Pop quiz: What are the three most common symptoms of depression? If you said any of the following: sadness or a low mood, tearfulness, appetite changes, and either insomnia or excessive sleeping, you would be right on target. Or would you? Up until very recently, the medical definition of depression stressed exactly those symptoms as […]
A New Way to Understand Depression in Men Read More »
Treatment-resistant depression is a form of major depression marked by a poor response to the treatment options typically used to address depression symptoms. When depressed people fail to respond to standard medications called antidepressants, doctors frequently rely on a form of controlled brain stimulation called electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). However, for a number of reasons, some
Surgical Anesthesia Appears to Treat Drug-Resistant Depression Read More »
Major depression (major depressive disorder) is a severe condition that centers on an inability to properly regulate mood and emotion. For a long time, doctors and scientists have believed that the condition produces its effects by altering the normal function of several areas of the brain. However, according to the results of a study published
Depressed People Develop Hyperactive Brain, UCLA Researchers Say Read More »
Hypothyroidism is the medical term for abnormally low function in your thyroid gland, a small structure at the base of your neck responsible for producing two different hormones that play a crucial role in your everyday health. Some people develop an overt, symptom-causing problem called clinical hypothyroidism, while others develop a normally symptom-free condition called
Links Between Hypothyroidism and Depression Read More »
Under favorable circumstances, most people will do their best to think logically and make good decisions. However, life frequently produces circumstances that are far from favorable, and the impact of adverse conditions can significantly degrade the quality of the decision-making process. In a study published in 2009 in the journal Psychological Science, a team of
Is Depression Causing You to Make Poor Decisions? Read More »
When someone is asked to visualize an individual with depression, they may imagine a withdrawn person sadly and quietly sitting away from others or curled up sleepless in a bed. Both images are silent and sad. But the characteristics of depression are not always so quiet. For men, many times the signs and symptoms of
Angry, Hostile Men May Have Depression Read More »
Having a baby is usually a joyous occasion. After a safe delivery, maternal instincts begin to grow. Bonding begins as a mother finally gets to hold her child in her arms and continues through each feeding, swaddling, and kiss goodnight. But some women cannot enjoy these wonderful new bonding emotions and, rather, find themselves drifting
Risk Factors for Postpartum Depression Read More »
Testosterone is a human hormone normally associated with teenage boys, men, and the development of male sexual characteristics. However, this hormone is also normally found in small amounts in teenage girls and women. Scientific evidence gathered throughout the 2000s indicates that abnormally low or high testosterone levels can increase a woman’s chances of developing some
Links Between Testosterone Levels and Depression in Women Read More »
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious form of depressive illness that can occur in a new mother in the weeks or months following the birth of her child. The severity of the illness varies considerably from person to person; in a worst-case scenario, women with PPD cease caring for their newborns and consider harming themselves
Poor Sleep Can Lead to Depression in New Mothers Read More »
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a brain-stimulating technique that uses very low levels of electrical current to change the amount of activity taking place in the brain’s main nerve cells, called neurons. This technique differs from another similarly named form of brain stimulation called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Current evidence indicates that tDCS can
New Electric Current Brain Stimulation Alleviates Depression Read More »