depression

Depression in Seniors

The Los Angeles Times takes look at depression in seniors.   When dealing with her older patients, [Dr. Laura] Mosqueda tries to avoid using the term depression — or any others that might indicate a mental problem. People in their 70s, 80s and 90s are intimidated by those words, she says. “I’ll say to them,

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Smoking Depressed

Reported in the Los Angeles Times, a study showing 43% of smokers over twenty are depressed. A chicken-egg study–which came first? Depressed people were more likely to smoke within five minutes of awakening and to smoke more than one pack of cigarettes a day. Twenty-eight percent of adult smokers with depression smoked more than a pack

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Depression and PMDD

A study looks at the difference between depression and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD): “We found the greatest weight of evidence that PMDD and major depression are really two distinct entities in terms of biological response to stress and with respect to pain sensitivity and pain mechanisms.” More, including a description of PMDD’s intensity, in the

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Life and Death Depression

A study measures the association between death and suicide to try to understand and predict suicidal behavior: [P]articipants presenting to the emergency room after a suicide attempt had a stronger implicit association between death/ suicide and self than did participants presenting with other psychiatric emergencies. In addition, participants with strong associations between death/ suicide and

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Late-Life Happiness

From ScienceDaily.com, Researchers Identify Secrets to Happiness, Depression Among Oldest of Old.  Quick summary:  To be happy later, try more happiness now. While there was no indication that resources affect happiness, past life satisfaction — even individual achievements — was found to have a direct association. Because of their results, the researchers urge caregivers of the

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Transcendental Meditation for Depression

PsychCentral has news about two studies showing that Transcendental Meditation (TM) helps reduce depression…at least for African-Americans and Hawaiians over 55. Participants in both studies who practiced the Transcendental Meditation program showed significant reductions in depressive symptoms compared to health education controls. The largest decreases were found in those participants who had indications of clinically

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