Depression and low mood

Alcohol, recreational drugs and depression

Alcohol and recreational drugs are ‘mood-altering substances’, in other words they have an effect on the mood and state of mind of anyone using them (in addition to other effects on the central nervous system). Their effect can be particularly heightened for people who have depression or experience low moods, and depression and anxiety can be made worse by consuming large quantities of alcohol.
In some instances, drinking alcohol may counteract the benefits of antidepressant medication or it can be unsafe to take the two together. Alcohol can also make people more likely to act impulsively, and there is a known link between alcohol use and suicide. Here young people talk about their experiences of alcohol and depression and also talk about recreational drug use.

Drinking alcohol
Young people we spoke with talked about their views and experiences of drinking alcohol and its effects on their moods and depression. Most of them said they did drink alcohol although a few said they only drank very little and very rarely. Some didn’t like the taste of alcohol, couldn’t afford to buy it or just generally weren’t keen on drinking and the drinking culture. One man who was training to be a doctor said he wouldn’t drink alcohol because he knows “how much damage it can do”. Another woman had stopped drinking because alcohol could trigger and enhance her anxiety attacks.

Many people felt that drinking alcohol was an important part of their lifestyle and went hand in hand with school, college or university culture. Some felt sometimes unspoken pressure to join their friends by drinking alcohol, or had thought it was ‘cool’ because their older friends were drinking. Mostly people said they drank alcohol because it was “a good laugh”, “fun” and a social thing to do in the park, pub or club with their mates.

Many hoped that drinking would lift their moods or help them “escape” feeling depressed. They described drinking to “cheer” themselves up, to “take mind off” worries and problems. One woman said she drank every night to help her sleep while another one described how she drank so she “didn’t have to think about how I felt”.

Effects of alcohol on mood and depression
Generally, people said they were fine as long as they stuck to what they felt was their “safe limit” or drank “moderately”. Drinking “too much” made depression much worse. They pointed out that initially a couple of drinks made them feel better but after a few more, they felt a lot worse. One woman described alcohol as “a natural downer” so she’d stopped drinking. Some said going out and drinking lifted their moods and they were fine “when drinking” but that they felt “million times worse” the next day.

A few people felt that hangovers heightened their feelings of depression and anxiety and a couple said they suffered from a moral hangover after a big night out. One woman described how drinking affected her moods;
 

“(I was) absolutely miserable and miserable about being miserable”.

Some people found it difficult to drink “moderately” as they said that after they “hit a point” it was hard to stop. Drinking “too much” made some feel “stupid” and “do silly things”. They would mix drink and drugs, pass out or get “in trouble”. For some there was also a link between drinking and aggression. Some people described how they got angry much more easily when drunk and ended up in fights or arguing with people. Many young people also said that when they were drunk they were more likely to self-harm and feel suicidal. See also our section on ‘Depression, self-harming and suicidal thoughts’.

 

Source: http://www.healthtalk.org/young-peoples-experiences/depression-and-low-mood/alcohol-recreational-drugs-and-depression

Major Depression Is a Chronic Disorder

Some people with major depression experience the symptoms of depression only once in their life. Others experience frequent relapses and recurrences. Once treated, it's important to pay attention to your feelings in order to catch possible signs of a relapse. Seeking help and responding promptly to the warning signs may help you prevent a full return of major depression.

 Depressed Mood

How can you tell depression from simple sadness? If you're feeling down because of a specific event, such as losing a job or the breakup of a relationship, it could be normal and temporary sadness. If you feel sad, despairing, teary, or "empty" every day for more than two weeks and it's interfering with other aspects of your life, it may be clinical depression.

 Breaking Plans, Withdrawing Socially
Do you avoid leaving the house? Does making conversation feel like too much effort? Do you retreat to your bed when family members try to draw you out? Maintaining a strong social network is important. Losing pleasure in activities can indicate feelings of depression. It may help to join a support group of people who understand what you're going through.

 Sleeping Too Much or Too Little
A change in your sleeping habit such as insomnia -- trouble falling or staying asleep -- could be a sign of depression. It can cause or aggravate other symptoms that may also indicate depression, such as fatigue. If you regularly lie awake at night with your mind racing or sleep too much to avoid getting out of bed, speak to your doctor. If your sleep problems are a symptom of depression relapse, medication and talk therapy may help.

Irritability
Lately you've found it difficult to handle everyday stresses. Small things make you snap. You constantly bicker with friends and family. Where you used to be easygoing, you now have violent outbursts. Depression can show itself in irritability and anger. Men are more likely than women to behave recklessly and, sometimes, violently when they are depressed.

Loss of Interest in Sex and Other Pleasures
This is one of the most common signs of depression. Activities you used to enjoy may now feel like a burden. If you've had depression in the past and have lost feelings for your spouse or children, or lost interest in work, hobbies, or other favorite activities for more than two weeks, could you be relapsing? Ask your doctor for help. Symptoms recurring within a year put you at risk of a depression relapse.

Feeling Worthless

Old feelings of self-loathing and guilt may come creeping back. Or you may be unable to "turn off" self-criticism, preoccupied with your failures. You may feel responsible for events that are out of your control. Psychotherapy may help you with low self-esteem and learn to build on your strengths. If you are living with depression and have attempted suicide, you may have a higher risk of relapse.

Chronic Aches and Pains
Do you have back pain even though you haven’t strained your back? Chronic headaches and stomachaches?  Unexplained chest pain or achy legs and arms? You may not think of physical pain as a sign of depression, but it can be. If you have aches and pains that don't get better with treatment, ask your doctor whether depression may be contributing to your condition.

Sudden Weight Gain or Loss
Many people who are depressed lose interest in food and eating. They may forget to eat or even have to force themselves to eat. Other people overeat or binge eat when they're depressed. If you've had depression and experience a strong change in your appetite, or gain or lose weight without a change in dieting or exercise it may be a sign of relapse.

Fatigue
Do you drag through your day? Depression can make you feel too tired or weak to do anything. Daily activities such as getting dressed and doing dishes can seem overwhelming and exhausting. Not eating or eating an unhealthy diet can contribute to fatigue. Good nutrition, exercise, and sleep can help you fight it.

Slowed-Down Thinking
Sometimes people feel as if their thinking processes have slowed down when they're depressed. You may be easily distracted or find it difficult to concentrate. You may suddenly have trouble remembering things. You may have problems making decisions -- as minor as what to wear in the morning or as major as problem-solving at work. The sudden onset of symptoms may be a warning of a relapse.

Suicidal Thoughts
 Suicidal thoughts are a very serious warning sign and could signify severe depression and be a risk factor for relapse. Some people think about suicide regularly. Others may start planning out suicide or how to harm themselves. People who feel hopeless and have lost interest in pleasurable activities are particularly at risk. If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts or talks about suicide, seek immediate help from a doctor or psychiatrist.

Relapse
Everyone experiences depression differently. If you have any of these warning signs or symptoms that concern you, talk to your doctor or psychiatrist. They may recommend therapy or increasing medication to prevent a relapse. Adopt strategies to reduce stress. It may help to add activities that make you feel good into your daily routine. Long-term treatment may be needed after three or more depression episodes.

Source:  http://www.webmd.com/depression/ss/slideshow-relapse

How to beat depression – without drugs

Up to 20% of the UK population will suffer from depression – twice as many as 30 years ago, says Steve Ilardi. Photograph: Rob Lewine/Getty/Tetra

Dr Steve Ilardi is slim and enthusiastic, with intense eyes. The clinical psychologist is 4,400 miles away, in Kansas, and we are chatting about his new book via Skype, the online videophone service. "I've spent a lot of time pondering Skype," he says. "On the one hand it provides a degree of social connectedness. On the other, you're still essentially by yourself." But, he concludes, "a large part of the human cortex is devoted to the processing of visual information, so I guess Skype is less alienating than voice calls."

1. The Depression Cure: The Six-Step Programme to Beat Depression Without Drugs
2. by Steve Ilardi
3. 

Social connectedness is important to Ilardi. In The Depression Cure, he argues that the brain mistakenly interprets the pain of depression as an infection. Thinking that isolation is needed, it sends messages to the sufferer to "crawl into a hole and wait for it all to go away". This can be disastrous because what depressed people really need is the opposite: more human contact.
Which is why social connectedness forms one-sixth of his "lifestyle based" cure for depression. The other five elements are meaningful activity (to prevent "ruminating" on negative thoughts); regular exercise; a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids; daily exposure to sunlight; and good quality, restorative sleep.
The programme has one glaring omission: anti-depressant medication. Because according to Ilardi, the drugs simply don't work. "Meds have only around a 50% success rate," he says. "Moreover, of the people who do improve, half experience a relapse. This lowers the recovery rate to only 25%. To make matters worse, the side effects often include emotional numbing, sexual dysfunction and weight gain."
As a respected clinical psychologist and university professor, Ilardi's views are hard to dismiss. A research team at his workplace, the University of Kansas, has been testing his system – known as TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change) – in clinical trials. The preliminary results show, he says, that every patient who put the full programme into practice got better.
Ilardi is convinced that the medical profession's readiness to prescribe anti-depression medication is obscuring an important debate. Up to 20% of the UK population will have clinical depression at some point, he says – twice as many as 30 years ago. Where has this depression epidemic come from?
The answer, he suggests, lies in our lifestyle. "Our standard of living is better now than ever before, but technological progress comes with a dark underbelly. Human beings were not designed for this poorly nourished, sedentary, indoor, sleep-deprived, socially isolated, frenzied pace of life. So depression continues its relentless march."
Our environment may have evolved rapidly but our physical evolution hasn't kept up. "Our genome hasn't moved on since 12,000 years ago, when everyone on the planet were hunter- gatherers," he says. "Biologically, we still have Stone Age bodies. And when Stone Age body meets modern environment, the health consequences can be disastrous."
To counteract this Ilardi focuses on the aspects of a primitive lifestyle that militate against depression. "Hunter- gatherer tribes still exist today in some parts of the world," he says, "and their level of depression is almost zero. The reasons? They're too busy to sit around brooding. They get lots of physical activity and sunlight. Their diet is rich in omega-3, their level of social connection is extraordinary, and they regularly have as much as 10 hours of sleep." Ten hours? "We need eight. At the moment we average 6.7."
So we should all burn our possessions and head out into the forest? "Of course not," Iladi shudders. "That would be like a lifelong camping trip with 30 close relatives for company. Nobody would recommend that."
Instead we can adapt our modern lifestyle to match our genome by harnessing modern technology, such as fish oil supplements to increase our intake of omega-3. All well and good. But I can't escape the feeling that the six-step programme seems like common sense. Isn't it obvious that more sleep, exercise and social connectedness are good for you?
"The devil is in the detail," replies Ilardi. "People need to know how much sunlight is most effective, and at which time of day. And taking supplements, for example, is a complex business. You need anti-oxidants to ensure that the fish oil is effective, as well as a multivitamin. Without someone spelling it out, most people would never do it." Ilardi practises the programme himself. He's never been depressed, he tells me, but it increases his sense of wellbeing and reduces his absentmindedness (his college nickname was "Spaced").
It all makes sense, but will I try it myself? I don't suffer from depression, but wellbeing sounds nice. I'm not so sure about the fish oil, but I might just give it a go.

Enjoy the sunshine, get plenty of sleep – and be sociable

▶ Take 1,500mg of omega-3 daily (in the form of fish oil capsules), with a multivitamin and 500mg vitamin C.
▶ Don't dwell on negative thoughts – instead of ruminating start an activity; even conversation counts.
▶ Exercise for 90 minutes a week.
▶ Get 15-30 minutes of sunlight each morning in the summer. In the winter, consider using a lightbox.
▶ Be sociable.
▶ Get eight hours of sleep

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/19/beat-depression-without-drugs

Being depressed and angry as a teenager can affect your love life 25 YEARS later

Teenage blues and anger can taint a person's love life a quarter of a century later, according to a new report.

A study is helping to crack the code to happiness by exploring the long reach of depression and anger over more than two decades.

The study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, followed 341 people for 25 years.

It found that negative emotions they may have suffered as young adults can have a lasting grip on their relationships well into middle age.

The fact that depression and anger experienced during the teenage years clung to people - even through major life events such as marriage, careers and having children - was surprising.

University of Alberta researcher Matthew Johnson, said: 'We assume, or hope, that high school experiences fade away and don't necessarily resonate 25 years later.

‘The fact that symptoms of depression and expressions of anger can endure over many large events in life shows how important it is to deal with mental health early.

‘Sometimes, problems don't just dissipate. How you grow and change over those early years becomes crucial to future happiness.’

The research, drawn from a larger study which began in 1985, surveyed 178 women and 163 men through their transition to adulthood from age 18 to 25.

It then studied them again on their perceived stress levels at age 32, and on the quality of their intimate relationships at age 43, to find out whether anger or depression they may have felt as young adults was still affecting those bonds.

+2

People who experienced a lot of negative emotions when they are teenagers can be more likely to divorce

The findings point to the importance of recognising that early mental health does influence couple relationships and that, in turn, can have social costs later on - such as divorce and domestic violence.

As individuals, people can help themselves by ‘recognising the fact that where they are in their couple relationship now is likely shaped by earlier chapters in their lives,’ Dr Johnson added.

‘It's not only your partner's current behaviour or your current behaviour shaping your relationship, but the story you bring with you.’

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2623324/Being-depressed-angry-teenager-affect-love-life-25-YEARS-later.html

Fish Oil , Depression – Please take A Moment To Read The Article To Find Out If It Could Help You.

It is now no secret that people all over the western world are turning to high grade ethyl EPA omega 3 fish oil to treat a number of conditions, but can it really work against a problem that knows no boundaries of age, race or gender. It is a condition that affects millions of people at some time in there lives, it’s called depression.
Depression
So can high grade ethyl EPA fish oil help with depression and low moods, lets take a look at the evidence. In one study involving 20 people with recurrent depression, researchers studied the effects of the specific omega 3 fatty acid known as pure EPA.
Patients involved in this study randomly received either the ethyl EPA fish oil capsule or a sugar pill in addition to the anti depressant medication they were taking. After only four weeks, six out of ten patients receiving EPA had significantly reduced symptoms of depression.
Fact 1. 90% of our current customer base take the oil alongside their anti-depressant medication to start with.
The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said “ the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week two of treatment” he also noted that “ the symptoms of depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all improved by week three.”
The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said “ the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week two of treatment” he also noted that “ the symptoms of depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all improved by week three.”
fact 2. We send out thousands of bottles per month to people all over the world who have been customers for the 10 years we have been supplying Pure EPA.
This particular study was carried out at the University of the Negev in Israel and was published in the American journal of psychiatry 2002.
Another very high profile study using the essential fatty acid pure EPA was carried out in Scotland by doctors Peet and horribin. This study involved seventy patients who were suffering from depression that was persisting despite ongoing treatment with standard antidepressant drugs.
The study lasted twelve weeks, and the background anti depressant drugs the patients were receiving was not altered during the trial. The results showed that the patients taking EPA showed significant improvement after only four weeks in all symptoms of depression, when compared to the group who were administered a dummy pill.
This study was published in the Archives of general Psychiatry.
Omega 3 fish oil is high in two key compounds DHA and EPA. In both studies mentioned above they used ultra pure ethyl EPA that contained zero DHA. The reason for this was that they found that the purer the compound of EPA then the more effective it seemed to be.
The brain has much more DHA than EPA but the studies found that EPA is much more important when it comes to responses to nerve stimulation. It appeared that the DHA maybe more important for structure and the EPA for function.
Blood samples taken from people in the USA, Europe, Australia and Japan showed that depressed people have especially low levels of EPA, when compared to blood samples of people who were not suffering from low moods or depression.
The lead researches from the study in Scotland both concluded that EPA is the most important essential fatty acid in the treatment of depression.
These findings are backed up with two randomised controlled trials from Sheffield and Baylor universities involving DHA only, which showed no improvements in the symptoms of depression. In fact the results were significant and showed the DHA controlled groups to be slightly worse than the placebo controlled groups.
Source: http://www.mind1st.co.uk/fish-oil-depression/?gclid=CKaXh6SA97wCFQkUwwodX0UAyA