Researchers in Australia find 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women but only eight in men
Women carry a higher genetic risk of depression, a new study has found.
Claiming to be the largest genetic study to date on sex differences in major depression, the research published Wednesday in Nature Communications has found 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women and eight in men.
Continue reading...Chronic exposure to inflammation may explain link to conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, researchers say
Living with an autoimmune disease may almost double the risk of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, a study suggests.
The link may be explained by the chronic exposure to systemic inflammation that the autoimmune disease causes, researchers at the University of Edinburgh said.
Continue reading...Spravato, derived from a popular club drug and also known as esketamine, offers hope to tens of thousands of Australians living with chronic mental illness
A medication chemically similar to ketamine will be made cheaper to improve the lives of Australians suffering from treatment-resistant depression.
The drug, which comes in the form of a nasal spray, is a chemical cousin of ketamine, used for decades as a powerful anaesthetic before it was adopted as a party drug in underground rave culture.
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Continue reading...Thomas Kingston, son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, had been prescribed SSRIs
A coroner has issued a warning about the effects of antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor to the son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent before his suicide.
Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, killed himself last February after “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”, an inquest found last month.
Continue reading...Study explains THC can help young adults with depression or anxiety but otherwise could worsen sleep problems
Many insomniacs swear by cannabis as a way to help them sleep – while many scientific studies have found that THC actually exacerbates sleep problems.
A new study published last week in Addiction might explain why.
Continue reading...Researchers say interventions could address key factors, such as smoking, but ‘structural changes’ also needed
Four key factors have been identified that together account for more than one-third of the inequalities in infant deaths between the most and least deprived areas of England.
Researchers say targeted interventions to address these factors – teenage pregnancy, maternal depression, preterm birth and smoking during pregnancy – could go a significant way to reduce inequalities, although higher-level structural changes to address socioeconomic inequality will also be necessary.
Continue reading...UK researchers say study shows stopping long-term use of the drugs is possible at scale without costly therapy
Almost half of long-term antidepressant users could stop taking the medication with GP support and access to internet or telephone helplines, a study suggests.
Scientists said more than 40% of people involved in the research who were well and not at risk of relapse managed to come off the drugs with advice from their doctors.
Continue reading...More consensual touch helps ease or buffer against mental and physical complaints, meta-analysis shows
Whether it is a hug from a friend or the caress of a weighted blanket, the sensation of touch appears to bring benefits for the body and mind, researchers say.
The sense of touch is the first to develop in babies and is crucial in allowing us to experience the environment around us as well as communicate. Indeed, the loss of touch from others during the Covid pandemic hit many hard.
Continue reading...Resolution Foundation report calls for action as number of young people experiencing poor mental health increases
Young people are more likely to be out of work because of ill health than people in their early 40s, a report calling for action on Britain’s mental wellbeing crisis has found.
People in their early 20s with mental health problems may have not had access to a steady education and can end up out of work or in low-paid jobs, the Resolution Foundation research revealed.
Continue reading...Separate study finds women who are depressed in pregnancy more likely to die prematurely
The number of women who have died during pregnancy or soon after has risen sharply to its highest levels for 20 years, prompting concern from experts.
The maternal death rate increased to 13.41 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies between 2020 and 2022, according to figures published by the MBRRACE-UK investigation into maternal deaths in the UK. The figure was 8.79 in the period 2017 to 2019.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Singer, who reportedly bought $58m property last year, says she also gets left alone in Los Angeles
Adele has said she is likely to stick around in Los Angeles because the sunny weather helps her stave off seasonal depression.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, she said the California city’s sunny weather was “good for me”. Los Angeles has an average of about 263 sunny days in the year.
Continue reading...Open letter to government from experts and politicians says rising usage ‘is a clear example of over-medicalisation’
Medical experts and politicians have called for the amount of antidepressants being prescribed to people across the UK to be reduced in an open letter to the government.
The letter coincides with the launch of the all-party parliamentary group Beyond Pills, which aims to reduce what it calls the UK healthcare system’s over-reliance on prescription medication.
Continue reading...Authors say supported mindfulness-based cognitive therapy also cheaper than treatment NHS usually offers
Practising mindfulness is much better than taking part in talking therapies at helping people recover from depression, a British study has found.
People who used a mindfulness self-help book for eight weeks and had six sessions with a counsellor experienced a 17.5% greater improvement in recovery from depressive symptoms than those who underwent cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) while being supported by a mental health practitioner.
Continue reading...Chris Barrie says he hopes common sense will prevail and the TGA will allow drug to be more readily used to treat patients
The former chief of the Australian defence force, Chris Barrie, is campaigning to remove barriers stymying doctors from using MDMA to treat veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, saying he hopes “common sense is going to prevail”.
Late last year, the Therapeutic Goods Administration decided against downgrading the classification of psilocybin or MDMA as a prohibited substance to a controlled substance, a move which would have increased patient access.
Continue reading...Emma Pring, 29, who had PTSD and depression, killed herself after insufficient observation in Maidstone hospital, jury concludes
The death of a young woman at a privately run hospital could have been prevented, an inquest has concluded.
Emma Pring, 29, killed herself while an inpatient at Cygnet hospital in Maidstone in April 2021.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
Continue reading...The question My partner has suffered from depression for decades, but only saw the doctor once, stopped taking the medication after a few months, and refuses to go on it again. They won’t talk to anyone or seek help professionally or from family – not even me.
In the last two years, Covid has had a major impact on their mental health, and their behaviour on top of this is now affecting me massively. In the past, I’ve been told I’m very positive and happy. I’m certainly not that now. But I don’t want to go on medication myself.
Continue reading...With up to one in five new mothers suffering depression or psychosis, experts say the need for help is ‘overwhelming’ India
A month after giving birth, Divya tried to suffocate her new daughter with a pillow. “There were moments when I loved my baby; at other times I would try and suffocate her to death,” says the 26-year-old from the southern Indian state of Kerala.
She sought help from women’s organisations and the women’s police station, staffed by female officers, in her town. But Divya was told that the safest place for a child was with her mother.
Continue reading...Tech companies are seeking to analyse data on the way we tap, scroll, text and call to monitor our mental health – with potential consequences for privacy and healthcare
We all fear our smartphones spy on us, and I’m subject to a new type of surveillance. An app called TapCounter records each time I touch my phone’s screen. My swipes and jabs are averaging about 1,000 a day, though I notice that’s falling as I steer shy of social media to meet my deadline. The European company behind it, QuantActions, promises that through capturing and analysing the data it will be able to “detect important indicators related to mental/neurological health”.
Arko Ghosh is the company’s cofounder and a neuroscientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “Tappigraphy patterns” – the time series of my touches – can, he says, confidently be used not only to infer slumber habits (tapping in the wee hours means you are not sleeping) but also mental performance level (the small intervals in a series of key-presses represent a proxy for reaction time), and he has published work to support it.
Continue reading...Estimated 76m extra cases of anxiety and 53m extra cases of depression during pandemic, say researchers
Cases of anxiety and depression around the world increased dramatically in 2020, researchers have found, with an estimated 76m extra cases of anxiety and 53m extra cases of major depressive disorder than would have been expected had Covid not struck.
The study is the latest to suggest the pandemic has taken a serious toll on mental health, and that women and young people are more likely to be affected than men or older people.
Continue reading...Covid’s toll on mental health of children and young people laid bare in report citing fears about the future, family and lockdowns
Almost one in five 15- to 24-year-olds around the world say they often feel depressed, according to a new UN report.
The children’s agency, Unicef, and Gallup conducted interviews in 21 countries during the first six months of the year.
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