doubled in the past decade. Medical marijuana is now legal in half of the United States and is increasing in accessibility to current and future users. Cannabis is now the most widely used illicit substance in the US, more popular than alcohol and...

We often hear that personal growth comes from the challenges we face, but this week I read about some researchers who have documented that concept. In the most recent study, scientists interviewed hundreds of survivors of the tornado that rocked Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. The disaster took 161 lives, injured...

If you’re traveling for work, keep an eye on your mental health! A recent study found those who travel two weeks or more per month are more likely than those who travel less than that to suffer from anxiety and depression. Additionally, they’re more likely to drink too much, smoke, be sedentary,...

If you’re one of those people who can’t fall asleep because tomorrow’s tasks are trampling through your head, consider taking up a simple habit: Spend 5 minutes writing a to-do list before bed every night. Researchers recently assigned a group of people to do just that, and they determined the practice...

When it comes to mental health, there’s a difference between being antisocial and being unsociable, a recent study shows. Where antisocial behavior (avoiding social contact because of dislike or anxiety) can be bad for mental health, being unsociable (preferring alone time because you enjoy it) can actually be good. In this study,...

If you’re anorexic or obese, there’s a good chance you’re depressed, too. More than 50 percent of anorexic women and 43 percent of obese people suffer from depression. Surprisingly, a new study shows the biochemistry contributing to depression and anxiety in those two opposite physical conditions appears to be the same. Both obese...

My headline overstates it — not all people who were spanked as children grow up to suffer from depression — but a new study shows there is a link. Children who are spanked are more likely than children who are not spanked to feel depressed, attempt suicide, have drinking problems, and use drugs as...

We’ve known for years that social media — with Facebook being one of the most prominent platforms — can negatively effect mental health. You probably saw about a week ago that Facebook came out with a blog post about that topic. In the post, the company acknowledges research asserting that technology can drive people...

October 10th was World Mental Health Day, and the world took note. Publications across the web published articles and opinion pieces about mental illness, and public figures as well as everyday people spoke up about their own experiences on social media. Here are some highlights: “It’s an important day because we’re...

I never cease to be amazed at how we can physically change our brains with the thoughts and behaviors we choose. This week I read about a study focused on determining how different mental exercises affect our brains and our responses to social  stressors. The study found that each of three mental...

Depression and excessive alcohol drinking can each be debilitating issues. When someone struggles with both — which is common, each leading to the other — treatment is critical. A new study shows depression and harmful drinking can be successfully treated with counseling, and the results are lasting. Because not everyone has easy access to mental health care...

The evidence has been building up for years: Inflammation and depression are linked, and treating inflammation can lead to improvement in depression symptoms. It looks like scientists have gotten to the point where the connection is no longer a maybe. Here’s what Cambridge’s head of Psychiatry said at a recent forum: “In...

Good news for schizophrenic people who hear voices: Scientists have found the region of the brain involved in the delusion. It’s a specific spot in the temporal lobe, where language originates. Even better, targeting that area with magnetic pulses decreased the symptom for some patients. The magnetic pulse success ratio was not...

A new study shows it’s not the popular teens who are setting themselves up for good mental health later in life; it’s the ones who form close friendships, however few they are. A group of researchers followed 169 teenagers over 10 years. They questioned them every year about friendships and mental health....

Recently I was talking to a family member about his struggles with anxiety, and I gave him this advice: Do one thing every day that makes you uncomfortable.  Even the thought of doing that is distasteful, but the concept is the basis of something called Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), a...

By the time they hit 15, teenage girls are twice as likely as teenage boys to suffer from depression. This could be because girls tend to think more negatively, dwelling on social and body image stressors. They’re also more likely to have experienced sexual abuse and other negative events. On a biological...

Sleep is so important for your mental health, but 45 percent of Americans say lack of quality sleep regularly affects their daily activities. A possible culprit these days, according to a recent study, is the blue light coming from the screens we all love. Blue light keeps us alert and regulates our internal clock. We get...

In a recent email to her colleagues, a Michigan software developer dealing with depression and anxiety wrote: “I’m taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health. Hopefully I’ll be back next week refreshed and back to 100%.” Her CEO’s response was perfect: “I just wanted to personally thank...

It’s not official yet, but a new study suggests taking probiotics could relieve symptoms of depression. Remember several months ago, when I wrote about the relationship between your gut and your mental health? I recommended changing what you eat to develop a healthier gut. Well, this new study is along those same...

A new study brings good news for young people who have suffered a traumatic experience: Children and adolescents with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder can be successfully treated with just a few hours of therapy. Researchers timed the therapy with a stop watch. They found that 2 hours and 20 minutes of Eye Movement...

In honor of Father’s Day, I wanted to highlight a study that shows the wonderful impact a good dad can have on his family. This relates specifically to families with depressed mothers. A study published last month detailed the depressed mom’s typical parenting style. She tends to be less sensitive to her...

I’ve written before about how social media can be bad for your mental health, but let’s get site specific: Instagram is the worst of the bunch. A new study surveyed 1,479 teens and young adults in the U.K., asking them about how social media affects them both positively and negatively. They asked about...

photo:John Cade, the psychiatrist who discovered Lithium’s effectiveness in treating mental health disorders. There are drugs far more fashionable than Lithium these days: Pharmaceutical companies pay their representatives big money to promote their latest offerings, both with mental health care providers and in advertising. The thing is, I’m not convinced...

It’s well established that exercise is a great way to relieve depressive symptoms, but there might be some forms of exercise that are better than others.  Take bouldering, for example. A recent study showed participating in the sport — which involves climbing rocks without ropes or harnesses — reduced depression symptoms from moderate...

Did you know that simply being around dirt can ease your depressive symptoms? If you’ve found gardening to be a good a stress reliever, this could explain it: Scientists have determined that a bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, activates serotonin-producing neurons in an area of the brain that regulates mood — an effect similar to...

You’ve probably noticed — not everyone who goes through a traumatic event experiences Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Scientists have noticed, too, and they wondered why that is. After analyzing the DNA of 20,000 people, they found that genes are partially to blame for the difference. To be more specific,...

About a month ago, Netflix added “13 Reasons Why” to its  streaming content, and teens are obsessed. The 13-episode series follows a teenage boy trying to wrap his mind around the suicide of his friend, a teenage girl, as he listens to the 13 tapes she left behind to describe events leading up to her...

I’ve written before about how prescribing medication for depression can be an imprecise science. Often it takes multiple tries before we find the right drug or combination of drugs to send your depression into remission. A study from Dr. Madhukar Trivedi (front) demonstrated that measuring a depressed patient’s C-reactive protein level can...

Does depression change the brain, or are brain abnormalities the cause of depression? There’s a new study out that sheds some light on that question. A group of scientists took their research all the way back to the beginning of life: They scanned the brains of newborn babies. Two years later, they...

When you think of depression, symptoms like sadness, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness probably come to mind. Another symptom — one with a lower profile than its companions — is impaired cognitive functioning. Some depressed people experience difficulty focusing, learning, remembering, understanding, and more. It can be distressing to notice...

I often see patients whose brain power is not what it used to be. It’s a common tale with mental illness–it can slow down and blur your thoughts. It’s also a common tale with aging, so brain health should be a topic on everyone’s minds. There are supplements you can take which...

I read about an interesting finding this week: Teens with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often look at a sad or angry face and see fear. This sheds new light on a disorder tied to heightened threat perception, which can trigger fight-or-flight responses. Misreading social cues could contribute to the stress PTSD sufferers...

Ever heard of cognitive reappraisal? It’s where you take a negative thought or experience and recast it in a positive light. (Failed a test? At first maybe you dwell on your shortcomings, but then you “reappraise” and think of it as a chance to see where you can improve.) A new...

You have a lot of options when it comes to who to see about your mental health. I want to talk today about the category I fall into: Advanced Practiced Registered Nurses (APRNs), specifically PMHCNSs (Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialists) and PMHNPs (Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioners). That’s a lot of...

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that about 11  percent of children (ages 4-17) have been diagnosed with ADHD and about 6 percent are taking medication for the disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates about 4 percent of adults have ADHD. With so many people in the U.S. being treated...

If you’re feeling stressed, try turning on some nature sounds. A new study added some scientific enlightenment to the easily believed idea that nature sounds help people relax. Researchers played nature sounds and artificial sounds, in turn, for study participants while measuring brain activity with an MRI scanner and nervous system...

With widening legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational uses, including some usage for mental health purposes, it’s important to know what side effects come along with it. One of these side effects is decreased motivation. A recent British study had adults inhale a small dose of cannabis vapor and then choose a...

I’ve been reading a lot about a supplement called NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) lately. If you google it, the first thing you’ll see is that it’s used to loosen mucus and treat Tylenol overdoses. But keep reading, and you’ll se it has all kinds of uses — including helping to treat...

I frequently get calls from people wondering how I involve spirituality with my patients. Some wonder if they have to be a certain religion to benefit from the spiritual aspect of my counseling. The answer is no. In most cases, my practice is supportive of all types of spirituality that...

Northwestern University has a suite of mental health apps that are looking promising. They just published a study showing people who used their apps regularly over an eight week period saw their depression and anxiety symptoms decrease by half.I checked out some of the apps (there are 13 available in...

A new study shows a shadow population of women with eating disorders: 3 percent of women in their 40s and 50s reported suffering from an eating disorder in the last year. The stereotypical bulimic, anorexic , or binge eating person is a young adult, and that stereotype isn’t helping. Very few...

It’s been decades since we’ve seen any significant action on mental health issues from the federal government, so a new mental health law that President Obama signed this week is a big deal. It was part of a much larger health care package. Here’s what the law does for mental health (as...

We’ve known for several years now that the bacteria in your intestine is related to your mental health. We want diversity in what scientists call the gut’s microbiome: Reduced diversity is related to allergies, inflammation, diabetes, and obesity, along with depression and anxiety. An article in the New York Times last week delves into gut...

If you find yourself looking at your friends’ Facebook posts and comparing your life to theirs in a negative way, Facebook is probably not for you. I find myself giving this advice to so many of my patients that I was not surprised to see a study on the topic published last week....

I read an interesting article this week that ties the amount of sleep you get to weight. Researchers followed nearly 70,000 women for 20 years. They found that women who sleep for five hours or less per night tend to weigh more than women who sleep for seven hours do....

I was excited to read this week about another new treatment possibility for depression: An arthritis drug, when paired with an antidepressant, has been shown to work amazingly well. It’s all about inflammation. Older studieshave shown that depression leads to inflammation. Inflammation messes with the chemical balance in your brain...

Let’s talk about stress. You know it’s bad for you emotionally, but did you know it’s dangerous physically, too? It’s true. When you’re stressed out and you repress it, the stress can resurface as a physical illness. You may even find yourself in the emergency room with chest pains and...

I found an interesting chart this week. It captures visually a complication mental health professionals face when treating depression: the huge range of symptoms depressed people experience. The chart is the work of a group of researchers who compared seven rating scales commonly used in depression research. Altogether, the scales listed 52 symptoms. Just...

I recently found this infographic on rewiring the brain, and I love it. If you are struggling with addiction, OCD, anxiety or another mental health condition, read it. The strategies described here could be a powerful addition to your medication, or they could be effective without taking meds. I want to particularly point...

If you’re looking for another reason to fight depression, here’s one: Do it for your spouse’s health. There’s a new study out suggesting people with happy spouses are healthier. They are less physically impaired and have less trouble with chronic illness. And it’s not just that being with someone happy makes you...

A link I’ve long suspected has now been confirmed by scientists: Children who come from homes with troubling conditions are more likely to have ADHD than their peers from non-troubled homes. The parent survey analysis showed ADHD has the strongest connection with economic hardship, divorce, familial mental illness, neighborhood violence, and familial...

Here’s some good news for people who have been having a hard time finding treatment that works for their depression: Scientists are on their way to developing a new and improved one. Researchers recently figured out which pathway in the brain antidepressants affect. They call it the BMP signaling pathway, and it’s in the...

I hate to say it, but all that food that tastes so good? It’s not so good for your mental health. I’ve written about nutrition and depression a few times before, but today I want to talk specifically about sugar. Sugar can sometimes seem like your best friend, but the truth is...

NPR has pulled together a cool new web app exploring mental health at schools. It has all kinds of statistics and graphics and links that shed light on the problem and ways schools can improve their intervention. According to the app, there are up to 10 million kids in public...

A friend of mine recently added a beautiful and much-loved baby girl to her family, and since then I’ve been admiring the outpouring of darling photos on Facebook. Today I found out there’s a shadowy side to their bright new life: Postpartum depression. My friend posted today about what she’s been going through:...

Let’s talk about sleep: To put it simply, you need it. It’s so important for your mental health. For starters, disrupted sleep is connected with suicide. A team of researchers recently investigated that link and came up with three “pathways” from sleep problems to suicidal thoughts: There are fewer mental health resources available...

There’s a new study out that looks at how a dad’s mental health impacts his children’s development. Here’s the takeaway: Children whose dads have mental health problems are more likely to have behavioral issues as toddlers and social problems as fifth graders. And if a dad is stressed about being a parent, the...

For many therapists, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the go-to method for treating depression and anxiety — studies have shown it to be superior to other types of therapy for those disorders. A recent study, however, elevates a simpler type of therapy to the same effectiveness level. It’s known technically as Behavioral Activation (BA), and it’s focused on action rather...

I wanted to briefly bring your attention to an avenue you may not have considered for treating bipolar depression: over-the-counter painkillers. Some of these drugs, like aspirin and ibuprofen, include anti-inflammatory agents. Interestingly, inflammation has been found to be connectedwith mood disorders. Various studies over the years have examined the effect of anti-inflammatory drugs...

Quick review of some of the biology behind depression, as scientists understand it: Depressed people are short on a chemical messenger called serotonin. The most popular type of antidepressant (the SSRI) blocks serotonin from reabsorbing into brain cells, leaving more of it hanging around to do its job: boost your mood. Minutes after...

Parents and teachers, listen up. There’s a new study out with important considerations for children: Kids who show signs of attention difficulties in kindergarten are 40 percent less likely than their peers to graduate from high school down the road. That’s a big number and a big outcome. We’re not even...

If your day involves sitting around a lot and you find your mood and motivation drooping, you might need a bike desk. Clemson University researchers recently put students on these contraptions, gave them some brainy tasks to complete, and ran some tests. They found positive feelings, motivation, and morale all improved...

There’s a quote by Picasso that I love: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” I believe it. I feel it every time I pull out paints or clay or even markers and crayons. Picasso’s poetic pronouncement seems abstract, but it turns out there’s science to support...

If you’ve got a picky eater in your house, listen up: Your child might be experiencing depression or anxiety, too. A study last year found young children who would only eat a limited set of foods were twice as likely to show signs of depression and seven times as likely to...

Mental health plays a huge role in a person’s quality of life, but way too often it is not diagnosed or treated. One of the biggest reasons for this shortfall is a stigma surrounding mental health care: Many suffering people choose to keep on suffering rather than become a person...

Denmark apparently keeps a lot of records on file, including everyone’s address and mental health histories. Researchers recently took advantage of these databases to run some analyses, and their findings were surprising: People who moved a lot in early adolescence were significantly more likely to have problems with violence, substance abuse, and mental...

We’ve known for a long time that a brain afflicted with schizophrenia tends to lose brain tissue. But a new study has some amazing news to add to the picture: Some areas in the schizophrenic brain are actually growing tissue.  Researchers say this means the brain is trying to respond to tissue loss, giving new...

Too often, depression comes with weight gain. Not only can your mood tempt you to seek comfort in food, some psych meds can cause you to gain a few or more pounds.   That’s why I was happy to read this study about using cumin powder to lose weight. Cumin is safe and cheap,...

Many of the patients I see for mental health problems are also suffering from migraines, and it’s not a coincidence. Studies have shown a scientific link between the two conditions. This article cites a few of the studies: One found that women suffering from migraines have a 50 percent greater risk...

We’ve known for decades that SSRIs are safe and effective for treating depression and anxiety, but the precise way they work has long been a mystery. New 3-D images are finally providing some answers. Let’s back up for a minute, though, and talk about what SSRIs are. The image depicts a...

People with psychiatric disorders look for escape from their symptoms in various places. A common one for young men is playing video games. That escape isn’t always healthy: It can turn into an addiction.   A new study looking into video game addiction showed young men with ADHD, OCD, and depression are...

A practice tied closely to Buddhism, Taoism, and yoga is proving itself to be a valuable tool for a surprising group of people: Veterans suffering from PTSD. A new study found mindfulness training changed the brains of veterans suffering from PTSD. (The left image highlights changes in the brains of a...

We’ve known for several years now that obesity and depression often go together, but the link is becoming clearer. A new study shows that even higher education doesn’t weaken the connection: Highly educated obese people are still too often depressed, and highly educated depressed people are still too often obese. That’s interesting because...

Nearly 6 million Americans reported having marijuana use disorder in 2012-13, nearly double the numbers reported 10 years ago. For individuals to fit in that category, they’ve got to have experienced major life disruption connected to using marijuana: They’re taking big risks, they’re having legal trouble, they’re neglecting major responsibilities or they’re...

Your diet is obviously important for your physical health, but did you know nutrition can make a big difference for mental health, too? More and more studies have been linking what you eat to how you feel mentally and emotionally. Just this week I read news about nutrition and happiness in students....

We’ve known for a while now that exercise produces endorphins — the brain messengers in charge of pain and pleasure. But a recent study brings some new players into the exercise/brain health relationship: GABA and glutamate, messengers that fight anxiety and depression. Researchers found that as little as eight minutes of vigorous exercise...

In my three decades of nursing, it’s become increasingly apparent to me that having a social support system is crucial for those strugglingwith mental health. A study I read this week takes a different spin on that idea: It turns out giving support to others is just as important if not more important than receiving support. Researchers quizzed participants...

I read an interesting study this week that showed a link between parental criticism and persistent ADHD. It’s common for ADHD symptoms to decrease as children get older. That’s not true for all cases, though, and an important question for those developing treatment strategies and medications for ADHD is: What’s the...

You’ve probably heard that positive thinking can take you far, but there’s some new evidence out there that negative thinking is equally powerful. Two recent studies show that people with bad attitudes toward aging tend to decline faster both physically and mentally compared to their more positive peers. The first study was published...

I’m a big fan of cognitive behavioral therapy. Working on recognizing and adjusting negative thought patterns can be an important part of healing for people with all kinds of mental health issues. One application emerging in recent years is CBT for Body Dysmorphic Disorder, or BDD. People with BDD obsess over...

Habitual overthinkers all over the world found cause to rejoice recently: A new paper theorizes that neuroticism and creativity go hand in hand. Previous theories about neuroticism pointed to heightened sensitivity to threat. Perkins and his co-authors point instead to higher activity in the parts of the brain that control self-generated thought. That hyperactivity could...

I’ve written here before about a link between creativity and madness–artistic individuals are much more likely than non-artistic individuals to have a genetic predisposition toward mental illness. Lately I’ve been thinking and reading about a personality trait related to mental illness, and it turns out it’s related to creativity as...

Anyone who has taken a basic psychology class has heard of those experiments measuring how willing participants are to administer electric shocks to other people, but there’s a new one out there that looks at how these decisions are affected by another factor: your meds.  In this study, published this week in Current...

Very interesting study came out this month in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology. It studied patients who were diagnosed both with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder. (PTSD) For these people, repetitive behavior patterns, rituals and compulsions may ward off anxiety and may serve as a coping mechanism to...

Many people have heard about the diagnosis Bipolar Disorder. Formerly this diagnosis was named Manic Depression. Today we differentiate between Bipolar Disorder I and Bipolar Disorder II. Bipolar Disorder I is characterized by periods of depression alternating with periods of manic behavior. What is manic behavior? It is discreet periods...

There has been a lot in the news lately about people suffering from psychotic episodes. Recently, a man, whom many thought was under the influence of bath salts, took off his clothes and chewed off the face of a homeless man. Toxicology reports denied him being under the influence of...

To The Editor, I was surprised at the level of error and inaccuracy in your recent editorial, “Equal Pay Bill Should Be Dead” related to HB 4101, the payment parity for Nurse Practitioners in Oregon. First and foremost, I take exception to your claim that services provided by NPs are...

Obesity is sadly at epidemic proportions. Most of us  are very aware of the devastating health consequences of obesity: diabetes and other metabolic syndromes, heart disease, stroke, even Cancer.  So many are trying to fight the battle of the budge whether it be Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Atkins and...

Coming out this month in the British Journal of Pharmacoloy is an interesting article about the links between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) usage and the risks of myocardial infarction. It has been believed for awhile that a SSRI, which is a particular class of antidepressant, acts immediately to prevent future...

Attention parents out there! Have you noticed that your children from the very earliest ages display male or female type of behavior no matter how hard you try to “unbias” them and give them the full spectrum of experiences of cars and balls, baby dolls and barbies? As a mother...

Many experts now believe that plastics are hurting our brains. Teenage boys today have lower testosterone levels than their grandfather’s did 30 years ago. Teenage boys are also suffering more ADHD symptoms: lack of motivation, drive, ambition, ability to plan and follow-through as well as increased rates of depression. Gender...

1.5 CEUs available For reservation information, cost, location, and time, see below. +++++++++ And Next Month +++++++++   The Tender Loving Care and Feeding of the Brain:Current evidence based research incorporating health habits, therapy techniques, psychopharmacology and spirituality in caring for our clients with mental health issues Presented by: Satu...

Recently, a friend and colleague of mine, Cara Hoepner, was interviewed on the radio as a representative for the National Association of the Mentally Ill (NAMI). She is a fellow Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in the state of California in private practice but also has “come out” as someone...

In my practice I often see patients self referred or sent in by their general practitioner who tell me that he or she has Major Depressive Disorder. Problem is, medications and therapy have had little success so my expert advice is needed. When evaluating a patient it is crucial not...

I am a big fan of Dr. Amen. I find his neuroimaging work to be highly fascinating. Not everyone agrees and some question his science. You may have seen some of his programs on the brain on PBS over the last few years.   I have been using Dr. Amen’s mental health...