Minneapolis St. Paul Mental Health Blog

Do Benzodiazepines increase PTSD, especially for those who have experienced major trauma?

 

In a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers found that the omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentataenoic acid) appears to boost mood in a subgroup of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who have high inflammation levels. Here is what they found:

Mental Health Help | Understanding Postpartum Depression.

This we must give credit to the NIH for putting together this very real video for those suffering.  

Middle-aged or older individuals who eat as much as 3.5 ounces of chocolate a day may receive cardiovascular benefits, according to a report published online June in Heart.

Over 47.5 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's disease or some other type of dementia, according to the World Health Organization. Despite decades of research, the only medications currently available treat the symptoms alone.

As studies become more and more available on specific topics like Suicide, the clinical factors identified are key elements to help those people get the help they need before attempting suicide.

A major multi-national study of suicides has identified the behaviour patterns which precede many suicide attempts.

This may lead to changes in clinical practice in the care of patients affected with depression, as it shows the clinical factors which confer major risk of suicide attempts. This was first published in eurekalert.org, here is what they found:

The statistics for suicide are frightening. According to the WHO, more than 800,000 people commit suicide every year, with perhaps 20 times that number attempting suicide.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the young (in the UK for example, it is the leading cause of death in men under 35) see notes, below. Effective measures of suicide prevention are urgently needed.

The BRIDGE-II-MIX study is a major international study looking at depression and suicide.

Mental Health Update | Being bullied in adolescence may make kids more vulnerable to depression…

...in early adulthood and explain almost a third of depression burden at that age, according to a new study in the U.K.

Here, we report a case of a patient who reported using high dose caffeine and was observed with multiple episodes of caffeine-induced mania with psychotic features and met criteria for caffeine use disorder.

Mental Health Help | dealing with Depression can make life difficult. The more you know about depression, the better you can make your own life.

It is common to hear people complain that they are “lost in life,” don't seem to know who they are anymore, or generally lack a sense of purpose.

For people living with depression or bipolar disorder, there is evidence that disturbances, which are deep rooted in their memories from their past, can play a large part in explaining such identity problems.

According to a previous 2004 study by Blagov and Singer, these disturbances are often due to a phenomena known as “overgeneralization bias,” which is the tendency to recall fewer specific memories than general ones. “Mood congruence bias,” which is the propensity to recall less positive memories than negative ones, also plays a role.