December 29, 20062:39 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Are you Depressed?

There are various levels of depression. Some levels are within the range of normal while others are not and may require help from a professional. The following article excerpt and depression test may help you to discern how serious your depression is:

Depression has many causes and influences people in unique ways. We all
have our days when we feel sad, exceptionally tired or are having trouble
sleeping. Fortunately, these episodes usually don’t last long. When symptoms
like these last for two weeks or more, it may be a sign of a significant, or
“major” depression.

At this time, there are no blood tests or X-rays that can tell if someone
is depressed. The best way to make a diagnosis of major depression is to
carefully examine how you feel and discuss this with your doctor. There are
several questionnaires available to help you and your doctor decide if you have
depression that should be treated. It is important to find this out because the
treatment for depression is very effective.

Take the depression assessment.

Brookhaven’s Renewal Christian Care Program treats major and clinical depression through a combination of both in and out patient settings. Through a comprehensive program involving medical care, therapy and christian nurturing, Brookhaven helps individuals return to a life full of potential and opportunity.

For more information on Brookhaven’s programs for depression click here

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1:53 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

When Depression Helps as well as Hurts

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” - 2 Corinthians 7:10

Obviously, there is a major difference between being sad or sorrowful and being depressed. Being sorrowful is an emotion, which can be healthy in some situations while unhealthy in others. For instance, sorrow over having wounded a friend emotionally could lead to repentance, reconciliation and forgiveness. Sorrow over dislike of self or a lack of self-esteem, however, would not be healthy. Chaplains, Pastors and church professionals are invited to join us at Brookhaven Hospital on February 22nd 2007 as Ron Nofziger, Director of Chaplains at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, discusses the differences between sorrow, depression and clinical depression in his presentation “When Sorrow Helps as well as Hurts.”

Click here to register online for Chaplain Nofziger’s free seminar and luncheon

The Minister’s Lifeline Series is a pastoral support service offered by Brookhaven Hospital, as part of its Renewal Christian Care program for mental health treatment and recovery. This seminar is CCE approved through the Association of Professional Chaplains.

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December 22, 200612:08 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

10 Ways to Beat the Holiday Blues

Christmas, although meant to be a time of celebration over the birth of our Savior, can have many challenges. In particular, people without family around tend to isolate; the stress of shopping on a small budget and restlessness are issues as well. Be aware of the potential problems that you personally could encounter during the season, or perhaps have encountered in the past. Make an effort to connect with people, including the “difficult relatives.” If you have no family to celebrate with, contact friends. Don’t be ashamed or worried about inconveniencing someone else; connect with someone. Christmas is a time for connecting with people and with Jesus Christ. The following is a small excerpt of an article that gives some helpful tips on how to make your Christmas a merry one:

You need to connect with people. The worst thing you can do is isolate yourself from the very people God may want to use to encourage and restore you. Make plans. Don’t sit around and wait to be invited. Set realistic goals. Organize your time by making lists and setting your priorities in order. We often worry the most about the things that matter the least.

Click here to read “10 Ways to Beat the Holiday Blues”

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11:04 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

9-11 memories more vivid for those close to scene

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that New Yorkers that were closer to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th 2001 have more vivid memories of the terrorist attacks. The participants of the study were exposed to magnetic resonance imaging of their brains. Of these participants, those that were closest to the World Trade Center during its attack showed more activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain that is associated with emotions. This differs from those that were further away from the disaster as their scans only involved parts of the brain associated with recollection. According to Elizabeth Phelps, a professor at New York University, “The downtown subjects also reported seeing, hearing, and smelling what had happened. Subjects who were, on average, around midtown Manhattan reported experiencing the events secondhand, such as on television or the Internet…” The following is an excerpt of the article:

Tali Sharot, an NYU researcher and the study’s lead author, said the findings “indicate that personal involvement may be critical in producing memories with the characteristic qualities of flashbulb memories.

“We think this is because the amygdala, which is known to play a role in enhancing the feeling of remembering for emotional material, is more engaged when these events are experienced first hand,” she said.

Flashbulb memories are a psychological concept that memories of shocking events such as a presidential assassination are created in a unique process that sears the image into the brain like a photo.

Studies of other events have shown, however, that flashbulb memories are not necessarily more accurate than other memories, even though the person had a vivid recall of them and is very confident.

Click here to read ” 9-11 memories more vivid for those close to scene”

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December 19, 200611:30 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Ads spur eating disorders, premature drinking

The American Academy of Pediatrics believe that young people view over 40,000 plus advertisements a year on television, the internet, in magazines and in school. They also believe that those advertisements influence poor food choices, drug and alcohol use, sex, and the thought that anorexia is fashionable.

Although a lot of people would argue that limiting advertisers would be a question of free speech, I feel that they should withhold a common decency with what they are projecting at audiences.

Here is what the Academy of Pediatrics are requesting doctors to ask congress:

-ban junk-food ads during shows geared toward young children;
-limit commercial advertising to no more than 6 minutes per hour, a decrease of 50 percent;
-restrict alcohol ads to showing only the product, not cartoon characters or attractive young women;
-prohibit interactive advertising to children on digital TV.

The academy also says TV ads for erectile dysfunction drugs should be shown only after 10 p.m.

Although I don’t think any of those requests are extreme, I feel that we are going to have to deal with a constant struggle between advocacy groups commercials and corporate driven goals.

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December 15, 20064:40 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Postpartum Depression More Common

A recent study of 1.1 million Danish residents from around 1973 to July 2005 sheds some new light on postpartum depression. Among other findings, the study showed that postpartum depression is more common in new mothers. The study determined that at least fifteen percent of new mothers develop postpartum depression. The findings indicated that postpartum depression could evolve into or accompany other mental illnesses such as clinical depression, bipolar and schizophrenia. Postpartum depression typically starts 10-19 days after giving birth and can linger for years thereafter if not appropriately treated. Among the 1.1 million studied, 1,171 mothers were hospitalized for a mental disorder after childbirth. The following is an excerpt of the article:

Postpartum depression is more common than previously thought. A new study shows at least 15 percent of all new mothers get it. For some it can be severe and can include clinical depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Postpartum depression typically begins 10 to 19 days after giving birth. Scientists say new mothers are more prone to psychiatric illness because of hormonal changes that accompany childbirth, but many women are reluctant to tell a doctor.

Click here to read “Postpartum Depression More Common”

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3:40 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Danna Demetre: Dialing Back Your Diet

Danna Demetre, now a registered nurse, life coach and public speaker, emerged victoriously from bulimia and chronic panic attacks. Her testimony is powerful and encouraging for those that are struggling with an eating disorder. In her guest article for CBN.com, “Dialing Back Your Diet,” Danna talks about healthy dieting tips. In particular, Danna discusses holiday diet tips and how to enjoy the season without putting on the pounds, information we could all use. The following is an excerpt of the article:

Danna came to her knowledge of food the hard way, but says that the change was part of the journey. Danna battled self-image problems when she was younger. “As a young woman, I saw myself inaccurately,” she says. Danna got trapped in the world’s view of what was beautiful, and as a result, she had a skewed body image. Never more than 20 pounds overweight, Danna was bulimic for 16 years. She says she was out of control in college and used to purge three to five times a day. “I was in bondage to food,” she says.

As we look forward to the Christmas holidays, we don’t have to look forward to gaining extra pounds. Danna says the trick to keeping weight off is to think in terms of a total life change in how we think about food. A lifestyle change is something that you can do most days of your life without too much effort or deprivation. Everything else is just a diet.

Click here to read “Danna Demetre: Dialing Back Your Diet”

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December 8, 20064:27 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

USPSYCH: Insomnia May Signal More Mental Health Disorders to Come

Often it is assumed that insomnia is the result of a mental health issue rather than the other way around. However, a recent study concluded that the opposite might be true in many cases. According to Jeffery Nard, MD, of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, “…insomnia preceded the mood disorder about 40% of the time, and it was concurrent with the disorder about 30% of the time.” The following is an excerpt of the article:

Although anxiety often precedes insomnia — keeping patients tossing and turning at night — about 15% of those with an anxiety disorder reported having insomnia first, the same study found, Dr. Nard said.

Furthermore, in another study that followed about 1,000 randomly-selected HMO patients for three years, those with insomnia were nearly four times more likely to be newly diagnosed with major depression and nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, Dr. Nard said.

USPSYCH: Insomnia May Signal More Mental Health Disorders to Come

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3:50 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Youthful Drinking Jumpstarts Later Alcohol Abuse

A recent study preformed by the United States Marine Corps found an unhealthy trend among recruits that began drinking as children or young teenagers. The recruits studied were all between the ages of 18-20 and were found to be much more likely to become “risky drinkers” if they had begun drinking as children or young teenagers. The following is an excerpt of the article:

A study here identified 6,128 (14.8%) of 41,482 male recruits as risky drinkers, and those who had begun drinking at age 13 or younger were 5.5 times more likely to hit the bottle hard.

So reported Margaret Ryan, M.D., M.PH, of the Naval Health Research Center, and colleagues, in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Compared with 35,354 (45.1%) non-risky underage drinkers or 16,661 (40.2%) non-drinkers, risky drinkers were more likely to be smokers, to come from a rural or small hometown, to have endured childhood sexual or emotional abuse, or to have experienced household alcohol abuse or mental illness, the investigators found.

Click here to read “Youthful Drinking Jumpstarts Later Alcohol Abuse”

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December 1, 20065:42 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder is responsible for unexplained bouts of depression and fatigue during the winter months in many. Researchers believe that the lack of sunlight during the winter months is responsible for the SAD phenomenon. One theory states that during seasons of lowered light the body produces more melatonin, which in turn can cause depression. SAD seemingly affects a higher rate of women than men and is seven times more prevalent in northern latitudes. The following is an excerpt of an article that discusses seasonal affective disorder:

Each winter as the days become shorter, millions of Americans are affected by unexplained bouts of depression and fatigue. More than the winter blahs, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a serious form of depression that can disrupt a person’s life from fall until spring.

Researchers are unsure of the exact cause of SAD; however, it appears to be triggered by a lack of sunlight. One theory maintains that decreased daylight interferes with the circadian rhythms that regulate the body’s internal clock. Another possible cause may be increased levels of the sleep-related hormone melatonin. When days have fewer hours of sunlight, the body produces higher levels of melatonin, which may cause symptoms of depression.

Click here to read Baptist Memorial Health’s “Seasonal Affective Disorder”

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