NEWS OF MIND

From the way you move and sleep, to how you interact with people around you, depression changes just about everything. It is even noticeable in the way you speak and express yourself in writing. Sometimes this “language of depression” can have a powerful effect on others. Just consider the impact of the poetry and song lyrics of Sylvia Plath and Kurt Cobain, who both killed themselves after suffering from depression. Scientists have long tried to pin down the exact relationship between depression and language, and technology is helping us get closer to a full picture. Our new study,  published in Clinical Psychological Science , has now unveiled a class of words that can help accurately predict whether someone is suffering from depression. Traditionally, linguistic analyses in this field have been carried out by researchers reading and taking notes. Nowadays,  computerised text analysis methods  allow the processing of extremely large data banks in minutes. ...

A new study found that teenagers are increasingly depressed, feel hopeless and are more likely to consider suicide. Researchers found a sudden increase in teens' symptoms of depression, suicide risk factors and suicide rates in 2012 — around the time when smartphones became popular, says Jean Twenge, one of the authors of the study. Twenge's research found that teens who spend five or more hours per day on their devices are 71 percent more likely to have one risk factor for suicide. And that's regardless of the content consumed. Whether teens are watching cat videos or looking at something more serious, the amount of screen time — not the specific content — goes hand in hand with the higher instances of depression. "It's an excessive amount of time spent on the device. So half an hour, an hour a day, that seemed to be the sweet spot for teen mental health in terms of electronic devices," Twenge says. "At two hours a day there was only a slightly elevate...

Over 60 percent of adults who were diagnosed with depression by a clinician didn't meet the official criteria for the disorder upon re-evaluation By Lindsay Abrams PROBLEM:  Over the course of 20 years, according to the most recently available data, the U.S. saw a  400 percent increase  in antidepressant use, resulting in 11 percent of Americans over the age of 12 taking some form of depression medication by 2008. Debate rages between those who believe that increased diagnoses mean we are turning normal human experience into a disease, and those who push for increased awareness of a very real psychological illness. Depending on who's doing the arguing, people are either being  treated  or are  suffering  in excess. 'Type A' Personality Doubles Risk of Having a Stroke Countries That Use More High Fructose Corn Syrup Have More Diabetes Being Cold May Promote Longevity METHODOLOGY:  Ramin Mojtabai of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of P...

By Janice Neumann (Reuters Health) - Moderate-intensity exercise, or even just walking, can improve quality of life for depressed middle-aged women, a large Australian study suggests . Women who averaged 150 minutes of moderate exercise (golf, tennis, aerobics classes, swimming, or line-dancing) or 200 minutes of walking every week had more energy, socialized more, felt better emotionally, and weren't as limited by their depression when researchers followed up after three years. They also had less pain and did better physically, although the psychological benefit was greater. With depression so prevalent, "there is an urgent need" to identify treatments, including non-medical options that people can do themselves, said Kristiann Heesch, who led the study. Heesch, senior lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, and her colleagues point out in a January 13 online article in the  American Journal of Preventive Medicine  that depression is expected to be the sec...

The Story: A young couple I have treated for some time came into my office recently. Lisa was angry with Justin because he had been (in her opinion) distant and unloving towards her in recent weeks. No matter how hard she tried to please him, nothing seemed to work, and she began to wonder whether he had lost interest in her. After I asked Justin certain key questions, it became clear that he had gradually become depressed and, in doing so, had lost interest in pretty much everything that had previously given him pleasure – including Lisa. Once Justin’s depression was adequately treated, he became the warm, loving and attentive man with whom Lisa had fallen in love and chosen to spend her life with. There are some important lessons to this story. First, depression is not always obvious. It can masquerade as something else (in this case, lack of interest in your partner). Second, it is valuable for friends or loved ones to learn the tell-tale signs of depression so that t...

Depressed people are very much common in our society. All of us became depressed at least once in the life time. Depressed people got some typical criteria in which they are easily different than normal people. Here is Top 10 criteria of depressed people... 1. Always Angry Depressed people always become angry with others. They can't tolerate  others. They think that everyone trying to do any harm to them. So they just can't behave normal with others. 2. Feel guilty Depressed people always think negative about themselves. They think that they are the most waste product in the world . They think they are good for nothing. 3. Ready to take any kind of self destruction method As they think negative about about themselves. They are ready to take any kind of self destruction method. Because they think they deserve to be punished. 4. Feel absolutely hopeless They lost there hope in life. They just can't think of positive of anything. 5. Always think negative ...

Since I’ve started being honest about my mental health, I’ve noticed that my relationships have changed – mostly for the better. There’s more trust there. We’re able to talk about bigger things. Now that I’ve opened up, the people around me have started to open up, too. 5 things I wish I'd known about getting older And it’s made me think about how much time I’ve spent being not-the-best friend when I wasn’t open about what I was dealing with (meaning depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessive thoughts). I want to say sorry . I’m sorry for all the times I didn’t message you back because I overthought a response, then decided that ignoring you entirely would make you hate me less than taking a few hours to send a text. I’m sorry I declined your calls, scared to reveal that yes, you had woken me up, because I’m still in bed at 3pm on a Sunday. I’m sorry I backed out of plans at the last minute...

Chr is Cornell died early Thursday morning. His band Soundgarden played a show on Wednesday night at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Two hours after the show ended, he was gone. For two days, I’ve been working on a piece to pay tribute to him, and it’s been a struggle. Usually when I have a problem like this it’s because I’m staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what I want to say. That’s not the problem this time. The problem is I have way too much to say. I’m not going to sit here and claim to have been a huge fan of Soundgarden. I didn’t dislike them, I just had to take them in small doses. I was a fan of Cornell. I love “Seasons,” the solo song he had on Cameron Crowe’s movie, Singles. It’s a droning acoustic song about isolation and the meaningless passing of time. Your basic nihilistic statement written at what was probably the peak of rock’s most nihilistic period. I was a fan of Cornell as a person. ...

Depression is a very serious mental illness that often goes unnoticed for years. People with concealed depression are battling demons within themselves all on their own. They are not sharing their struggles and do not want to burden those around them. You see, for most people wounds are not something we are open about. We tend to bottle things up and attempt to remedy them on our own. If you are reading this then you must know someone who you feel you need to better understand or you relate to this yourself. The following 15 habits are some of the most common I have noticed in people dealing with concealed depression. 1. The are often quite talented and very expressive. Alot of famous people have suffered from mental illnesses, and this suffering gives them deeper emotions. If you really think about it, this is in some form a source to their greatness. While we cannot always see it, their struggles are often reflected in their works. These people are able to bring something beautif...