You are not alone if economic doom and gloom are keeping you up at night. One-third of Americans reported losing sleep over the state of the nation’s economy in a new poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Job layoffs, forced furloughs, mortgage foreclosures, tight credit, and rising grocery prices have more Americans spending their […]
Childhood Depression Makes Adulthood Worse
An article published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry (164:1539-1546) concluded that the earlier in life a person develops major depression, the more likely they are to have long term social and occupational problems. The authors studied a group of 4 thousand people ages 18-75 with major depression from both primary […]
Caretakers More Likely to be Depressed
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published a report on the incidence of depression in adults by occupation. They found the 2 occupational categories with the highest incidence of depression were personal care services and food preparation. They also found that that 7 percent of all full-time workers experienced an episode of depression […]
For Elderly, Pain May Be Depression
Several recent studies show that in some elderly patients who met criteria for depression, a large percentage of them visited their doctors with only pain complaints. There seems to be a direct relationship between the number of pain complaints and the likelihood of having depression. That is, the more pain symptoms the more likely the […]
Anxiety Worsens Depression and Bipolar Disorder
A symptom of depression can be anxiety, but a person can also have a co-morbid (meaning simultaneously occurring) anxiety disorder that is a separate entity from their depression. Some anxiety disorders that can occur with depression are Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Social Phobia and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is not uncommon […]
Depression Versus Unhappiness – Are We Over-Prescribing?
I saw a segment on The Today Show this morning about the millions of antidepressants prescribed. Questions arose as to whether or not this is an indication of Americans wanting a quick fix or are doctors over-prescribing the medications. This opens a pandora’s box of issues ranging from who should treat depression to the state […]