"Do I Have Depression?" 101

Every October is National Depression Screening Month.
Here are the reasons:

The National Institute of Mental Health (the largest U.S.agency dealing with these issues) reports that the chance of becoming depressed at some point in one's life is almost 17%.


Within this year alone, almost 7% of our US population will become depressed and almost of third of them have depression at a "severe" level.

Now, here's an eye-opener: Barely half of those folks are getting ANY treatment at all!!

(http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1MDD_ADULT.shtml)



The social and economic cost of untreated depression is enormous--one source puts it at 43.7 billion dollars for the US alone.. (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2003, Dec:64(12): pg. 1465).

--At work it includes a greater number of sick days,  lower efficiency and poorer concentration at the job, and loss of income.
--At school it includes twice the likelihood of dropping out of college along with lower educational achievement and performance.
--In general it includes a five times higher likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse, higher medical expenses (depressed folks report much greater incidence of physical pain), seven times greater likelihood of unemployment, and---most traumatically--a thirty times greater incidence of suicide than people who are NOT depressed.


Of course, the costs of emotional and psychological distress, fatigue, agitation, poor sleep and appetite, physical pain, loneliness, sadness,and the greatly diminished ability to enjoy one's life, friends and family are incalculable.

The U.S.health agency, the National Council for Behavioral Health, has a reliable confidential depression screening self-test on its website  (developed by Drs. Spitzer, Williams, Kroenke, 2011--Patient Health Questionnaire-9).
No information about you will be recorded, since the questionnaire can be printed and filled out in the privacy of your home.
There are nine questions to answer with results and a recommendation summary at the end.

http://www.integration.samhsa.gov/images/res/PHQ%20-%20Questions.pdf

It could be a step in the right direction.

Till next time, take good care!

The Paradox of Working to Relax

Clinical studies have routinely backed the benefit of mindfulness meditation exercises for folks dealing with issues as diverse as:

anxiety and panic attacks
http://www.brainresearch.us/meditation.pdf

depression                   

http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~pgoldin/Buddhism/MBCTrelapsedepressionTeasdale2000JCCP.pdf

obsessive-compulsive disorder
http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/18311106/

bipolar disorder    
http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/ijct.2009.2.4.373

stress-related paranoia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19545481

borderline personality disorder
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1995-98090-000

grief
HumphreyFM.pdf

and eating disorders.
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1999-05597-007 

Those of us needing basic stress-relief can use it, too. 
http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Jan2012/Feature2  

The challenge remains for us to weave mindfulness exercises into our daily schedules, especially in the demanding hustle bustle of New York City life.


Who knew that taking a moment or two to scan one's body for tension and focus on breathing through it was so hard?
Gradually filling ones lungs with air would seem to be easy, except that our mind travels away from the task so quickly.
 "Did I remember to buy milk?
"This is boring!"
 "My foot itches."
"What did my boss mean by that?"

Staying in the "present" rather than reliving the past, obsessing about the future or judging ourselves and others can be an Olympian task.

I like to recommend the free downloads at Zencast.org to help you along the way.

Some favorites are:
Zencast 129: "Radical Acceptance" by psychologist, Tara Brach
Zencast 96: "Forgiveness" by Matt White Band
Zencast 67: "Being in the Moment" by Bodhipaksa
Zencast 254: "Basic Introduction to Meditation" by Gil Fronsdal

Let me know what you think of this valuable resource!

Until next, take very good care.

 

Let the Sun Shine (In Winter?)

It's autumn. We are quickly moving into winter when the days get colder and shorter.
We often wake up later, want to go to bed earlier and suddenly get a yearning for bread, candy, cakes and all those other great carbs that call to us from the kitchen. While some folks just don't like these colder, darker months, others actually begin to get the symptoms of depression. These signs include sadness, lower motivation and less enjoyment of activities we usually like to do, pulling away from friends, sleep disruptions, and a feeling that the future just doesn't hold much hope. When depression begins with the onset of winter, it's a subtype known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or "SAD".

Since the 1980's Dr. Michael Terman, a psychologist, has conducted research on the therapeutic effects of "bright light therapy" as adjunctive treatment for SAD at the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center.

Bright Light Therapy (BLT) involves the use of a full-spectrum light box (costing $150-200) that clients sit in front of for 30 minutes a day to mimic the light exposure we typically get in the longer, lighter days of summer. Don't worry about UV radiation as the light used blocks this type of wave length. You won't be staring at the light, just reading by it or eating your breakfast while it's on. The treatment is usually recommended for the morning. When used in combination with talk psychotherapy, BLT can provide a successful treatment for depression without the use of medication (although some cases of SAD do benefit from the addition of an anti-depressant).

For more information check out these links

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2006/properly-timed-light-melatonin-lift-winter-depression-by-syncing-rhythms.shtml

http://sunbox.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Terman

And..don't forget to walk on the sunny side of the street!