Individuals who display depressive symptoms in mid- or late life have an increased risk of dementia, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. More than five million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), at a health care cost (in 2010 dollars) of approximately $172 billion. [...]
Experts are proposing a new, lower cost method to treat depression — teaching people to practice positive activities. The naturopathic technique is an extension of decades of social psychology research. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Duke University Medical Center proposed the new treatment approach, termed Positive Activity Interventions (PAI), in a paper [...]
When previously depressed individuals enter mild states of sadness, their brain’s response can predict if they will sink into depression again, according to researchers at the University of Toronto. “Part of what makes depression such a devastating disease is the high rate of relapse,” said Norman Farb, a Ph.D. psychology student and lead author of [...]
Emerging research suggests depression may do more than just affect one’s mental health. University of California-San Franciso researchers report that in certain cases, depression causes premature aging of immune cells, an event which may predispose individuals to certain types of chronic illness. “There’s a lot more to depression than feeling blue,” said lead author Owen [...]
If you know someone with a depressive disorder, they may well need your help! While they will probably never request help, they might need it.
