Depression

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• General Information
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• Internet Sites
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Depression

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Depression

"Depression may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods. But true clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for an extended time. … The main types of depression include: Major depression -- five or more symptoms listed above must be present for at least 2 weeks, but major depression tends to continue for at least 6 months. (Depression is classified as minor depression if less than five depressive symptoms are present for at least 2 weeks.) and Dysthymia -- a chronic, generally milder form of depression but lasts longer -- usually as long as two years. Depression also includes atypical depression, postpartum depression, Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). … If you are depressed for 2 weeks or longer, you should contact your doctor, who can offer treatment options. … Call 911, a suicide hotline, or get safely to a nearby emergency room if you have thoughts of suicide, a suicidal plan, or thoughts of harming yourself or others."

Highlighted Article

Regular exercise, anxiety, depression and personality: A population-based study. (Prev Med. 2006)

"This study corroborates and extends previous findings: regular exercise is cross-sectionally associated with lower neuroticism, anxiety and depression and higher extraversion and sensation seeking in the population."

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Depression

Daily Treatment Report

Cognitive Therapy-CBT-Psychotherapy

Depression Relapse Less Likely Among Teens Who Receive CBT After Medication Therapy “Adolescents with major depression who received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) after responding to an antidepressant were less likely to experience a relapse or recurrence of symptoms compared to teens who did not receive CBT, according to a small, NIMH-funded pilot study published in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.”

Device Therapy

Drug Side-Effects and Interactions

Antidepressants 'may harm sperm' “Drugs taken by millions of men to alleviate depression may affect their fertility, say US scientists. A small number of healthy men given the antidepressant paroxetine for four weeks had far higher levels of sperm with damaged DNA. “

Do Antidepressants Make Bones Brittle? “Older adults may get a needed mood boost from a prescribed antidepressant, but they're also at increased risk for bone fractures, a growing number of studies suggest.”

Type of antidepressant therapy and risk of type 2 diabetes in people with depression (Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 2008)

Drugs

Using second-generation antidepressants to treat depressive disorders: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. (Ann Intern Med. 2008)

Exercise

Exercise Eases Depression and Heart Disease

Effects of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double blind trial (Journal of Internal Medicine 2008) “Conclusions. It appears to be a relation between serum levels of 25(OH)D and symptoms of depression. Supplementation with high doses of vitamin D seems to ameliorate these symptoms indicating a possible causal relationship.”

Exercise for depression. (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008)

Physical activity, exercise, depression and anxiety disorders (Journal of Neural Transmission 2008) “Reduced incidence rates of depression and (some) anxiety disorders in exercising subjects raise the question whether exercise may be used in the prevention of some mental disorders. Besides case series and small uncontrolled studies, recent well controlled studies suggest that exercise training may be clinically effective, at least in major depression and panic disorder. Although, the evidence for positive effects of exercise and exercise training on depression and anxiety is growing, the clinical use, at least as an adjunct to established treatment approaches like psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy, is still at the beginning. Further studies on the clinical effects of exercise, interaction with standard treatment approaches and details on the optimal type, intensity, frequency and duration may further support the clinical administration in patients. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge on how to best deal with depression and anxiety related symptoms which hinder patients to participate and benefit from exercise training.”

Leisure Time Exercise Might Not Affect Depression And Anxiety

General Information

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for unipolar depression: a systematic review of classic long-term randomized controlled trials (CMAJ 2008) “Interpretation: There is a lack of classic randomized controlled trials of serotonin reuptake inhibitors lasting more than 1 year for the treatment of depression. The results of our systematic review support current recommendations for 6–8 months of antidepressant treatment following initial recovery but provide no guidance for longer treatment.”

Pharmacologic Management of Adult Depression (Am Fam Physician. 2008)

Antidepressants Only Benefit Certain Depressed Patients, Study Suggests "A new study suggests that antidepressants only benefit some, very severely depressed patients. "New generation" antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac) are widely prescribed for the treatment of clinical depression. However some studies have suggested that these drugs do not help the majority of depressed people get better by very much."

Antidepressants No Better Than Placebo? Study Shows Only Most Depressed Patients Benefit; Expert Is Critical of Study's Method "A study suggesting the widely prescribed antidepressantsProzac, Paxil, and Effexor work no better than placebo for most patients who take them does not present an accurate picture of the research as a whole, a leading depression expert says. The research analysis included published and previously unpublished data submitted to the FDA by the manufacturers of the three drugs, as well as a fourth, Serzone, which is no longer sold in the U.S. The researchers concluded that when taken as a whole, the data showed that only a small group of the most severely depressed patients benefited from taking one of the antidepressants. Antidepressants vs. Placebo For less severely depressed patients, the antidepressants were found to work no better than placebos, leading the researchers to conclude that most patients who take antidepressants probably shouldn't be on them. The findings are published in the February issue of the journal PLoS Medicine. "

Antidepressant Trial Results Exaggerated "A new study shows a problem with past reporting of antidepressant research. The analysis finds selective publication in reporting exaggerates the effectiveness of antidepressants."

Guidelines

NGC - Management of adults with major depression. ( 2008)

Immunotherapy

Internet Sites

Treatment Information

DrugBank (drug structure)

FDA - Antidepressant Use in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

FDA - MedWatch (Drug Alerts)

Drug-Food-Supplement Information

Drug Information Online

Drug Interaction Checker

DrugDigest (drug interactions)

FDA - Drug Interactions: What You Should Know

NIH - Botanical Dietary Supplements: Background Information

NIH - Drug, Supplements, and Herbal Information

NIH - Herbal Supplements: Consider Safety, Too

NIH - Medicines

NIH - Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Fact Sheets

Nutrition

Other

Other Treatments

Relaxation for depression. (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008)

Yoga as a Complementary Treatment of Depression: Effects of Traits and Moods on Treatment Outcome (eCAM 2007) "Yoga appears to be a promising intervention for depression; it is cost-effective and easy to implement. It produces many beneficial emotional, psychological and biological effects, as supported by observations in this study. The physiological methods are especially useful as they provide objective markers of the processes and effectiveness of treatment."

Radiotherapy

Supplements-Vitamins-CAM

What Research Should You Believe? St. John's Wort Helps People With Major Depression

St John's wort for major depression. (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008)

St. John's wort curbs symptoms of depression “"Overall, we found that the St. John's wort extracts tested in the trials were superior to placebos and as effective as standard antidepressants, with fewer side effects," Linde said in a written statement. The reviewers point out that the study findings were "more favourable" to St. John's wort in studies conducted in German-speaking countries where these remedies have a long tradition and are often prescribed by doctors. In studies from other countries, St. John's wort extracts "seemed less effective," they report. “

Surgery

Transplantation

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