Lovesickness may be a real affliction, says psychologist
As Valentine's Day approaches, British psychologist, Frank Tallis, asks if we should take lovesickness more seriously. Until around 200 years ago, it was accepted as a legitimate illness by medics, but modern medicine has tended to look upon it as simply a poetic turn of phrase. However, Dr Tallis' feature in The Psychologist cites research suggesting that the effects of being lovesick can be described in the latest diagnostic terms - including mania, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. While clinical psychologists are very unlikely to receive referrals from GPs for lovesickness today, Dr Tallis claims it may be an underlying problem in many, and that an understanding of the effects of love on an individual may help psychologists diagnose and treat people. ‘Many people are referred for help who cannot cope with the intensity of love, have been...
The woodland plant St John's Wort has been in use since Crusader times, when the flowers were steeped in warm oil to extract a potent juice contained in its fibrils, but recently the plant's reputation in easing mild reactive depression has gained prominence. Now German scientists have compared the effectiveness of the widely used antidepressant, Paroxetine against a specially manufactured St John's Wort extract called hypericum extract WS 5570. They randomly assigned 301 patients of both sexes, with moderate or severe depression, to either Paroxetine or the herbal extract for six weeks. At the end of the trial half (61 out of 122) of those who took St John's Wort found their symptoms in decline, while only...
DURHAM, NH -- January 21, 2005 -- Depressed pregnant women may be more likely to have babies with low birth weights, according to a new published in the Southern Economic Journal.
The study, co-authored by Karen Conway, professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, showed that depression among mothers-to-be can result in delaying prenatal care, smoking and drinking.
"Maternal smoking has consistently been found to be one of the most important determinants of infant health, and our depression regressions confirm the casual observation that smoking is associated with maternal depression," according to the study.
The researchers used the results...
Women who let their feelings show, even if it means having a row with their partner to clear the air, are likely to live longer than those who bottle up angry feelings. However, if they come home upset about what's happened at work, telling their partners their troubles increases the men's chances of developing heart disease. The conclusions are the latest from the Framingham Offspring Study, part of a long-term project looking at the health and...
At what point does an interview with a grieving, traumatised victim of a violent crime cross the line between a legitimate inquiry into a matter of public interest and an opportunity to rehash the gruesome details of the crime for dramatic effect?
This question was on the media agenda for much of the past week or so in light of several newspaper, radio and television interviews with Mrs Sonia Williams, mother of the three children killed at Kiloncholly in St Mary two weeks ago.
In one of the interviews I heard, Mrs Williams relived for Nationwide@5 co-hosts Cliff Hughes and Emily Crooks the trauma that has to be the worst nightmare for any parent. The co-hosts struggled to find the right tone, so they were clearly aware that this story required a fine balance.
Mrs Williams sounded like she really wanted to talk. In fact, she explained that she welcomed the opportunity to keep telling the story because it took her mind off what happened.
In the quiet moments when she was...
THURSDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) -- In research that literally offers food for thought, scientists have found that omega-3 fatty acids and uridine -- a natural substance found in foods -- work as well as antidepressants in preventing signs of depression.
The rat experiments used a well-established animal model of depression, according to the researchers from Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.
The rats were placed in a tank of water, where they had no choice but to swim. After a while, the rats realized swimming was futile, so they simply began to float, a sign of surrender to depression. Given an antidepressant drug, however, they started swimming again, the researchers said.
But combined doses of omega-3 fatty acids and uridine were as effective as...
Health chiefs explain how they aim to break the mould and become one of the first mental health trusts to achieve foundation status.
Each afternoon school children crisscross the grounds of Harplands Hospital in north Staffordshire on their way home.
The act may not seem that important at first sight.
But what makes this truly remarkable is that the stylish £25m PFI centre in Stoke is actually a mental health hospital.
Just a decade ago it would have been unheard of for children to even enter the grounds of such a facility.
Hospital bosses believe...
One in 10 people have social anxiety disorder
Doctors are aiming to uncover what causes one of the most common mental health problems - social anxiety disorder.
The condition, which is characterised by a dread of social situations, affects one in 10 people.
The University of Southampton and Royal South Hants Hospital team believe people with the phobia either misread social cues or ignore them altogether.
Researchers said their findings may help improve treatment.
Current treatments vary from counselling, psychological therapy and drugs.
The team will get volunteers to look at images of faces and objects on screen and measure their reactions.
Lead researcher Dr David Baldwin, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the university, said ...
TUESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDayNews) -- Two new studies suggest that our simian cousins may have more in common with us than we realize.
Female monkeys suffer from depression, especially when they're isolated, while the innate sense of fairness in chimpanzees seems to be pegged to interpersonal relationships, researchers have found.
The findings could give experts more insight into how monkeys and chimpanzees evolved separately from humans. And in the case of one monkey study, "we can study these animals and learn things that will help us understand human depression better," said co-author Carol Shively, a professor of pathology at Wake Forest Baptist School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
While some animals appear to suffer from depression, researchers have so far only used rats as a model for human behavior, Shively said. For example, researchers have given Prozac to rats to see if it helps motivate them to swim longer.
In her study, Shively and her colleagues studied 36 adult female cynomolgus monkeys who lived with other monkeys in groups of four. The findings appear in the April issue of the Journal of Biological Psychology.
The researchers noted that ...
How many people have gotten home after a blindingly stressful day and realize they’ve forgotten some important event or errand?
Well, now at least there’s a scientific explanation for the oversight.
Stress makes you forgetful.
People going on stage or taking an exam or finding themselves in similarly tough situations already knew this, of course.
But a team of researchers has found...
There's more mental illness in America than anyone previously suspected. The first nationally representative survey reveals that nearly one-half of all Americans between the ages of 15 and 54 have experienced an episode of psychiatric disorder some time in their lives, 30 percent of them within the past year.
What's more, most mental illness tends to cluster in a small number of individuals, according to the results of the National Comorbidity Survey. Fifty-six percent of people with a history of one psychiatric disorder also suffer from a multiplicity of others. Roughly 5.2 million Americans account for 90 percent of all episodes of severe mental illness each year.
The lack of face-to-face cues in e-mail often results in ambiguity. Without hearing a person's voice -- or seeing body language and facial expressions -- you may not be exactly sure what the person means. This ambiguity enhances the tendency to project your own expectations, wishes, and anxieties unto the somewhat shadowy figure sitting at the other end of the internet -- what is called a "transference reaction." As an e-mail relationship develops over time, there may be ebbs and flows in the transferential feelings and attitudes towards the other person. When you first connect through e-mail, they tend to be minimal since you do not know the other person and have little psychological investment in the relationship. Transference reactions are more likely to surface when emotional attachments begin to form but you still do not have a good "feel" for the person due to that lack of f2f cues. Other peak moments occur when emotional topics come up but you are unable to...
LONDON - Britain’s medicines agency tightened warnings on popular Prozac-type antidepressants on Monday following a review of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI) sparked by concerns over their safety.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there should be stronger warnings about the risk of withdrawal reactions after ending a course of SSRI treatment and in most cases the lowest recommended dose should be prescribed.
Young adults should be monitored closely as a precautionary measure when being treated with SSRIs, it added.
The agency appointed an expert group to investigate the drugs’ safety following claims they could...
THE BEHAVIORS OF ADDICTION
Phil Rich, Ed.D., MSW
There are a number of "side" behaviors that often accompany addiction which are not actually part of the addiction. It's simply that addiction is so inherently anti-social that many of these behaviors go hand-in-hand with it, required because they're needed to maintain the addiction.
The Side Behaviors
Denial. Addicts often deny that there is an addiction. Denial is a way to ignore or dismiss the idea of addiction and avoid seeing a problem. Sometimes, addicts will acknowledge being addicted, but nevertheless dismiss the significance of the addiction. Cigarette smoking is a good example of an addiction that people readily acknowledge, but frequently do nothing about. They deny the reality of the addiction. Overcoming denial is always the first step in treatment of addictions.
Selfishness. Addictions make people...