Depression, also known as depressive disorders or unipolar depression, is a mental illness characterized by a profound and persistent feeling of sadness or despair and/or a loss of interest in things that once were pleasurable. Disturbance in sleep, appetite, and mental processes are a common accompaniment.
People with diabetes are more likely to become depressed as they face a lifetime of keeping their disease in check, Johns Hopkins researchers said. – Persons with treated type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for developing depression, while a more modest association was found between persons with depression and the risk of diabetes, revealed by researchers.
Omega-3s are not useful treatments for people with bipolar disorder. – Despite intriguing findings that omega-3 fatty acid supplements could alleviate depression symptoms, there is still not enough evidence to say whether omega-3s are useful treatments for people with bipolar disorder, according to a review of recent studies.
No suicides were reported in any of the nine paediatric trials conducted by GSK. – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) notes the conclusions announced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regarding its investigation into disclosure of paediatric trial data for the anti-depressant medicine Seroxat (paroxetine).
Professor Kent Woods, MHRA Chief Executive, said: ?I remain concerned that GSK could and should have reported this information earlier than they did.” – The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has concluded its four year investigation into Glaxosmithkline and its antidepressant drug Seroxat. The investigation focused on whether GSK had failed to inform the MHRA of information it had on the safety of Seroxat in under 18’s in a timely manner.
Low free testosterone concentration as a potentially treatable cause of depressive symptoms in older men – Older men with lower free testosterone levels in their blood appear to have higher prevalence of depression, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Teens with treatment-resistant depression more likely to get better with switch to combination therapy – antidepressant and psychotherapy. – Teens with difficult-to-treat depression who do not respond to a first antidepressant medication are more likely to get well if they switch to another antidepressant medication and add psychotherapy rather than just switching to another antidepressant, according to a large, multi-site trial funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Antidepressant medications appear to help only severely depressed people, a new analysis has found. – Who benefits from antidepressant drugs? A new study from from the University of Hull published today in PLoS Medicine suggests that antidepressant medicines only benefit some, very severely depressed patients.
Mental health in the military: Majority of troops avoid couch talk; First Canadian study to examine mental health among armed forces and barriers to help. – Mental disorders ranging from depression to alcoholism need to be de-stigmatized among military personnel to encourage troops to seek support when needed, according to a national investigation published in the February edition of the research journal, Medical Care.
Miserable middle age is a global phenomenon, according to an analysis of depression and happiness among 2m people in 80 countries. – Using data on 2 million people, from 80 nations, researchers from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College in the US have found an extraordinarily consistent international pattern in depression and happiness levels that leaves us most miserable in middle age.
Anxiety and depression are associated with mechanisms that promote atherosclerosis. Most recent studies of emotional disturbances in coronary artery disease (CAD) have focused on depression only. Anxiety and depression predict greater MACE (Major adverse cardiac events) risk in patients with stable CAD (Coronary Artery Disease). – Matters of the mind can affect matters of the heart. A new study from Universit? de Montr?al and McGill University researchers has found that major anxiety and/or depression, can double a coronary artery disease patient’s chances of repeated heart ailments. This is one of the first studies to focus on patients with stable coronary artery disease ? not those who were hospitalized for events such as a heart attack.
Mental Health America response to New England Journal of Medicine Study, “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy”. – Mental Health America notifies the potential harm of the NEJM’s Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials study that it may discourage people with depression from seeking appropriate care and evidence-based treatments that work for them. Mental Health America is one of America’s leading mental health advocacy groups.
Evidence-based medicine is valuable to the extent that the evidence base is complete and unbiased. Selective publication of clinical trials ? and the outcomes within those trials ? can lead to unrealistic estimates of drug effectiveness and alter the apparent risk?benefit ratio. – Selective publication in reporting results of antidepressant trials exaggerates the effectiveness of the drugs, and may have adverse consequences for researchers, study participants, health care professionals, and patients, revealed in a new study.
