Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Meditation and Aerobic exercise can reduce depression up to 40% in two months

 

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Headline stress disorder - HSD


Stop picking the worst story.

The old newspaper editorial moto is "If it bleeds, it leads." Why? Why would editors and publishers lead with the worst story? What is the impact of this practice on the mental health of individuals, families, groups, communities, nations, and the world?

Are most media users aware of how they are being manipulated? Do media users understand what is contributing to their anxiety disorders and depression. How often do they share the worst of what they have seen and read on media?

Someone suggested last week that new psychiatric diagnosis be adopted named "Headline Stress Disorder." Like "ADD" is now commonly used in popular psychology for the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder, the new disorder can be referred to as HSD.

Perhaps before physicians prescribe anti-anxiety and antidepressant psychotropic medications they should suggest that the patient complaining of symptoms of and anxiety and depression stop consuming media for at least two weeks. The hypothesis is that discontinuing media consumption would be far more beneficial to patients who are complaining of anxiety and depression than meds.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The holiday blues


 My client told me on the Monday before Thanksgiving, "I hate the holidays. I just hate them."

We talked during our meeting about the holiday blues and what the factors are that contribute to them.

"What makes you hate them," I asked.

At first she repeated herself, "I just hate them. That's all."

I said, "What sets it off for you?"

She said, "Everyone expects you to be happy and I just feel sad."

"What makes you sad," I said.

"I miss my mother," she said. The client is 46 and her mother died when she was 11, 35 years ago.

"Tell me about her," I asked.

And she did. We talked about her memories of her mother and all her other losses since then.

The holidays brings the sadness engendered by losses as we miss the people we are attached to.

I said, "How do your honor the people you lost at this time of year?"

She said, "I don't. I am not in the mood."

"Well, maybe you could," I said. "The physical body dies but the person's spirit lives in the stories we tell about their values, their beliefs, their ways of doing things. Remembering these things makes our life richer, more vibrant, more meaningful, more joyful."

"Yeah, well..." she said.

I said, "We've got five more minutes. Anything else before we finish today?"

"No, I guess not, but I feel better," she said.

For more about the holiday blues, click here.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

PHQ - 9 overestimates prevalence of depression

Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Pfizer - e-Referral

More and more primary care medical practices are using the PHQ-9 depression screening tool and sometimes the abbreviated version. I've had it administered to me on my primary care medical visits along with my weight, blood pressure, and pulse.

A new study finds that these depression screenings over estimate the prevalence of depression. A symptom check list screening is not the same as a structured clinical interview for depression (SCID).

The most common misdiagnosis I find in my clinical practice is the depression for grief. Often I find that people who screened positive for depression in their doctor's office are actually experienced what is sometimes called "disenfranchised grief." Disenfranchised grief is sorrow and mourning triggered by a signficant loss that is not socially recognized, acknowledged, and therefore not supported with consolation and solace. Often I find that these patients have been started on an antidepressant medication which not treatment of choice for grief.

There is no substitute for good mental health care by a trained clinician.

For more click here.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Perfectionism more important characteristic in mental health problems than most behavioral health professionals recognize

From Science Daily on 09/25/14:

Experts are calling for closer attention to perfectionism's potential destructiveness, adding that clinical guidelines should include perfectionism as a separate factor for suicide risk assessment and intervention. 'There is an urgent need for looking at perfectionism with a person-centered approach as an individual and societal risk factor, when formulating clinical guidelines for suicide risk assessment and intervention, as well as public health approaches to suicide prevention,' says one researcher.

For more information click here.

In Schema therapy this schema is called "unrelenting standards."

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Helicopter parenting may create "imagined incapacity" in children.

Helicopter parenting may create "imagined incapacity" in children.

"Imagine a young person very attractive and a little uncertain. Imagine further a mother of this only child a little hovering, a little too eager to be helpful and advisory. This not uncommon situation puts the young person at risk of what we can term "imagined incapacity": the half conviction of being unable to do all sorts of things that in fact she probably can do." Leston Havens, "Freud's Invention"

This "imagined incapacity" creates all kinds of symptoms such as anxiety and depression. There is a learned helplessness which takes persistent effort to overcome. Psychotherapy helps.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Videotherapy - I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore

Jean Paul Sartre, the existential philosopher, said, "Hell is other people." I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore is a 93 minute film which takes this theme and runs with it.

When Ruth, a 30 something, single Nursing Assistant's home is burglarized, her depression deepens with her sense of violation which morphs into anger about "not wanting people to be assholes " and she wants her stuff back.

The story then kind of careens through a series of attempts to make things right.

Ruth recruits a socially awkward single neighbor, Tony, as her "back - up" as she goes on her quest to track down the burglar(s) and her things.

The story is told in ways that are comedic and grizzly.

The creative tension is developed between Ruth's righteous indignation and the selfish, greedy, exploitative behavior of her fellow human beings. It is a conflict that most of us can identify with, on the one hand being angry and repulsed by the behavior of our fellow human beings and our desire to love them and be at peace when things are more just.

Ruth's assertiveness in channeling her anger into making things right is to be admired. There is a slogan in psychology that "you can be mad or sad." When working with client's of mine who are depressed, I often observe their moving from sad to mad as a step in the direction of health. When people say, "Gosh darn it, I'm not taking this any more! I'm going to do something about it to make things right!" I am reassured that the person is on the track to make the world a better place.

I recommend "I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore." I give it a 4 on my 5 point scale.

For more from IMDB click here.

"I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" is on Netflix streaming.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Hovering (helicopter) parents may create "maladaptive perfectionism" in their children with increased anxiety, depression, and even suicidal ideation

From Medline Plus, June 26, 2016
SATURDAY, June 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Children with "intrusive" parents who push too hard for good grades may be more prone to become highly self-critical or anxious and depressed, a new study suggests.
"When parents become intrusive in their children's lives, it may signal to the children that what they do is never good enough," said study leader Ryan Hong, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the National University of Singapore.
The five-year study of primary school students in Singapore found that those whose parents acted intrusively, had high expectations of academic performance or overreacted when the child made a mistake were at increased risk of being overly critical of themselves.
The researchers also found that children who were highly self-critical had higher levels of anxiety or depression symptoms, although the study did not prove that parental pressure caused anxiety or depression.
"As a result, the child may become afraid of making the slightest mistake and will blame himself or herself for not being 'perfect,'" Hong said in a university news release.
For more click here.