May 25, 20076:39 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Ecotherapy shown to decrease symptoms of depression

A recent study entitled “Ecotherapy: the Green Agenda for Mental Health” published by the Mind group, a mental health charity in the UK, found that walking and other outdoor activities could help to reduce symptoms of depression. Ecotherapy actually embodies a wide range of different activities from walking and gardening to kite flying. Researchers at Mind feel that Ecotherapy should be recognized as a clinically valid treatment for depression and other mental health problems. The study by Mind, which examined 20 volunteers, found that after a walk in the countryside 90% of participants felt a rise in self-esteem and 71% felt less tense and depressed. Participants who were assigned to walk in a shopping center had a 45% decrease in depression, while surprisingly 22% said they felt more depressed. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medical News Today that reviews the study:

“Leading mental health charity Mind today launches a groundbreaking new report (1) which sets a new green agenda for mental health. With a mass of new and growing evidence, Mind calls for ecotherapy to be recognized as a clinically-valid frontline treatment for mental health problems. As 93 per cent of GPs have prescribed drugs due to a lack of alternatives (2) and access to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy takes up to four years in some areas of the UK (3), it is vital that ecotherapy is considered by GPs alongside these as a treatment option.

Ecotherapy involves getting outdoors and getting active in a green environment as a way of boosting mental well-being. Whether it’s taking regular walks in the park, flying a kite or participating in a gardening therapy project, green exercise is proven to have huge benefits for mental health. The prescription of care farms as a treatment for mental distress has been highly successful on the continent but the UK is lagging far behind Europe - there are only 43 care farms in the UK, none of which are directed at mental health, compared to 600 in the Netherlands and 400 in Norway.”

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6:35 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Poor understanding about one’s condition is most often the barrier to patients taking antipsychotic drugs

Often people with mental illness neglect to take their prescribed antipsychotic medications because of a lack of understanding about their illness, forgetfulness, and simply making a decision to stop. John Kane, MD, when speaking at a workshop sponsored by the American Psychiatric Association, reported that patients with schizophrenia often have difficulty taking their antipsychotic medications as a result of their illness, their illness effecting their ability to make good judgments. “The other thing that can happen is that individuals can be lulled into a false sense of security. When they’re doing particularly well, they think that perhaps they don’t need to take their medication,” according to Dr. Kane. “One can stop taking medication in an illness like schizophrenia and not necessarily notice a change immediately.” The following is an excerpt from medpage today that discusses a pilot study’s findings on the subject:

A total of 3,156 physicians and other clinicians were surveyed, including 134 in the pilot study and 3,022 in the national roll-out.

In all, 61 (46%) of the pilot program physicians returned surveys, and data on 309 patients collected from these physicians revealed that “poor insight into illness” was the most common reason given for nonadherence, reported for 74% of patients.

The same reason was cited most often in the larger analysis, which collected data on 13,538 patients from 1,522 physicians — about a 50% return. “Poor insight into illness” was cited for 68% of patients.

Second most often cited was “previous discontinuation of medication on own,” reported for 68% of patients by physicians in both the pilot and national studies. Forgetting medication was reported for 67% in the pilot study and 66% in the national survey.

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May 9, 20072:50 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

Teenage perceptions of smoking lifestyle warped

A recent study published in the May issue of the Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine revealed some interesting facts about the motivation of teens to smoke. According to the study, teens perceive that smokers are rich and successful people. Additionally, the study found that teenagers that perceived strong disapproval from thier parents over the issue of smoking were less likely to smoke in the future. The study focused on a group of 1,138 high school students from a public school outside of Pittsburgh with a mean age of 15.9, of which 90.2% were white. The ulimate goal of the study was two fold, to explain teen perceptions about smoking to parents and to encourage parents to express thier disapproval of smoking. The following is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that reviews the study:

Those who believe that their parents disapprove of smoking are less likely to smoke, and the stronger the disapproval they sense, the less likely they are do it, Brian A. Primack, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues reported in the May issue of the Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine.

In a cross-sectional survey of current smoking and susceptibility to smoking, the researchers studied 1,138 high school students. Of these, 216 (19.0%) reported current smoking, and 342 (38.3%) of 893 nonsmoking students were at risk for future smoking.

The students were recruited from a public high school outside Pittsburgh. Their mean age was 15.9; 47.2% were male, and 90.2% were white.

Factor analysis for the study identified three normative beliefs, labeled “perceived prevalence of smoking,” “perceived popularity of smoking among elite and successful elements of society,” and “disapproval of smoking by parents and peers.”

On average, students believed that 56% of people in the U.S. smoke cigarettes at least once a month, and that 48% of high school seniors do so. Actually, 22.3% of the U.S. population smokes at least once a month, and 21.9% of high school seniors do, the researchers reported.

Click here to read the entire article from Medpage Today

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May 4, 20079:01 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR

A Majority of Physicians See Faith as a Factor in a Patients’ Health

“A majority of physicians in a large survey declared that religion and spirituality, including divine intervention, affect their patients’ health.” - Judith Groch

According to a recent study published in the Archive of Internal Medicine, 56% of 1,144 physicians believe that faith has “significant effects” on the health of patients. Another 54% of the physicians surveyed said that at times a divine or supernatural being would intervene on the behalf of the diagnosed patient. Only a small percentage of the physicians interviewed, approximately 7%, said that faith can have adverse effects on patients such as guilt, not taking medications as a result of proclaimed faith, and so on. It seems to me that most all of the physicians surveyed have some measure of faith. The question then that I would like to ask is, “do doctors have faith or does doctoring cause faith?” Here is an excerpt of an article from Medpage Today that reviews the study:

The survey of more than a thousand practicing physicians found that 56% believe religion and spirituality have a significant effect on health, researchers reported in the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Nearly as many said that on occasion the influence is attributable to divine intervention, said Farr A. Curlin, M.D., of the University of Chicago, and colleagues. Yet only a few said that these beliefs change “hard” medical outcomes.

“We find it notable, particularly in light of perennial discussions about the relationship between science and faith, that most physicians apply medical science while maintaining a belief that God intervenes in patients’ health,” said Dr. Curlin and colleagues.

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