Depression Treatment | Remain Drug Free

Can Facebook Make You Sad? Internet Addiction Therapy

Internet Addiction Treatment

Therapy in Seattle for Facebook Addiction

and Internet Addiction Disorder:

Facebook has granted us a new form of communication that has transformed life in so many ways unimagined just a short time ago. Facebook’s statistics are astounding. In just one single decade, Facebook has signed up some 1.3 billion members, half of whom log in on any given day and spend an average of 18 minutes every visit. Facebook instantly connects families across continents, friends across the years and people around the world.

Evaluation for Internet Addiction Disorder

Internet Addiction Treatment

Nonetheless, Facebook’s effects on its users may not be entirely benign. Some researchers suggest that the ability to connect digitally, through the internet ethers does not necessarily make people any happier, and in fact inordinate Facebook time tends to reduce the satisfaction they feel about their life. Can it really be possible that Facebook makes you sad?

Until quite recently, few had studied this question and the little evidence that did exist actually hinted that the social network has a beneficial effect.

“Last summer, a team of psychologists from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the University of Leuven in Belgium decided to drill a bit deeper by evaluating how life satisfaction changes over time with Facebook use. Ethan Kross and colleagues questioned a group of people five times a day over two weeks about their emotional state. They asked questions such as “how do you feel right now?”, “how lonely do you feel right now?”, “how much have you used Facebook since we last asked?” and so on. This gave them a snapshot of each individual’s well-being and Facebook usage throughout the day.

The team found that Facebook use correlated with a low sense of well-being. “The more people used Facebook over two-weeks, the more their life satisfaction levels declined over time,” they said. “Rather than enhancing well-being… these findings suggest that Facebook may undermine it.”

Thich Nhat Hanh | If You Say Something Kind

You are like a candle.

Imagine you are sending light out all around you.

All your words, thoughts and actions are going in many directions.

If you say something kind, your kind words go in many directions,

and you yourself go with them.

We are transforming and continuing in a different form at

every moment.



Thich Nhat Hanh

Elderly Depression and The Great Digital Divide

What’s the most persistent digital divide in America?



It isn’t by race, income or educational attainment, studies show, but by age.

Just 56 percent of Americans over 65 are online, according to a May study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, compared with 83 percent of people aged 50 to 64, 92 percent of people 30 to 49 and 98 percent of 18-to-29 year olds. The 2013 study represented the first time the percentage of America’s online elderly tipped over the 50 percent mark.

The racial divide, by comparison, only runs from 76 percent of Hispanic Americans who are online to 85 percent of blacks and 86 percent of non-Hispanic whites, Pew found.

The digital divide measured by income is somewhat greater, from 76 percent of households that make less than $30,000 per year to 96 percent of households that make more than $75,000. The education divide comes closest to the age divide. About 59 percent of Americans who didn’t complete high school are functionally online, Pew found, compared with 96 percent of college graduates.

The effects of this divide can be pernicious, said Tony Sarmiento, executive director of Senior Service America, a Washington area nonprofit organization that works to increase Internet use among the elderly. Disconnected seniors are more likely to feel isolated and sink into depression, Sarmiento said, especially if they’re housebound by physical ailments or have lost much of their nondigital social circle to death, disease or dementia.

A 2009 report by the Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies found a 20 percent reduction in depression among seniors who are effective online compared with those who are not.

“We all end up paying dearly for that in terms of older people needing more care because their health deteriorates,” Sarmiento said. “So being able to lessen that isolation online, not just with email but with Skype and things like that could have a tremendous impact.”

The Importance of Choosing Your Thoughts

While time spent alone can be a very positive opportunity for reflection, personal growth, and creativity, in can also be dangerous if we happen to be negatively turned against ourselves. This is reflected in the difference between introspection and rumination. Introspection is a process of self- reflection, examination, and exploration, all of which are positive and healthy. Rumination, however, involves going over the same things repeatedly, and can lead to a cycle of negative thinking that can hold us back. These two different states of personal solitude can be affected by the state of our mind, and whether we are looking at ourselves fairly as ourselves or through the eyes of a critical inner voice.

Are You Impatient for Change?

It hard not to understand why someone in our current society might be impatient for change. The world we live in has two recurring messages on this subject. One, that we aren’t good enough. Two, that change is quick and easy. There is medicine that is supposed to fix our physical and mental health problems, products that will make us feel good, books that will give us all the answers, and milestones that will suddenly make life better. The media sells us on the idea of fixing our problems and it is easy to want to believe them because we know that actual change is difficult. Change requires us to take responsibility.

Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy helps you manage your anxiety and depression and realize the personal change that you value!

Emotional Appraisal Can Alleviate Anxiety

Emotional Re-Appraisal is one of the most effective methods today in dealing with emotional arousal. The technique involves taking an initial reaction and re-evaluating it. This evaluation or appraisal diffuses the impact of the initial response and alleviates anxious symptoms. Unfortunately neurological mechanisms of performing the appraisal take place in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which research suggests is impaired in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety issues. The impaired prefrontal cortex makes it more difficult for them to perform an emotional re-appraisal, though studies have not determined if this is a cause or effect of anxiety.

Self-Sabotaging: Why We Get in Our Own Way

This article explores the expression, “You are your own worst enemy.” Many people can relate to this expression, calling to mind personal experiences of procrastination, deliberate poor choices, or other self-destructive decisions that we question later. Psychologist and author Robert Firestone attributes these experiences to self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors perpetrated by something he coined as our “critical inner voice.” The critical inner voice is essentially an anti-self, or a mental part of a person that has turned against itself, formed by internalized criticisms from early life experiences. These criticisms may not even have been directed at the person with the critical inner voice, but perhaps criticisms that parents or caretakers had about themselves.

5 Steps For Relaxing and Deep Meditation

Most people have probably heard about the benefits of meditation. Some people may have even tried it out, but experienced a certain dissatisfaction or sense that the meditation is not as deep or meaningful as advertised. This article provides a few tips to help improve meditation and achieve the gravity and satisfaction people look for. It is best not to eat a heavy meal or drink stimulating drinks like coffee before attempting meditation. It’s also helpful to acknowledge the fact that there will inevitably be noise and distractions. If you’re prepared for the eventuality, they will be less bothersome when they occur and this will help you to ignore them.

Ways of Living an Authentic Life

The idea of living an authentic life is one that is used fairly frequently. However, what does it mean to live authentically? It means to harmonize our actions and words to our inner beliefs and values. What this means is that to live authentically is to live true to our actual self and not to how we think we ought to be. What this means then is that to live authentically, a person has to be in touch with their inner being. They need to actually know themselves. It’s important to sort through things that could be our beliefs and find the ones that truly resonate with the person we are today.

Part of realizing our authentic self is unblocking ourselves from the past, so to speak — turning off the tape recorder, and being grounded in the present moment. When we are grounded that we can be open, curious and accepting of ourselves and others.

Being authentic is much more than being real; it is expressing what is real. And clearly, what is real for me will be quite different than what is real for you. There is no value attached: it simply is what it is for each of us. If your sexual orientation, spiritual beliefs or chosen path is different than mine, we are both okay with it.

When we are both skillfully living from our authentic selves, our differences do not frighten or challenge us. There are no judgements. I honor the authentic you and you honor the authentic me.

Why We ‘Self-Medicate’ Our Own Depression or Anxiety

How do we know when a couple of nightly drinks make the dark turn towards alcohol dependency? When liquor routinely becomes the solution for stress, anxiety, or conflict, it’s time to take a serious look at the issue. Mental health problems are often self-medicated with a drink or trip to the bar. If you notice a pattern in yourself, or others comment on your use of alcohol, consider the “ endless cycle of use” you may not have been willing to acknowledge. Does your dependency nag at you, complicate your life, or shame you? If so, it’s time to get help.

Explore Alternatives | Evidence Based Psychotherapy in Seattle

A review of the psychological literature reveals that only a very small percentage of psychotherapy services in the United States are tightly linked to existing scientific knowledge. It is a really quite strange if you think of it. Would anyone want undergo medical surgery that was not based on a current scientific understanding of the body? Ask yourselr: just why should the mind and behavior be any different?

It is clear that this problem has multiple faces. Psychology and psychiatry have historically had a really hard time agreeing on what we even mean by mental disorders. Clearly, there is a proliferation of theories and approaches. Everyone seems to have some strange theoretical axe to grind. Managed care companies have strident practice guidelines; yet, it is infuriating that often such “guidelines” just come down to ways to reduce cost. The American Psychiatric Association has practice guidelines, but medications are so emphasized (no surprise) that as a broad public information service, they are not very useful.

This problem has multiple faces for psychology and psychiatry. Scientists have had a hard time agreeing on what we even mean by mental disorders. There clearly is a proliferation of theories and approaches. Everyone seems to have an axe to grind. Big pharma and managed care companies have practice guidelines but often they just come down to ways to reduce cost. The American Psychiatric Association has practice guidelines, but medications are so emphasized (surprise) that as a broad public information service, they are not very useful.

One certainly might hope that the government could get reasonable scientists together to say what is known. The fact that economic interests sometimes want a particular answer can make that difficult as well. But there are at least two government efforts worth noting in the area of psychotherapy, and fortunately both are exploring acceptance and mindfulness-based alternatives in the area of evidence-based care that give consumers a wider range of choices.

Psychological Suffering is Not Just About Pain

Clearly, suffering is a basic fact of life for humans. Yet suffering is not just about pain — psychological — or otherwise. It’s much more than that. Humans don’t just experience pain; they agonize over their painful memories, uncomfortable emotions, difficult self-evaluations. They worry and obsess about them, they dread them, they engage in all kinds of activities to avoid them. Naturally people want the suffering in their lives to be minimized. We all value feeling better, but not merely feeling better. A good life is much more than simply a lack of suffering. People want to live well and make the very best of their time on this earth

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is about easing the problem of human suffering, and it’s also about much more than that. It’s about reaching beyond suffering to the larger purpose of people’s lives and helping them get active in really living vitally. ACT is centered on such questions as “What do you really want your life to be about?” or “If you lived in a world where you could have your life be about anything, what would it be?”

The Problem With Language | Acceptance Commitment Therapy

Not too long ago, perhaps a couple hundred thousand years, an obscure primate species called “human” learned a new trick. We learned to relate events arbitrarily–we learned to have one thing stand for another. We acquired symbolic thought.

We’ve been bossed around ever since…

The comedian Emo Philips has a saying that captures the situation we are in: “I used to think my mind was my most important organ. Then I noticed which organ was telling me that.”

The human mind is arrogant beyond belief. Because our minds can talk about anything, and this organ between our ears thinks it knows everything. Our logical, analytical, predictive, problem-solving mind knows how to live, knows how to love, and knows how to be at peace.

Not.



Language and cognition sit on top of vast amounts of experiential, social, evolutionary, and spiritual knowledge. It claims it all, merely because symbols can refer to such knowledge (to a degree) and guide it (to a degree). It is such a powerful illusion — this thin veneer of symbolic thought claiming unto itself substance and power it simply does not have. Our mind’s claims are the metaphorical equivalent of paint claiming to be the house it covers.

READ THIS AND OTHER POSTS BY DR. STEVEN HAYES.

Chaotic Family Environments Increase Depression and Aggression in Children

Children who are raised in a loving and supportive environment are more likely to behave in a loving and supportive way as adults. In the same way, children raised in a negative or hostile environment are more likely to experience similar environments as adults. Syeda Shamama-tus-Sabah tested whether or not the same principles apply to acoustic and physical chaos in a recent study at the University of Pakistan. Shamama-tus-Sabah reviewed parent and teacher reports on over 150 children aged eight to eleven, all with educated mothers. The findings were that children growing up without structure and routine, or in chaotic environments, are more likely to have depressive symptoms.

Turning Self Doubt Into Confidence

Not many things can halt forward movement in life like self doubt. Self doubt can rob a person of their enthusiasm by summoning fears that can dismiss all work and preparation towards a goal as not good enough to ever realize it. By then halting forward momentum, those fears are realized. In order to keep moving, it is important to be able to turn doubt in confidence. This confidence is not arrogance, but assurance that it is good to try new things and it is okay to make mistakes. Doubt brings the fear of being punished for making a mistake and the idea that to make a mistake means to have failed.

6 Lies Your Depression Wants You to Believe (And How to Not Fall Into the Trap)

Psychiatrist Kavetha Sundaramoorthy believes that if a person is aware that the things they tell themselves while depressed are not true, it is easier for that person to ignore those lies and replace them with a helpful truth. In that spirit, this article is dedicated to debunking several lies that may seem convincing when depressed. The first lie is that depression is a chemical condition that cannot be helped. She believes that this way of thinking it too simplistic when we are in reality very complex individuals. She acknowledges that medication can be integral to healing depression, but it can not solve depression by itself.

Depression, Desire, Addiction: Is Meditation the Answer to Changing Your Brain?

There is no freedom in a life that is out of control. Peace may be discovered by mindful awareness practices and self-awareness that increase self-control. Brain research suggests that people can change the way they think and respond to life. According to neuropsychiatrist Daniel Amen, M.D., “You’re not stuck with the brain you’re born with. By changing your brain, you can change your life.” The Mind and Life and a program entitled the Zen Brain, Zen Mind Institute sponsor meetings that join science and Buddhism discover how meditation transforms life experiences. The article encourages time away to rest, find relief from pain, and to “come home to your own tender heart.”

Why Waiting to Change Your Life Can Be Dangerous

This is a cautionary article about becoming too complacent with our lives as we make plans for what we want to do in the future without putting those plans into effect. There are many reasons this tends to happen: fear, embarrassment, self-doubt. But the idea that this article’s writer, as well as many others, unfortunately learned through a sudden accident is that not acting on your plans and hopes for the future is a gamble. It is a gamble that you have the time to not act on these ideas, and that you will always have time to build the life you want with the people you want sometime in the future.

Motor and Cognitive Difficulties Found in Suicide Attempters

Depression carries symptoms of both cognitive impairment and executive dysfunction. This means that people who are depressed often have a hard time thinking clearly, making decisions, and even remembering things. Elevated dysfunction increases the risk of suicidal behavior. This has been known for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that studies began to compare the cognitive and psychological functioning of people who attempt suicide to those who don’t. John G. Keilp at the New York State Psychiatric Institute recently made this comparison in a study of 80 depressed people with no history of suicide attempts, 72 depressed people who had attempted previously, and 56 people with no suicidal history or depression.

Why it is Good For You to Feel Negative Emotions

According to Dr. Lisa Firestone, the best thing to do when confronted with strong negative emotions, such as being let down by a friend or partner, or having an argument with a child, is to stay with the pain. We expend more energy trying to avoid pain than we would just facing those feelings. In addition to the real possibility of making ourselves feel worse trying to avoid pain, it also creates a defensive habit that can lead to hurting others unintentionally. Facing emotionally challenging situations also makes us more emotionally adaptive and people who face negative feelings often end up feeling more refreshed the next day.

Losing Hope for Sleep Can Hike Suicide Risk

A new study from Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, the chair of the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, shows that when people lose hope of having a good night’s sleep, their risk of suicide spikes. McCall notes that this study reaffirms what he had previously established, that hopelessness about sleep is separate from other kinds of hopelessness. The new study also links to other studies which indicate that nightmares and insomnia increase suicide risk. The effect is so great that insomnia can apparently double the likelihood of suicide in people already at risk.

Midlife Crises Affecting Men and Families

Studies have shown that across the globe, there is a dip in happiness that comes with midlife. This dip is fortunately often followed by an upswing of satisfaction with life, but the dip can still be a crisis. Midlife is a time when a typical person is burdened with responsibility, often for both their parents and their children, as well as a lack of mentorship. A person at midlife will begin to feel as if they’re on their own, as well as having to face the loss of their youth and the roles and opportunities that were afforded by youth.

Electrical Patch Found to Reduce Depression

Dr. Christopher DeGiorgio, a professor of neurology from the University of California, recently presented an external trigeminal nerve stimulation patch that he invented to the Royal Society of Medicine in London. The patch stimulates nerves in the forehead that link deep within the brain to areas that are associated with mood. The studies have shown that it can improve the moods of people who suffer from depression by as much as 50% if worn for at least eight hours a night during sleep. Not only that, it has also been found to reduce the occurrence of epileptic seizures in patients that don’t respond to drug treatment.

Addiction and Depression

Depression is one of the most, if not the most, common co-occurring disorders most addicts have. Addicts often feel demoralized and helpless about their health and about their lives, and altered brain chemistry can easily escalate those feeling into depression. Richard Taite, the CEO and founder of the Cliffside Malibu Treatment Center, offers some suggestions on how to alleviate the feelings of depression. The first suggestion is exercise. It doesn’t even have to be going to the gym, but just any activity to get the body moving, whether that is walking up and down the stairs a few times or going out for a short walk.

Project Hope Targets Parental Depression and Adolescent Drug Use

Parental depression causes parents to be less effective in their parenting by making them less engaged with their children and less available to provide their children with the emotional and physical support that they need as they grow older. Without this support, children are more likely to develop psychological problems. In the past, there have been interventions designed to either target parental depression or the bad behavior that the children may have developed as a result of the depression, but only recently has a study been performed to examine the possibilities of targeting both elements simultaneously in a pilot program.

Massage: One of My Favorite Stress Management Techniques for Good Reason

Elizabeth Scott has always enjoyed getting massages and also enjoys the idea of them being a part of a stress management plan. In her experience, massage has been an excellent short-term stress management tool, but she has since wondered what the actual benefits of massage are compared to other stress managements practices and whether or not a massage carried long-term stress benefits. Research into some studies published in various journals brought good news. One study showed that a massage lowered a subject’s perceived level of stress, which also resulted in lowered heart rate and even lowered blood pressure. Another study showed that a Thai massage can increase heart rate variability, pain threshold, and body flexibility.

Lindsey Vonn: 5 Things to Know About Depression

Olympic Skier, Lindsey Vonn, revealed at the beginning of the new year that she suffers from depression. This personal revelation shows that you can’t tell how a person feels simply by looking at their status, looks, or success. It’s important to remember the depression is an illness, one that can affect anyone. It isn’t a sign of weakness to be depressed and it is important to seek help to combat the depression. Another thing to know is that research is showing that cognitive behavioral therapy is effective against depression, but that medication may also be an option to treat the illness.

Your 4-Step Guide to Happiness

For a way to lift someone out of depression that doesn’t involve medication, there is a growing body of research that suggests therapy alone can help to alleviate depression. This isn’t limited to typical therapy, though that is the best way to go, but cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) applied for six months has also been shown to reduce symptoms of depression in about half of people who weren’t responding to medication. CBT focuses both on thinking and actions and so part of it involves exercise, which has been shown to improve moods with more than just serotonin.

Becoming More Aware of Depression and Bipolar

Tom Wootan, the CEO of Bipolar Advantage, writes that we only see what we have been trained to see. In terms of the bipolar community, he means that doctors see only a disease, family and friends see only behaviors, and the afflicted see only pain. His point is that there is a lot more going on with depression and bipolar disorders than any one perception, or even the sum of the three impressions. Being trained to see the bigger picture of bipolar can lead not only to a deeper understanding of the disorder, but also better functionality for those who have it, more comfort for everyone, and the recognition of potential value of the disorder.

Culture Stigmatizing Mental Illness Must Change

After a second student from Northwestern University passed away during the fall semester, one by suicide while studying abroad, professors Christina Traina and Laurie Zoloth have written in about the stigma surrounding mental illness that impedes the prevention of such tragedies. The Centers for Disease Control report that suicide is the third most common cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24 and the second most common for people between 25 and 34. Nearly every person who attempts suicide is suffering from an underlying issue such as depression. If the stigma around mental health issues can be raised, action can be taken to address mental illnesses before tragedy strikes.

How to Make Peace with Your Dark Past

Almost everyone has something dark in their past and it is human nature to dwell on that darkness, trying to figure out how we allowed those things to happen. It can become a dark circle of trying to understand what happened and agonizing over the fact that it did. The way to move forward, however, is through acceptance. It is possible for people to accept their dark history and perhaps even become grateful for it, recognizing that while they are not proud of what happened, they could not be the person they are today without it. Once the past is embraced, they can turn their eyes to the present and future.

How Gratitude Combats Depression

According to Dr. Deborah Serani, studies show that consistent positive interaction, particularly positive interactions that involve gratitude, both increase happiness and decrease depression levels. So while the holiday season may also be a season of gratitude, it can be emotionally important to try and practice gratitude throughout the entire year. Dr. Serani shares seven of the best techniques researchers have found to combat depression, including gratitude visits. A gratitude visit is simply delivering gratitude in the form of a letter or email to someone whom you are grateful to but feel you have not appropriately thanked. Another technique is to write down three good things that have happened throughout the week.

Light at Night May Lead to Depression, Brain Functioning Problems

A recent study at Johns Hopkins University found that being exposed to bright lights for an extended period of time causes higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which can eventually lead to brain functioning problems and even depression. The study was conducted on mice, which are similar to humans in that both humans and mice have light-activated cells in their eyes which have been shown to have an effect on brain regions associated with mood and memory. One of the researchers also noted that previous studies have been done on humans that has proved light affects the limbic system of the human brain.

Nine Secrets of Courage from Extreme Fear

Everyone has to deal with fear, and the way fear is responded to can determine how we live the rest of our life. If we spend all of our time avoiding fear, we probably won’t get any better at handling fear when it is unavoidable. Jeff Wise’s new book explores the neurological underpinning of our fear response to better understand how fear can be mastered. In this article, he shares nine things that he found helps to increase courage. Studies show that physical fitness can curb the effects of fear, as exercise can ease depression. Thus skydivers with a lower body fat percentage take less time to recover from elevated stress levels.



• Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful situations.
• But in some cases, it becomes excessive and can cause sufferers to dread everyday situations.
• This type of steady, all-over anxiety is called Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
• Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats. But often we bristle with anxiety about situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back and avoid the vital life with mindless oblivion.
• When we get clear about the nature of fear, we recognize this as a vital response to physical and emotional danger—if we didn’t feel it — register this in some way . . . we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate or ominous threats. Yet it is clear that we often fear situations that are far from life-or-death, and thus hang back for no good reason.

Depression Disproportionately Affects Those in Poverty, Report Finds

A new report from Gallup and Healthways shows that people who are poor not only have a greater risk of health problems, but are disproportionately more likely to be diagnosed with depression. Thirty-one percent of people living in poverty report having depression, according to the report, while only 15.8% of people outside of the poverty line report the same. In the report, the researchers mentioned that whether depression led to poverty or poverty led to depression, the fact remains that those in poverty are twice as likely to suffer the condition and it is possible that the condition could impede their escaping poverty.

Bullying and Mental Health: Study Links Anxiety, Hyperactivity in Kids to Bullying

A lot of research has been conducted about the effects of bullying on the mental health of the victim and how the bullying contributes to issues such as anxiety and depression. A new study suggests that the relationship between bullying and mental health extends to the bully as well, showing that kids with mental health disorders are three times more likely to be a bully. The study used data provided by the parents of 64,000 children from the ages of 6 to 17 from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, and showed that children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, and depression were six, three, and three times respectively more likely to be bullies.

Depression: Why is Midlife Such a Downer?

Researchers from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College have discovered that the probability of depression peaks for both men and women around the age of 44. In the U.S., women reach a peak of unhappiness around the age of 40, while men peak closer to 50. The trend of midlife depression isn’t something exclusive to the United States or even to the west, where people are thought of as being rich in material goods but poor in happiness. The data the researchers used is from two million people across 80 different countries and the pattern of midlife depression shows up in countries from all over the globe.

Depression Therapy :: New Hope for Mental Health

Depression Therapy: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in two Americans will suffer a mental health disorder in their lifetime. In fact, depression, schizophrenia, and addiction are among the World Health Organization’s five most common illnesses in adults between 18 and 44. Many mental illnesses, however, bear social stigmas not shared by physical disorders. For example, depression is not likely to inspire the same sympathy as a heart disease despite the American Heart Association reporting that one in five heart attack patients also suffer from depression. Not only that, but a patient with symptoms of depression who suffers a heart attack is six times more likely to die in the following months. Depression therapy helps save lives!

Self-Care: An Antidote to Stress

If a person neglects themselves to meet the needs of others too frequently, it can have a negative effect on their physical, emotional, and mental health, with symptoms such as stress, irritability, and exhaustion. This can also lead to feelings of anger or resentment towards those whose needs are being given higher priority. All of these things are signs of a life out of balance, and a good way to get things back on track is to simply put more emphasis on self-care. A person who attends to their own needs is more likely to have the energy to help others.

Anxiety and Depression: Our Internal GPS System

Most people look at anxiety and depression as a warning of poor mental health or even as a disorder. From another perspective, however, anxiety and depression can serve as a sign that we are ready to change the world that we have created for ourselves mentally. Rather than suppress the feelings, we can investigate them to find and understand the reason for them. These feelings can act as a sort of internal GPS system, in that we experience feelings like anxiety and depression as our body’s way of keeping us on the right track and working for our greater good.

Want to Find Your Life Passion? Start by Simplifying Your Life

Barrie Davenport is a life passion coach, meaning she partners with people to uncover their life passions. She writes that when a person has a passion in life fueled by vision and purpose, they can wake up every day with the same excitement as a child waking up on their birthday. Part of finding a life passion involves finding a way to live with that passion and make it work practically in a person’s daily life. In order for the passion to fit, space needs to be made in the cluttered schedule in which most adults live.

The Power of Mindset and Getting Your Body Healthy and Fit

Fitness professional Sam Kappel writes that the first thing he coaches someone in is developing their mindset around their goal. This helps them overcome the obstacles that can get in the way of these goals by committing them to their goal. Accomplishing goals, whether fitness or otherwise, is a journey to be taken in baby steps. Part of developing the right mindset for a goal is to create mini-goals or benchmarks to be met along the way. Applying an award system to whatever mini-goals or benchmarks are set, as well as to the final goal, helps prevent discouragement and adds extra incentive.

Women with ADHD: More Self-Harm & Suicide Attempts

The results of a recent study published in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology show that women diagnosed with ADHD as young adults, particularly combined type ADHD, are more likely to attempt suicide or participate in self-harm. In the study, 228 girls between ages 6 and 12 participated, half of whom were diagnosed with ADHD. Every five years, researchers followed up with the participants in a full day of clinical assessments. By the ten year mark, 22% of the girls diagnosed with combined type ADHD reported at least one suicide attempt, compared with 8% of the girls diagnosed with inattentive type, and 6% of the control group.

Depression Lessens Ability to Distinguish Between Negative Emotions

According to a new study, people who are clinically depressed are less able to distinguish between their negative emotions than healthy people. According to Dr. Emre Demiralp of the University of Michigan, it can be hard to improve your life when you don’t know how you feel about certain aspects of it. Clinically depressed people commonly feel sadness, anger, fear, or frustration, but without being able to label and differentiate between those feelings, they can’t address the problem that led to the emotions. There were 106 participants between the ages of 18 and 40 in the study, half of whom were diagnosed as clinically depressed.

How to Overcome Stress and Anxiety Naturally

Stress and anxiety are acknowledged parts of everyday life for most people due to lifestyle changes and the daily challenges that everyone faces. Excessive stress and anxiety can lead to health issues, however, so there are many medications available to help people manage their stress and anxiety. There are also many natural methods that can be employed to control and relieve the effects of stress and anxiety as well. Meditating, or taking a few minutes to clear your mind and achieve a sense of calm, can help relieve stress. Developing a positive mindset, or changing your perception of a negative situation by developing positive thoughts can also be a useful tool.

Do You Play the Blame Game in Life?

According to Mike Bundrant, the director of the iNLP Center, the blame game is where a person blames other people and his or her environment for the the things wrong with life. Playing the blame game means being inactive in life and allowing the quality of life to depend on what everyone and everything else does to it. Being inactive means not taking control of life and not taking necessary steps to improve it by coming up with solutions to redress the bad things that happen. Instead of playing the blame game, Bundrant advises that people take charge and take proactive steps toward a better life.

Why People Worry All the Time

People who seem to worry all the time suffer a condition, though not a disorder, called generalized anxiety disorder. Some worry about everything conceivable and others have one worry that preoccupies them throughout the day. Dr. Fredric Neuman explains that some patients worry because they are trying to anticipate danger. He has a parable of two cavemen that shows the benefits of worrying as well as explains why so many people worry today. The short version is that worrying is good for our survival as a race, but it is important to focus that worry on things that ought to be worried about.

The Inner Voice that Drives Suicide

Dr. Robert Firestone made the link between suicide and a destructive inner voice in 1986 after interviewing a woman who had recently attempted suicide. She described how the voice had goaded and instructed her through the suicide attempt. Since then, the inner voice has been identified in suicide attempts across the world. Robert Firestone and his daughter, Dr. Lisa Firestone, collaborated to create the Firestone Assessment of Self-Destructive Thoughts (FAST) scale to determine self-destructive tendencies in a patient and later the Firestone Assessment of Suicidal Intent (FASI) scale. The FAST scale was used in a 2001 study of both Pakistani and American psychiatric patients and showed a high correlation between self-destructive thoughts and suicide attempts.

Can Happiness Reverse the Negative Effects of Loneliness?

In addition to experiencing the death of loved ones, older adults also witness the decline in their own physical health. These factors contribute to a special vulnerability toward loneliness in older adults which can lead to negative effects such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems, and have also been linked to depression and anxiety. Nancy E. G. Newall of the University of Manitoba’s Centre on Aging and the Department of Community Health tested a theory that positive feelings can counteract the effects of loneliness. The study followed 228 older adults and monitored their health, physical activity, and outlook over the course of one year.

You Can Be Depressed Without Being Sad

Not only do most people who commit suicide have a depressive disorder, but people who have a depressive disorder in conjunction with a chronic physical illness are at a higher risk for disability or premature death. It is important to identify and treat depressive disorders, but identifying them may not be as easy as it sounds because it is possible to be clinically depressed without feeling sad. There are two cardinal symptoms of a depressive disorder: deep sadness and “anhedonia,” which means not taking pleasure in anything. A person must have only one of the cardinal symptoms, in combination with lesser symptoms, to be diagnosed with a depressive disorder.

Depression, Stress Linked With Brain Shrinkage—Here’s Why

While previous research has shown that stress and depression can lead to a decrease in brain mass, researchers at Yale believe they’ve found a reason why. Their goal was to test a hypothesis that stress causes a loss of brain synapses. They found that a genetic switch known as GATA1 is connected to several genes vital to forming brain connections and believe that if those connections are not formed, brain shrinkage can result. In addition, rodents with an activated GATA1 switch displayed signs of depression, showing that the activated switch and the the resulting disruption in the connections involved in emotion and cognition that it causes may also lead to depressive symptoms.

Dr. Hart