Psychologist Margaret Wehrenberg writes, “Such fears block full participation in life. They stop people from meeting potential romantic partners, trying for a promotion at work or cause a person to get weaker and lonelier with each passing mealtime. Facing fear is one of the great challenges in life, and not facing fear is a great cause of depression. Whenever fear wins, it gets stronger. And whenever people give in to fear they feel less able, less competent, less positive about themselves, i.e., more depressed”. Read her Blog
Fear Keeps Depression in Place
The Culture of Depression: Nature, Materialism, and Depression
Dr. Robert J. Hedaya writes, “The physical world we have created and within which the incidence of depression is most rapidly rising is the densely populated Western city. It is made of concrete, steel, glass and asphalt.Most of us do not know, in our bones, the slowly changing rhythms of the forest, through the seasons, and year after year. We can only see time passing in the faces of our loved ones, or the mirror, but we do not experience the naturalness of the passage of time via a changing, slowly morphing landscape around us”. Read his Blog
Success Syndrome: The Ambition-Depression Connection
“I’m trying to get comfortable with the idea that I am a human BEING not DOING, and that being a child of God is enough. With therapy and lots of soul searching, I am digging inside for the strength that lies at my core — naked, unassociated with any accolade or achievement,” writes Therese Borchard. Read her Blog
10 Ways Our Thinking Can Fuel Depression and Anxiety
Psychologist Elvira Aletta writes, “Right now, you and I can see clearly how those thoughts are exaggerated, over-the-top, unreasonable. It’s not so easy to see when we are caught up in the moment. Luckily, to make this task easier for us, Dr David Burns did a lot of work categorizing ten basic ways we distort our thinking. Study these categories. Highlight the ones you tend to use. Think of your own real life examples”. Read her Blog
Pokeman Go Reportedly Helping People’s Mental Health, Depression
We already know that exercise helps greatly with depression (along with virtually every other mental health problem), but being motivated to exercise when you’re depressed is a challenge. That’s why an engaging game like Pokémon Go can be helpful.Pokémon Go does this by encouraging people to get outside, take a walk, talk to others, and explore the world around them. Granted, it’s through their smartphone acting as an interface, but walking is walking, even if the motivation for doing so is to play a game. Read the full article.
Brain Structure That Tracks Negative Events Backfires In Depression
A region of the brain that responds to bad experiences has the opposite reaction to expectations of aversive events in people with depression compared to healthy adults, finds a new study. Read the article.
Behavioral Activation is Effective, Less Expensive Therapy for Depression
A new large-scale study has found that a simple and inexpensive therapy called behavioral activation may be equally as effective at treating depression as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Behavioral Activation is relatively simple, meaning it can be delivered by more junior staff with less training — making it a cost-effective option. It is estimated to be approximately 20 percent less expensive than CBT, meaning it could help ease current difficulties in accessing timely and affordable treatment. Read the full article.
Mental-health Issues Often Well Hidden
From the Toronto Star, Jowita Bydlowska writes, “Having mental-health issues is not like belonging to a secret society where there’s a sign — invisible to all except other sufferers — hovering overhead, indicating that, yes, this particular person, too, has the thing! Personally, the only time when I sometimes become aware of others’ issues is when I take a break from worrying about me. It’s not easy, lately, to do that and I have a natural tendency to self-obsess when things are bad. But this kind of obsession is only comfortable in a murderous way — it’s like a crushing, dark blanket of gloom that I could just bury myself in and that will eventually bury me. And ignore you.” Read the full article.
How Exercise May Help the Brain Grow Stronger
The New York Times reports that a new study with mice fills in one piece of that puzzle. It shows that, in rodents at least, strenuous exercise seems to beneficially change how certain genes work inside the brain. Though the study was in mice, and not people, there are encouraging hints that similar things may be going on inside our own skulls. Read the News
Two in Five Formerly Depressed Adults are Happy, Flourishing
A new study reports that approximately two in five adults (39%) who have experienced major depression are able to achieve complete mental health. “This research provides a hopeful message to patients struggling with depression, their families and health professionals. A large number of formerly depressed individuals recover and go on to reach optimal well-being” said Esme Fuller-Thomson, lead author of the study. Read the News
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