Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Turmeric is the herb that gives curry its major culinary characteristics. The turmeric root supplies many constituents related to ongoing good health; curcuminoids and essential oils often referred to generically as curcumin. Unfortunately these constituents are difficult to absorb. BioCurcumin is an extremely well absorbed …
Healthy gut microbiota and bacteria helps digest food, fight infection, and plays an important role in keeping the immune system healthy. It is influenced by genetics, but more so by diet, stress and other environmental factors. Numerous studies have investigated the claim that intestinal bacteria …
A major focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month is “mindfulness”, which means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and present environment. Mindfulness also entails tuning into current emotions without judgment of whether they are “right” or “wrong” in the present time. The key phrase is “in the present” – in mindfulness practice, the goal is to tune into sensations in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future, which often lead to worsened depression and anxiety symptoms.
According to the results of a new study published in The Lancet, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy offers a similar level of protection against relapses of depression to antidepressants. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) works by teaching people with depression how to identify thoughts and feelings linked with their condition. By responding effectively to these depressive thoughts in the present moment – without regrets of the past or worry about the future – the likelihood of worsening symptoms or relapse may be greatly reduced.
In the study recently published in The Lancet, a group of individuals with major depression who were currently taking anti-depressant medications were split into two groups. One group was told to remain on their prescribed course of medication, while the other group gradually tapered their dosage and came off of their prescriptions completely.
Similar results were reported for both groups over a two-year period.
This gives researchers a major lead into new treatments for depression, a mental health condition that has skyrocketed in the past decade or so.
“There are many people who, for a number of different reasons, are unable to keep on a course of medication for depression,” said study co-author Prof. Richard Byng, from the Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry in the UK. “Moreover, many people do not wish to remain on medication for indefinite periods, or cannot tolerate its side effects.”
Prof. Roger Mulder, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, stated that as MBCT as a group treatment may also reduce treatment costs and the number of trained staff needed: “We therefore have a promising new treatment that is reasonably cost effective and applicable to the large group of patients with recurrent depression.”
Source: Medical News Today
Photo by Mitch Lensink on Unsplash Bullying today is more than just name-calling on the playground. With the advancement of technology, bullying has been taken off of the playground and brought into your home. Generally, factors such as teasing, exclusion, rumors, public shaming and intimidation …
Photo by Artem Kovalev on Unsplash An international group of researchers found that no matter what the other factors may be, childhood abuse is the top cause of depression later in life. Those who suffer an abusive childhood are far more likely to be diagnosed …
We have all heard the stories about the challenges that veterans face when they come home from war. But the struggles their children face when a parent comes back are sometimes pushed aside. Think about it: Before your father was deployed, he would take you out for ice cream or to the park. But when he came back, you didn’t celebrate the homecoming like you thought. He couldn’t take you out for ice cream, because he was too paranoid to leave the house. He couldn’t take you to the park anymore, because being around large crowds made him nervous and anxious.
In a recent article published by CBS News, Iraqi war veteran Aaron Barton stated, “I was scared to go out of the house at the time. Crowds made me nervous. I’m always still looking for snipers. I just get to the point where the rage takes over and I can’t control it. I usually tell my children to leave me alone but I would never intentionally harm them.” Aaron was a specialist in the Army National Guard, serving two deployments in Iraq that left him with injuries to his brain and spine. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2007, leaving his wife Abigail with an intense feeling of disgust towards military operations. She stated, “I would get so angry. I’d start blaming it on America’s military. I developed depression over time, and a lot of anxiety.” Aaron’s 18-year old son, Alex, did not cope well with the changes either. In 2013, he attempted suicide and spent four days on life support.
According to CNN, it is estimated that as many as five million kids have had a parent or sibling serve in Iraq or Afghanistan since September of 2001. Professor of Social Work at the University of Southern California, Ron Avi Astor, says that up to a million and a half of those kids with parents serving or having served, now considered veterans, in the war are not doing well mentally and emotionally. He found that one out of four military kids is likely to consider suicide, significantly more than non-military kids.
The children of many soldiers can be considered “collateral damage” – unintended targets of war, struggling with the same depression and anxiety as their parents do when they come home. However, all hope is not lost.
Second clinical trial on the use of BioCurcumin in people with depression – read more here!
Here are some things you can do as a parent to help:
Sources: cbsnews.com,plan.org