Depression Disorder

According to new research, people who try to boost self-esteem by telling themselves they’ve done a great job when they haven’t could end up feeling dejected instead.

High and low performers felt fine when they assessed themselves accurately, probably because the high performers recognized their strengths and low performers acknowledged their weaknesses and could try to improve their future performance.

These findings challenge the popular notion that self-enhancement and providing positive performance feedback to low performers is beneficial to emotional health. Instead, the results underscore the emotional benefits of accurate self-assessments and performance feedback.

The study involved experiments with four different groups of young people from the United States and Hong Kong. Three U.S. groups totaled 295 college undergraduates, with 186 women and a mean age of 19, and one Hong Kong group consisted of 2,780 high school students, with 939 girls, from four different schools and across grades 7-12.

In the first two experiments, one of the U.S. groups and the Hong Kong students took academic tests and were asked to rate and compare their own performances with other students at their schools. Following their assessments, all the participants completed another widely used questionnaire to assess symptoms of depression.

In the third and fourth experiments, researchers evaluated the other two sets of U.S. undergraduates with feedback exercises that made high performers think their performance was low and low performers think their performance was high. Control groups participated in both and received their scores with no feedback.

Across all the studies, results showed that those who rated their own performance as much higher than it actually was were significantly more likely to feel dejected. Distress following excessive self-praise is likely to occur when a person’s inadequacy is exposed, and because inaccurate self-assessments can prevent self-improvement.

The results also revealed cross-cultural differences that support past findings that Asians are more humble than Americans. The U.S. undergraduates had a higher mean response when rating their performance than the Hong Kong students, at 63 percent compared to 49 percent, the researchers found. Still, they found that excessive self-enhancement was related to depression for both cultures.

American Psychological Association

Experts warn that the increasing using of “narrative verdicts” by coroners in Wales and England could be resulting in greater underestimation of rates of suicide.

Researchers say changes are needed urgently to ensure the future reliability of national suicide statistics.

Suicide accounted for 4,648 deaths in England and Wales in 2009. Official statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are currently based on suicide and open verdict deaths (known as “short form” verdicts) given by coroners after inquests into unnatural or unexpected deaths.

However, since 2001, a growing number of coroners have summarised their inquest findings with a “narrative verdict” – which records, in several sentences, how, and in what circumstances, the death occurred – rather than giving a short form verdict.

Narrative verdicts have some advantages. But, because they often do not mention intent, narrative verdicts can be difficult for the ONS to code, explain the authors – when suicide intent is unclear such deaths are classified as accidental.

The numbers of narrative verdicts increased from 111 in 2001 to 3,012 (more than 10 per cent of all inquests) in 2009, and figures for 2010 indicate that numbers continue to rise.

The ONS estimates that if all deaths from hanging and poisoning given narrative verdicts by coroners and coded as accidents were, in fact, suicides, the 2009 suicide rate would have been underestimated by 6 per cent – a difference equivalent to almost a third of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy’s 20 per cent reduction target.

This may be a conservative assessment because the ONS’s analysis did not include all common methods of suicide.

As the number of narrative verdicts rises, so too may the underestimation of suicide, they warn. The consequences of this could be incorrect rate estimates, misleading evaluations of national and local prevention activity, and masking of the effects of the current economic crisis on suicide.

The ONS is currently reviewing its coding of narrative verdicts and the Coroners’ Society of England and Wales is investigating how it can improve the current situation.

However, the researchers warn that suicide statistics for the years when narrative verdicts increased “should be treated with caution.”

Reliable statistics are crucial to public health surveillance, they say. Changes are needed urgently, but the current Government’s proposed abolition of the post of chief coroner “is likely to delay the implementation of recommended improvements and the development of consistent practice across the country.”

BMJ-British Medical Journal

Researchers used MRI scanners to scan the brain activity in 39 depressed people (23 female 16 male) and 37 control subjects who were not depressed (14 female 23 male). The researchers found the fMRI scans revealed significant differences in the brain circuitry of the two groups. The greatest difference observed in the depressed patients was the uncoupling of the so-called “hate circuit” involving the superior frontal gyrus, insula and putamen. Other major changes occurred in circuits related to risk and action responses, reward and emotion, attention and memory processing.

The hate circuit was first clearly identified in 2008 by Professor Semir Zeki who found that a circuit which seemed to connect three regions in the brain (the superior frontal gyrus, insula and putamen) when test subjects were shown pictures of people they hated.

The current research found that in significant numbers of the depressed test subjects they examined by fMRI that this hate circuit had become decoupled. Those depressed people also seemed to have experienced other significant disruptions to brain circuits associated with; risk and action, reward and emotion, and attention and memory processing. The researchers found that in the depressed subjects:

The Hate circuits were 92% per cent likely to be decoupled
The Risk/Action circuit was 92% likely to be decoupled
The Emotion/Reward circuit was 82% likely to be decoupled

Study leader Professor Jianfeng Feng said that:

“The results are clear but at first sight are puzzling as we know that depression is often characterized by intense self loathing and there is no obvious indication that depressives are less prone to hate others. One possibility is that the uncoupling of this hate circuit could be associated with impaired ability to control and learn from social or other situations which provoke feelings of hate towards self or others. This in turn could lead to an inability to deal appropriately with feelings of hate and an increased likelihood of both uncontrolled self-loathing and withdrawal from social interactions. It may be that this is a neurological indication that is more normal to have occasion to hate others rather than hate ourselves.”

University of Warwick

Experts established that a background of depressive disorders had been linked to a twenty nine % elevated chance of overall stroke, despite taking into account additional stroke danger aspects. Females that utilized anti depressant medication stood a thirty-nine % elevated chance of stroke.

Anti-depressant use might well be an indicator of depressive disorders intensity. The research doesn’t propose that individuals ought to quit their anti depressant medication to lessen the chance of stroke.

Experts analyzed females with out a prior background of stroke. The experts evaluated depression indicators multiple times with a Mental Health Index. Anti-depressant use had been reported every two years beginning in 1996, as well as doctors clinically diagnosed depressive disorders beginning in 2000.

Depressive disorders had been described as presently reporting or with a background of depressive disorders.

The reported prevalence of depressive disorders at base line with the females had been 22 %, as well as just over one thousand cases of stroke had been documented in the course of 6 yrs of follow-up.

When compared with females with out a background of depressive disorders, depressed females had been more likely to be those that smoke, single as well as much less active physically. They had been also somewhat younger, stood a higher bmi as well as far more coexisting problems for example cardiovascular disease, hypertension as well as diabetic issues.

Depressive disorders may prevent people from managing additional medical issues such as diabetic issues as well as high blood pressure, from using medicines frequently or using additional healthful lifestyle steps like doing exercises. All these aspects may bring about elevated danger.

Depressive disorders might well be linked to an elevated chance of stroke via a number of elements. It might well be related to inflammatory reaction, which raises the chance of stroke along with other problems or hidden vascular disorder within the human brain. Irrespective of the process, realizing that depressed people might well be at a greater chance of stroke could help the physician concentrate on not just managing the depressive disorders, but managing stroke danger aspects such as high blood pressure, diabetic issues as well as raised ldl cholesterol as well as dealing with lifestyle behaviors such as cigarettes as well as regular exercise.

Amongst restrictions with the research, the individuals had been mainly white registered nurses, it excluded females with out comprehensive data on depressive disorders steps as well as the individuals having an episode of stroke at an early age.

We cannot determine cause or completely exclude the chance that the results might be defined by additional un tested unidentified aspects. Even though hidden elements stay not clear, recognizing that depressed females might well be at a greater chance of stroke is worth further investigation into precautionary methods within this circle.

Depression is not easy to deal with. Like a tapeworm, it can invade the body and affect the mind. Grabbing hold of it, even identifying it, can demand a huge effort at a time when any effort seems too much. Depression does not just lift from day to day. It is not the same as a temporary period of feeling ‘down’ in mood. During the period of medically recognizable depression, there is a constant feeling of sad, gray dread. However, it is something you can deal with by getting outside help and your quality of life can only improve when you do so.

Depression takes several different forms, most of which share the same or similar symptoms.

Clinical depression is a general, serious, medically recognizable depression which affects the ability to lead an active daily life. It can last for months or years if not treated.

Postpartum is the depression that can follow the birth of a baby and may be provoked by a hormonal upheaval added to the stresses of a change of lifestyle.

Manic depression, or bi-polar disorder is a genetic condition in which there are marked swings in behavior, varying from extreme depression to extreme elation, or manic behavior, which can take hazardous, uninhibited forms such as gambling, spending, kleptomania and unsafe, promiscuous sex.

SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder can affect patients during the dark winter months when there is a reduction in light.

Symptoms of depression, including those experienced during the down phase of bi-polar disorder, are similar in most cases. They include:

•    Lack of energy
•    Inability to carry simple tasks to their conclusion
•    Dread about life in general
•    Constant sadness which does not go away
•    Irritability
•    Low or non-existent libido
•    Persistent anxiety
•    Absence of interest in things which previously were of interest
•    Lack of motivation
•    Weepiness

Physical symptoms are equally wide ranging and can include such seemingly unconnected problems as constipation, changes to the menstrual cycle and physical pain which has no identifiable cause. Added to disturbed sleep patterns accompanied by the desire to stay in bed for unusually long periods, depression, whatever the diagnosis and origin, is very distressing and disruptive to everyday home, work and social life.

Treatment varies widely and what might be effective in one patient might have unwanted side effects in another. The most important thing, though, is for the patient or his or her family or close associates to seek help, first of all from the patient’s GP.

The GP might prescribe medications and in the case of bi-polar disorder, re-balancing the body’s chemicals is generally considered to be essential, using drugs such as lithium. Postpartum depression might be treated with estrogen in combination with an anti-depressant.

Seasonal Affective Disorder can be treated effectively by using a specially constructed light box. This might be effective on its own or could be combined with an antidepressant drug or psychological counseling.

Long lasting clinical depression without any other specific cause can be treated using a combination of drug therapy and counseling, which may include marriage counseling. Many specialists in depression treatment recommend physical exercise in combination with other forms of treatment. It may be the last thing the patient wants to consider but it has been shown to help, however little a sufferer from depression can manage to do.

In most cases of depression, the sufferer is likely to be offered counseling as well as drug therapy. This might include one-on-one sessions, group therapy or self-help groups, all of which can help to shorten the most debilitating phase of the illness.