Teenage smoking and depression

Teenagers who smoke to cheer themselves up may actually be more prone to depression. Researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre studied 662 teenagers asking them about their smoking habits and their mood. The participants were divided into three groups: those who had never smoked, those who smoked but did not do so to 'self-medicate' and those who smoked to improve their mood. Those who used cigarettes as mood-enhancers had higher risks of elevated depressive symptoms than those teenagers who had never smoked.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Even gentle exercise boosts brain power

Even gentle exercise three times a week could help to improve people's cognitive functioning, maintain networks in the brain and fight off the mental decay associated with aging. Researchers from Illinois University studied 100 people, aged between 18 and 35 and 59 and 80. The participants had previously led very sedentary lives. Some of the participants walked three times a week, at their own pace, for 40 minutes while others did toning exercises. The participants had brain scans at the start of the study and after six months and a year and took tests to measure their cognitive function. At the end of the year the older participants who had exercised by walking had better connections in their brain than those who had done toning and stretching and they also did significantly better on cognitive tests, being better at planning, prioritising, deciding on strategies and multitasking.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Gateway to drug problems could be legal pills

Gateway drugs are the less damaging substances people start taking before they move on to more damaging drugs like heroin and cocaine. Traditionally alcohol, cannabis and tobacco have been seen as gateway drugs but new research from the University at Buffalo in New York State suggests that prescription drugs could be just as significant. The researchers interviewed 75 people hospitalized for opioid detoxification and found that 31 of them said that they had first become addicted to legitimately-prescribed painkillers. Another 24 people said that they had become addicted to a friend's left-over pills or had stolen drugs from their parents' medicine cabinet. The remaining 20 participants said that they had got hooked on street drugs. However, 92% of the sample said that they had eventually bought illegal drugs because they were cheaper and more effective.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Tackling teenage binge drinking

Some teenagers' personalities make them more likely than other teenagers to develop problems with alcohol. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied 2,506 teenagers with an average age of 13.7. They tested them for sensation-seeking, impulsiveness, anxiety-sensitivity and hopelessness. From the initial sample 1,159 were identified as being at high risk for substance abuse. Of these children 624 received two, ninety-minute group sessions on alcohol prevention carried out by a trained teacher while the rest were a control group. The children who had not had the session were 1.7x more likely to report alcohol use while those who went to the sessions had a 55% decreased risk of binge drinking. Those who had had the sessions drank less often and had less alcohol-related problems.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Alcoholics, memories and self-delusion

Being an alcoholic is known to have a number of harmful effects on people's cognition and new research suggests that it damages people's memory without them being aware of it. Anne-Pascale Le Berre from the Universite de Caen/Basse-Normandie in France studied memory and people's awareness of it in a sample of 56 people, half of whom were alcoholics. The participants were given a memory test and also asked to predict their performance. The alcoholics did less well on the memory tests but had a tendency to overestimate their capacities, thinking that their memory was as effective as the healthy controls despite their worse performance.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Abused women's long-term suffering

The psychological ill effects of being in an abusive relationship can last for years after the relationship has finished. Researchers from Ohio State University studied 2,400 mothers over three years. Some were in relationships where there was no abuse, others were in controlling relationships (where there was no violence but where fathers were extremely critical and insulting and controlled women's actions) while others were in physically-violent relationships. Both those who stayed in violent and controlling relationships and those who left them showed significantly greater increases in depression and anxiety although abused women who had the support of friends and family did not suffer quite as much. The researchers pointed out that even after leaving their partners the abused women still saw them as they attempted to reach custody agreements with them. Of the abused women who had left their partners about half talked to, or saw them once a week. Only about a quarter were in contact with the father a few times a year or less.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Memory, child abuse and depression

Autobiographical memory is our memory of events and experiences from our own past rather than of skills like how to make a cup of tea, or facts like what the capital of Sweden is. Psychologists divide autobiographical memories into a number of different kinds. They can be of specific events, extended periods of time or of different categories of events e.g. all the times I have done embarrassing or stupid things. Psychologists call the last kind of autobiographical memory 'categorical' and there is evidence that too much of this kind of autobiographical memory - 'overgeneral memory' - can be linked to depression. There is also evidence that childhood sexual abuse can lead to people being more likely to experience overgeneral memory. Researchers from the universities of Manchester and Oxford studied this issue in a sample of 103 women aged between 25 and 37. The researchers found that overgeneral memory was associated with childhood sexual abuse even in women who weren't depressed. However, the women who were depressed and who had suffered childhood sexual abuse were more likely to have more overgeneral memories.

Aglan, Azza ... [et al] - Overgeneral autobiographical memory in women: association with childhood abuse and history of depression in a community sample British Journal of Clinical Psychology September 2010, 49(3), 359-372

Mindfulness, conditional goal setting and depression

People sometimes say to themselves 'I'll be happy when I've got a new car,' or 'I'll have achieved domestic bliss as soon as I've painted the front room.' Psychologists call this way of thinking Conditional Goal Setting and in a number of studies it has been associated with depression. Mindfulness is another way of thinking which derives from Buddhism and which stresses living in the moment, being aware of one's thoughts and surroundings in the present and being open-minded and non-judgmental. Buddhism is also against the idea that happiness is dependent on the achievement of other goals such as material posessions or exam results and a team of researchers from Oxford University and the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied 31 depressed patients to see whether there was a link between people's mindfulness and their conditional goal setting - both of which were measured with questionnaires. They found a significant association between 'increased dispositional mindfulness' and reduced conditional goal setting - an indication of another way in which mindfulness might reduce depression.

Crane, Catherine ... [et al] - The relationship between dispositional mindfulness and conditional goal setting in depressed patients British Journal of Clinical Psychology September 2010, 49(3), 281-290

Do antipsychotics rot your brain?

Post mortems have shown that people with schizophrenia have changes in their brains compared to people without the condition. A number of studies have shown that their brains are smaller, that they have less grey matter and larger ventricles (gaps) with more cerebrospinal fluid. But there is a debate as to whether these changes are due to the effects of schizophrenia or the antipsychotics used to treat it. Researchers from University College London and Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee reviewed 26 MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies into this issue and found that 14 of them showed a decline in global brain or grey-matter volume over the course of drug treatment. Three studies of patients with long-term schizophrenia but who had not taken drugs showed no differences in brain volume. The researchers concluded that 'antipsychotics may contribute to the genesis of some of the abnormalities usually attributed to schizophrenia.'

Moncrieff, J. and Leo, J. - A systematic review of the effects of antipsychotic drugs on brain volume Psychological Medicine September 2010, 40(9), 1409-1422

Stalkers and suicide

Stalking affects hundreds of thousands of people each year yet stalkers themselves often suffer from mental illness. Stalkers tend to be men aged between 20 and 40 who stalk either former partners or women with whom they have become obsessed. They are generally of average to below-average intelligence and suffer from a range of mental disorders. However, there has been no research looking into rates of suicide among stalkers. Researchers from Monash University in Melbourne followed 138 stalkers for three years and found that they committed suicide at significantly higher rates than other people. They called for clinicians working with stalkers to be aware of the risks and incorporate risk assessments and crisis management into their treatment.

McEwan, Troy, Mullen, Paul and MacKenzie, Rachel - Suicide among stalkers Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology August 2010, 21(4), 514-520

Reasoning and rehabilitation helps mentally-ill offenders

The Reasoning and Rehabilitation programme was first developed at the Cognitive Centre of Canada, at the University of Ottawa in 1986. It is a cognitive-behavioural approach which aims to give criminals the values, attitudes, reasoning and social skills they need to behave well in the future. Previous studies have shown it to be effective in helping offenders but there has been no research into whether it can help offenders with a mental-health problem. Researchers from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied the effectiveness of the programme in 35 male offenders with psychosis, 18 of whom received the programme while the remainder formed a control group. Those who completed the programme showed significantly improved problem-solving abilities and increased coping responses.

Clarke, Amory Y. ... [et al] - A quasi-experimental pilot study of the Reasoning and Rehabilitation programme with mentally disordered offenders Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology August 2010, 21(4), 490-500

Coping with depression - guest post by Maryanne Osborg

Coping With Depression and the Loss of a Loved One
There are times when I’ve looked at people with mental illnesses and wondered how they got that way – if it’s not a degenerative disease like Alzheimer’s and dementia, there must be a stressor that caused them to lose their mind and become half the person they were. The most common trigger seems to be the feeling of loss – it could either be the loss of personal possessions or the loss of a loved one. The most devastating effects are caused when a loved one dies, especially if the death is sudden and unexpected. It’s like the survivor’s heart stops and refuses to beat on.

The finality of death makes it hard to accept; and if you’re weak in spirit or beset by other problems simultaneously, you could slip into a depression so deep that only medical intervention can help. Having been around people who suffer from depression, I’ve found that it is a millstone around the necks of the sufferers – it weighs them down even as they try to keep their heads above water. Therefore, the best thing to do is to prevent sadness and the irreparable sense of loss from turning into depression through timely intervention.

If you feel yourself moping around with no interest in anything in life, it’s time to turn to friends and family for support. You may not realize the depths to which you’ve sunk, but if well-meaning friends tell you that it’s time to start living again, seek their help if you’re unable to do it on your own. In my experience, I’ve found that work is salvation when coping with the loss of a loved one. It keeps your mind and body occupied and soothes your tortured soul. Once you start to get back into your routine, vary it a little; go out and meet friends, spend time doing the things you love and with the people you love, and avoid being alone as much as possible.

Sometimes, this feeling of intense loss arises even when a relationship goes sour and you’re left bearing the emotional brunt of it. You know you can never go back to the person you thought was special and that you must move on; however, it is difficult to accept the change and cope with it because your trust could have been betrayed or you could have been abused mentally and/or physically.

Whatever the loss, depression is an ominous omen to more severe problems, especially if it persists for days together and affects your ability to function normally. Seek help immediately, for both peace of mind and sound mental health.

By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Maryanne Osberg, who writes on the topic of RN to MSN Online (you can visit the site by clicking on the title of this post). She can be reached at mary.anne579@gmail.com

Moderate wine drinking and Alzheimer's disease - keep taking the Chablis

Moderate wine drinking could cut people's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Researchers from Boston University Medical Center studied 5,033 men and women from Tromso in northern Norway. The participants had an average age of 58 and were followed over a seven-year period. Women who consumed wine at least four times over a two-week period scored better, on average, on cognitive-function tests than those who drank wine once or less while not drinking was associated with significantly lower cognitive performance. The researchers were able to adjust for the effects of age, education, weight, depression and cardiovascular disease in their study but not for those of diet, income or profession. Over the last 30 years there have been 68 studies into the links between moderate alcohol consumption and cognitive function involving 145,308 participants. Most of these studies have shown an association between light-moderate consumption and better cognitive function and a reduced risk of dementia.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

What makes liver transplant recipients go back to drinking?

People who have had to have liver transplants because of drinking too much sometimes start drinking again after their operation. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center studied 208 people who had had transplants between May 1998 and August 2004. 54% had no reported alcohol use after surgery - a figure much better than for other people who have given up drinking. The length of sobriety before the operation was an important factor with people who had been sober for longer before their transplant less likely to return to drinking. Stress after the operation was also important with people experiencing more problems overall, being more stressed, having worse health, more pain and less energy being more likely to return to drinking.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Army wives - depression and deployment

Army wives whose husbands are deployed while they are pregnant, or shortly after they have given birth, are more likely to become depressed. Researchers from the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington studied 3,956 women who were screened for depression when they first visited an obstetrician, at 28 weeks and at six weeks after birth. Women whose husbands were deployed during pregnancy were three times as likely to be depressed as other women and women whose husbands were deployed shortly after they had given birth were twice as likely to be depressed.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Heavy drinking and broken body clocks

Heavy drinking could disrupt people's body clocks. Researchers from Taipei Medical University studied some of the genes responsible for governing people's body clocks in a sample of 34 people, 22 of whom were alcoholics. The alcoholics had significantly less of a substance called messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) within their genes relating to their body clock. The reduced level of the substance in these genes did not return to normal once people had stopped drinking suggesting that heavy alcohol drinking could permanently upset people's body clocks.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the link in the title of this post

Bullying and academic performance

Previous research has looked into the mental-health effects of bullying but new research from the University of California Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) suggests that it may also affect their schoolwork as well. The study involved 2,300 pupils in 11 middle schools in Los Angeles. The pupils were asked about their own experiences of bullying and to list which of their fellow pupils were bullied the most. The pupils who were rated as the most bullied performed substantially worse academically than their peers and participated less in class discussions. The students were less likely to speak up in class and more likely to play truant. However, the link also worked in the other direction with children who performed poorly at school being more likely to be bullied.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Autistic children's senses not working overtime

Children with autism process information coming from a number of different sources less well than other children. Researchers from Yeshiva University in New York studied 34 children between the ages of 6 and 16, half of whom had autism. The children watched a silent video of their choice while they were presented with unrelated sounds and vibrations. The children's brain activity was measured by EEG (electroencephalogram) and the unaffected children were found to integrate the extra information from the sounds and vibrations much more effectively. It also took longer for the sensory information to reach the cerebral cortex in the autistic children - 310 miliseconds (ms) - than in the unaffected children (100-200ms).

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Domestic violence and spanking children

People who are violent or psychologically abusive to their partners are also more likely to spank their children. Researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans surveyed mothers and fathers from around 2,000 families with three-year-old children. As many as seven in ten of the families reported some form of abuse between the couples such as slaps, kicks or keeping a partner from seeing his or her family and nearly two-thirds of the toddlers in these families were spanked by their parents within the last month. The children who were most likely to be spanked were those whose parents were aggressive towards each other with mothers more likely to be the ones hitting their children. In a 2008 survey 77% of men and 65% of women agreed that a child sometimes needs a 'good hard spanking.' The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association both discourage spanking children.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Are teenagers' real communities online ones?

Peer groups are important for the development of teenagers' identities and values. More and more teenagers are finding a peer group online via social-networking communities and new research suggests that they may feel as much, if not more, loyalty to them than to their real-world communities. A team of Finnish researchers surveyed 4,299 teenagers in the U.K., Spain and Japan who were members of the social-networking site Habbo. The researchers found that the teenagers identified more strongly with their fellow users than their neighbourhood or hobby groups. In Spain the online groups were more likely to be made up of strangers while in Japan the participants were more likely to know their online friends in the real world as well.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.