Five-year-olds treated for depression and anxiety

Children as young as five are being referred for treatment for depression and anxiety, the BBC has found.

Figures showed mental health teams in Sussex are working with more than 1,000 under-18s while in the Solent 324 young people were referred for therapy.
Prescriptions for Fluoxetine, more commonly known as Prozac, have risen 26% in Oxfordshire and 13% in Berkshire from April to September last year.
MPs recently announced an extra £22m to tackle child mental health treatment.
Experts said children are coming under increasing stress because of unemployment, financial problems and substance abuse among their parents.
In February, the NHS Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Sussex estimated it was working with about 330 under-11s and about 830 12 to 18-year-olds with anxiety and/or depression.
While in Dorset, 212 young people were diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety disorder with 118 of them being under 16 at the date of referral.
Plastic animals With the approval of health professionals and his family, the BBC was given access to a therapy room in Sussex, where eight-year-old "Jack" was receiving treatment for anxiety.
Having developed a deep-seated fear of leaving his mother he has been seeing child behaviour experts since he was 18 months old.
"The anxieties, I think started probably very soon after he was born," said child psychologist Jo Russell.
"There were other difficulties in the family, some stresses around employment and finances, and then his parents separated when he was just a toddler."

During his therapy "Jack" dangles his toys from a window, 30ft from the ground

During his therapy, the BBC observed "Jack" wind up a large ball of sticky tape around his hand and tie up his toy plastic animals with string before dangling them out of the window, 30ft above the ground.
"In his mind he's putting that little creature in a position of insecurity," Ms Russell said.
"Will that little creature manage to get to the ground or not? Through that play, this little boy and I have been able to think and talk about how people cope with feeling very insecure."
Jack's mother "Joy" said she knew her son, who has thrown things at her and put holes through doors, was "different" from other children at a young age.
"He gets very like a spring, he gets wound up and explodes," she said.
"He can be very loving and caring and when it's like that it's absolutely amazing but you have the other side which goes along."
After several years of therapy, his mother said "Jack" had improved, but could still be "up and down."
NHS Solent, which covers Southampton and Portsmouth, saw 324 young people with a problem of depression referred to it between September 2010 and August 2011, the youngest of whom was five years old.
It also revealed 378 patients, aged 16 and under, were referred for a range of mental health therapies not just for depression, including cognitive behaviour therapy, anxiety management and art and play therapy.
'Entrenched problems' Its youngest patient, a two-year-old, was referred for specialist child psychotherapy.
Barbara Inkson, child clinical psychology at Solent NHS Trust, said it was seeing an annual rise of about 10% in referrals.
However, its database can only record a reason for referral and not subsequent diagnosis.
"What is clear is that levels of emotional disorders, including depression as well as anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders, are rising in line with other referrals to CAMHS here in the city," she said.

Child psychologist Jo Russell said difficulties within the family can cause stress in children

The charity, Young Minds, said it wants more treatments based in school and the community rather than in mental health units, which it says can be intimidating for children.
The government recently announced an extra £22m funding to tackle child mental health over three years, to expand state-of-the art psychological therapies and extend training for community workers.
Nationally, one in 10 children aged between five and 16 years old has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem and of adults with long-term mental health problems, half will have experienced their first symptoms before the age of 14.
Sarah Brennan, chief executive of Young Minds, said: "Intervening early when a child or young person starts struggling to cope is proven to reduce the likelihood of that young person developing much more severe and entrenched mental health problems.
"It is vital that we invest in children and young people's mental health in order to prevent a generation of children suffering entrenched mental health problems as adults."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18251582

Does Facebook make YOU miserable? Wasting time on the social network is linked to low self-esteem

Next time you're in a bad mood, don’t turn to Facebook to cheer you up.
Research has revealed that the longer you spend procrastinating on the social networking site, the more miserable you will become.
This is because we recognise we're wasting our time on the site, and this lowers our self-esteem.

Researchers from University of Innsbruck in Austria asked 300 English and German Facebook users to take a series of tests. The first asked how much time they had spent on Facebook, and to rate their mood. The second asked some participants to spend 20 minutes on the social network

The research contradicts Facebook’s own controversial study, published last month, which revealed posts on the site can have a positive and negative effect.

LONELY PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO OVERSHARE ON FACEBOOK

Australian researchers from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia studied the profiles of 608 female Facebook users.
According to the researchers, ‘half (308) were categorised as “connected” and the remaining 308 users were categorised as “lonely”; based on clearly stating this feeling in their latest wall posting.’
The study then monitored the publicly available aspects of the profile to see if there was a relationship between loneliness and self-disclosure.
Half of those who were categorised as lonely were more likely to include more personal information on their accounts.
This ranged from their relationship status to their address and phone number.
One in eight lonely users also listed their favourite book and film. 

For the more recent experiment, a total of 300 English and German-speaking participants were asked by researchers from the University of Innsbruck to take two tests to see how Facebook affected their mood.
In the first, they were asked how much time they had spent on Facebook that day, before being asked to rate their mood.

The second study asked some of the participants to spend 20 minutes on Facebook doing typical things such as checking their news feed and updating their status.
A second group browsed the web, but did not use social networks, while a third was given no instructions.
All three groups were asked to rate how ‘meaningful’ their overall experience had been.
The findings revealed that in both experiments, people said they felt worse about themselves after using Facebook, because they did not feel it was a good use of their time.
Lead researcher Christina Sagioglou of the University of Innsbruck in Austria said: ‘The meaningfulness actually accounts for the mood effects.

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A second group browsed the web, but not social networks, while a third was given no instructions. The findings revealed that all participants said they felt worse about themselves after using Facebook because they did not feel it was a good use of their time

‘It’s not surprising that if you do something you don’t consider very meaningful, you’re not in a good mood afterward.’
Previous studies have found Facebook can make people feel more jealous and lonely.
Australian researchers from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales discovered that female Facebook users who are categorised as lonely are more likely to include more personal information on their accounts.
This ranged from their relationship status, to their address and phone number, while one in eight lonely users also listed their favourite book and film.

Facebook’s own study was heavily criticised when it emerged the company manipulated the news feeds of 700,000 people in 2012 to see what would happen - without telling them first.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2697572/Does-Facebook-make-YOU-sad-Wasting-time-social-network-linked-low-self-esteem.html

Smoking cannabis DOES increase the risk of anxiety and depression

Smoking cannabis does increase the risk of depression and anxiety, a new study has concluded.

U.S. researchers found the brains of users were less able to react to dopamine - the feel-good chemical that inspires a spirit of get-up-and-go.

The study adds to previous research suggesting marijuana can lead to people becoming withdrawn, lethargic and apathetic.

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Danger: The brains of cannabis users were less able to react to the feel-good chemical dopamine 

What are the physical effects of smoking Cannabis/Marijuana

Psychiatrist Dr Nora Volkow, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the U.S., used the stimulant Ritalin to see the effect cannabis had on the brain.

Like cocaine, Ritalin raises levels of dopamine in the brain.This made it ideal for the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Of the 48 people in the study, half received the drug - while the other half acted as a control group.

Personality and brain scans showed the cannabis users had significantly blunted dopamine responses compared with the controls who had never taken the drug.

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Previous research has suggested a lack of dopamine makes people lazy

This could contribute to drug-craving and negative emotions, a tendency towards depression and anxiety which are hallmarks of cannabis addiction.

Dr Volkow said the phenomenon cannot be unequivocally attributed to reductions in dopamine release.

They believe there is a downstream effect later in the process in an area of the brain called the striatum - the reward and motivation region.

Indeed, last year a study from Imperial College London found that long-term use of cannabis destroys dopamine.

Levels in the striatum - found towards the side of the brain - were lower in regular cannabis users.
Dr Michael Bloomfield, of Imperial College London, said: 'Dopamine is involved in telling the brain when something exciting is about to happen - be it sex, drugs or rock ‘n roll.
'Our findings explain why cannabis has a tendency to make people sit around doing nothing'

Commenting on the new study, the U.S. researchers said: 'Moves to legalise marijuana highlight the urgency to investigate effects of chronic marijuana in the human brain.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2691837/Smoking-cannabis-DOES-increase-risk-anxiety-depression.html

Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Treatment

What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is evidence based short-term psychological treatment.

It is a way of helping people solve problems and improve the way we think and feel.

Cognitive Behavioural therapy is based on 2 principles:

1. Our thoughts and beliefs are connected to our behaviours, moods and physical experiences and to the events in our lives.
2. The perception of an event affects our emotional, behavioural and physiological
   responses to that event.

CBT also concentrates on ideas that are unrealistic as these often undermine our self confidence and make us feel depressed and anxious. CBT looks at how problems from the past are maintained in the “here and now”. It helps people to learn new methods of coping and problem solving which can be used for the rest of their lives.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is evidence based which means that it has been clinically proven to work. Research has shown CBT to be highly effective and is the treatment of choice for a number of mental health issues as indicated in the government backed NICE clinical guidelines.

Research demonstrates that only pure CBT is effective, CBT blended into other therapy modalities (I.e. counselling, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy) is not proven. Our London CBT therapists only provide pure formulation driven CBT.

Source: http://londoncognitivebehaviouralpsychotherapy.co.uk/therapy/what-is-cognitive-behaviour-therapy/

Does depression require hospitalization?

A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics has analyzed the difference between day hospital and inpatient stay in depression. Depending on the severity of depression, patients may be treated at different levels of care with psychotherapy and/or antidepressant medication. While several previous studies compared the efficacy of different levels of care for psychotherapy of personality disorders, sufficient data is lacking for the comparison of day-clinic and inpatient psychotherapy for depression. The current pilot study evaluates the feasibility of randomization in a routine hospital setting and compares preliminary efficacy for day-clinic and inpatient psychotherapy for depression.

Of 144 incoming patients who met inclusion criteria, 44 patients agreed to participate. Of these, 97.7% had a major depressive episode, 1 patient was primarily diagnosed with dysthymia. Comorbid diagnoses included anxiety (45.5%), somatoform (13.6%), obsessive-compulsive (6.8%), and personality disorder (33.3%).
After the initial assessment, patients were randomized to either the day-clinic or inpatient setting and treated for 8 weeks with multimodal psychotherapy. The therapy unit combines inpatient and day-clinic treatment, therapeutic staff is the same for both treatment arms. Both groups received equal amounts of psychotherapeutic interventions. The psychopharmacological antidepressant treatment followed the German national treatment guidelines for depression. In order to be representative for routine clinical practice, no further specifications with regard to psychopharmacological medications were made for the study.
At admission, 22 patients (50%) were taking antidepressant medication. Within the completer sample, 11 patients (31.4%) had a change in antidepressant medication during treatment. Antidepressants were reduced or terminated for 6 patients (17.2%) and increased or started for 4 patients (11.4%). One patient had a change of drug class. At termination, 51.4% of completer patients were taking antidepressant medication. There were no differences between groups for change during therapy or medication at termination. Change of medication was not related to initial depression severity and beginning or increasing medication was not significantly related to symptom reduction.
Depression severity decreased from baseline to the 4-week follow-up. There were no differences between day-clinic and inpatient psychotherapy concerning change over time. In addition, response and remission rates are reported descriptively. Eight inpatients (50% of completers) and 6 day-clinic patients (35.3% of completers) were classified as responders. In both groups, 3 patients (16.7% of inpatients, 17.7% of day-clinic completers) reached remission.
These results may encourage the incorporation of a scientific evaluation in routine clinical settings. Also, the findings suggest that it may be beneficial to consider different levels of care for the treatment of severe depression. Finally, the results call for further research in larger samples in order to test for moderator effects. As inpatient psychotherapy is more expensive than day treatments, it will be crucial to find out who benefits more in each setting.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140706083943.htm