Health Journal Online

Tag: depression

  • Looking Honestly at the Challenges of Mindfulness Practices

    Looking Honestly at the Challenges of Mindfulness Practices

    While the challenges of mindfulness practices are real, research confirms that mindfulness can also be helpful in preventing relapses into depression and reduce healthcare visits.

    Willoughby Britton, a psychiatrist and mindfulness practitioner, has researched what he terms the “difficult or challenging mind states” among advanced meditators and scholars that can occur as a result of intense meditation practice.

    The challenges of mindfulness are real. The truth is, meditation is not all calm and peace. Mental material can come up that can be uncomfortable or need to be addressed.

    Britton spoke generally with Mindful about how mindfulness has been marketed in this country as a “warm bath,” when in actuality, you have to deal with whatever comes up in the mind.

    “A lot of psychological material is going to come up and be processed. Old resentments, wounds, that kind of thing,” says Britton, “But also some traumatic material if people have a trauma history, it can come up and need additional support or even therapy.”

    Halliwell asks: “Does something beneficial have to be delivered perfectly—and to bring about a perfect world—before we will accept it as worthwhile?”

    Ed Halliwell, mindfulness teacher and author of The Mindful Manifesto, admits that meditation can be an emotional rollercoaster. “Mindfulness has a great many benefits,” Halliwell writes, but he takes issue with mindfulness being touted as a cure-all. At the same time, there’s an all-or-nothing mentality brewing around the adoption of mindfulness practices, and Halliwell asks: “Does something beneficial have to be delivered perfectly—and to bring about a perfect world—before we will accept it as worthwhile?”

    Elisha Goldstein, clinical psychologist and mindfulness teacher, noted that it’s not a question of whether mindfulness is harmful or not. When we’re assessing the challenges of mindfulness practices, the better question is where you’re getting that mindfulness training from. “It comes down to an education on mindfulness (and a variety of factors that it represents) and finding an experienced teacher as a guide to meet the practitioner where they are at.”

    Research is ongoing

    Research on mindfulness and depression is still preliminary, but there are promising indicators.

    Scientific American surveyed findings and some of the key controversies regarding the application of mindfulness for depression and anxiety, and concluded:

    When it comes to treating diagnosed mental disorders, the evidence that mindfulness helps is mixed, with the strongest data pointing toward its ability to reduce clinical depression and prevent relapses.

    In particular, new research has emerged indicating that an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program might reduce the risk of relapses into depression. Study authors identified that mindfulness helped in the following ways:

    • MBCT allowed people to be more intentionally aware of the present moment, which gave them space to pause before reacting automatically to others.
    • Bringing mindful awareness to uncomfortable experiences helped people to approach situations that they would previously avoid, which fostered self-confidence and assertiveness.
    • Study participants also described having more energy, feeling less overwhelmed by negative emotion, and being in a better position to cope with and support others.

    Another piece of research reported that frequent health service users who received MBCT therapy showed a significant reduction in non-mental health care visits over a one-year period.

    “We speculate that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has elements that could help people who are high health-care utilizers manage their distress without needing to go to a doctor,” says Dr. Paul Kurdyak, lead author and Director of Health Systems Research at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Lead of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Program at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).



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  • Where To Start When There Is So Much Suffering

    Where To Start When There Is So Much Suffering

    Let’s face it: Things feel incredibly hard right now. Of course, there are always difficulties and challenges, but particularly at this moment, I find myself heartbroken, overwhelmed, and angry more often than usual. Maybe you can relate?

    Perhaps like you, I am at a loss for what to do to address the suffering around me at this time. There is heartbreak, struggle, anger, fear, and despair in our homes, communities, and on the news and social media. Though there are some things we can do and action we can take, often much of this suffering is beyond our capacity to control.

    Self-Compassion Works for Collective Pain, Too

    When it starts to feel like too much to bear, I find myself wondering how to be with it all. How to be with the heartbreak, the suffering, the difficulties inherent in life. In my experience and work, I have found that one of the most helpful ways to navigate these challenges is through self-compassion. 

    Of course, self-compassion is a powerful ally when we are personally experiencing a difficulty. But self-compassion is also a powerful internal resource we can draw on in response to the suffering of others. Even if it is someone we don’t know, our hearts are touched when others are struggling. That is why it is essential to start with ourselves so that we can respond from a place of love and care, rather than fear, despair, frustration, or anger.

    So, what is self-compassion? Imagine if a dear friend was struggling with something, and then consider how you would respond to them. Now, gently turn that care, warmth, and kindness toward yourself; that is self-compassion.

    In the research, self-compassion is shown to have many benefits, including increasing resilience and optimism as well as decreasing anxiety and depression. It helps us hold suffering, both our own and that of others, more spaciously and with tenderness and warmth. The ability to offer ourselves compassion helps buffer the emotional distress that can accompany the empathetic response.

    Though self-compassion doesn’t necessarily fix the problem, it does invite a deeper calm and clarity as we approach it, because we tend to make wiser choices when we feel cared for. Caring for ourselves, especially when things are hard, enhances our capacity to navigate those difficulties and is a skill that we can learn and access readily.

    Practices You Can Try Today

    These practices work to strengthen our awareness and compassion, which can  help us avoid the extremes of being either overwhelmed or numbing out.

    One For Me And One For You:

    Based on the giving and receiving compassion practice from the Mindful Self-Compassion Program, the “one for me and one for you” practice can be tremendously helpful when we are feeling overwhelmed by the suffering of others. With a little repetition, it can even be accessible in the moment when encountering someone who is struggling.

    Bring to mind someone, even a group of people, who you know are suffering. This could be someone you know personally or hear about on the news. Now, check in with yourself and see what would best support you in being with their struggles as much as possible. It could, for example, be patience, calm, strength, or acceptance. Bring your attention to your breath and consciously offer that to yourself on the inhale and gently release on the exhale.

    After a few rounds, and if it feels right for you, you may now consider what they most need—they may have even voiced this need. It may be the same thing you need or something different. Continue to take in for yourself what you need on the inhale and offer them what they need as you exhale. You can even let go of the specific words and simply say to yourself, “One for me, and one for you,” as you continue to focus on your breathing.

    Kind Touch:

    Offering yourself a tender and gentle touch is one of the easiest ways to access self-compassion. Try putting a hand on your heart, holding your own hand, gently touching your cheek, or rubbing your arms like a gentle self-hug. Though it may initially feel awkward, research shows the benefits of this practice. Just as we might reach out to hug a friend or gently touch the arm of someone in need, we can also offer this loving, caring touch to ourselves. This kind touch releases the chemicals that support comfort, care, and connection, giving our body the message that we are safe and cared for in the moment.

    Of Course…Honey Practice:

    This phrase integrates the three aspects of self-compassion—mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness—used in the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. When you are struggling with something, you can say to yourself, “Of course, this is hard, honey,” or “Of course, you are scared, honey,” or “Of course you feel sad (angry, overwhelmed…), honey.” Saying the words “of course” as part of this phrase acknowledges our common humanity, that anyone in our circumstances could feel this way. Feeling like this is simply part of being human. Naming the emotion is the mindfulness aspect of the phrase, and using the term ‘honey’ (or another term of endearment) is an expression of self-kindness. I often use this phrase, usually with my hand on my heart, and have found it to be invaluable, especially when caught in a moment of intense reactivity.

    Start Where You Are, and Go From There

    If you are feeling heartbreak, fear, outrage or anything else in response to the depth and breadth of suffering in the world (or in your own life), start right where you are. Take a moment to care for your own heart and mind before responding to the world, which so desperately needs our loving presence.



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  • Boosting BDNF Levels in Our Brain to Treat Depression 

    Boosting BDNF Levels in Our Brain to Treat Depression 

    We can raise BDNF levels in our brain by fasting and exercising, as well as by eating and avoiding certain foods.

    There is accumulating evidence that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may be playing a role in human depression. BDNF controls the growth of new nerve cells. “So, low levels of this peptide could lead to an atrophy of specific brain areas such as the amygdala and the hippocampus, as it has been observed among depressed patients.” That may be one of the reasons that exercise is so good for our brains. Start an hour-a-day exercise regimen, and, within three months, there can be a quadrupling of BDNF release from our brain, as seen below and at 0:35 in my video How to Boost Brain BDNF Levels for Depression Treatment.

    This makes sense. Any time we were desperate to catch prey (or desperate not to become prey ourselves), we needed to be cognitively sharp. So, when we’re fasting, exercising, or in a negative calorie balance, our brain starts churning out BDNF to make sure we’re firing on all cylinders. Of course, Big Pharma is eager to create drugs to mimic this effect, but is there any way to boost BDNF naturally? Yes, I just said it: fasting and exercising. Is there anything we can add to our diet to boost BDNF?

    Higher intakes of dietary flavonoids appear to be protectively associated with symptoms of depression. The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study followed tens of thousands of women for years and found that those who were consuming the most flavonoids appeared to reduce their risk of becoming depressed. Flavonoids occur naturally in plants, so there’s a substantial amount in a variety of healthy foods. But how do we know the benefits are from the flavonoids and not just from eating more healthfully in general? We put it to the test.

    Some fruits and vegetables have more flavonoids than others. As shown below and at 1:51 in my video, apples have more than apricots, plums more than peaches, red cabbage more than white, and kale more than cucumbers. Researchers randomized people into one of three groups: more high-flavonoid fruits and vegetables, more low-flavonoid fruits and vegetables, or no extra fruits and vegetables at all. After 18 weeks, only the high-flavonoid group got a significant boost in BDNF levels, which corresponded with an improvement in cognitive performance. The BDNF boost may help explain why each additional daily serving of fruits or vegetables is associated with a 3 percent decrease in the risk of depression. 

    What’s more, as seen here and at 2:27 in my video, a teaspoon a day of the spice turmeric may boost BNDF levels by more than 50 percent within a month. This is consistent with the other randomized controlled trials that have so far been done. 

    Nuts may help, too. In the PREDIMED study, where people were randomized to receive weekly batches of nuts or extra-virgin olive oil, the nut group lowered their risk of having low BDNF levels by 78 percent, as shown below and at 2:46.

    And BDNF is not implicated only in depression, but schizophrenia. When individuals with schizophrenia underwent a 12-week exercise program, they got a significant boost in their BDNF levels, which led the researchers to “suggest that exercise-induced modulation of BDNF may play an important role in developing non-pharmacological treatment for chronic schizophrenic patients.”

    What about schizophrenia symptoms? Thirty individuals with schizophrenia were randomized to ramp up to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week or not, and there did appear to be an improvement in psychiatric symptoms, such as hallucinations, as well as an increase in their quality of life, with exercise. In fact, researchers could actually visualize what happened in their brains. Loss of brain volume in a certain region appears to be a feature of schizophrenia, but 30 minutes of exercise, three times a week, resulted in an increase of up to 20 percent in the size of that region within three months, as seen here and at 3:46 in my video. 

    Caloric restriction may also increase BDNF levels in people with schizophrenia. So, researchers didn’t just have study participants eat less, but more healthfully, too—less saturated fat and sugar, and more fruits and veggies. The study was like the Soviet fasting trials for schizophrenia that reported truly unbelievable results, supposedly restoring people to function, and described fasting as “an unparalleled achievement in the treatment of schizophrenia”—but part of the problem is that the diagnostic system the Soviets used is completely different than ours, making any results hard to interpret. There was a subgroup that seemed to correspond to the Western definition, but they still reported 40 to 60 percent improvement rates from fasting, but fasting wasn’t all they did. After the participants fasted for up to a month, they were put on a meat- and egg-free diet. So, when the researchers reported these remarkable effects even years later, they were for those individuals who stuck with the meat- and egg-free diet. Evidently, the closer the diet was followed, the better the effect, and those who broke the diet relapsed. The researchers noted: “Not all patients can remain vegetarian, but they must not take meat for at least six months, and then in very small portions.” We know from randomized controlled trials that simply eschewing meat and eggs can improve mental states within just two weeks, so it’s hard to know what role fasting itself played in the reported improvements.

    A single high-fat meal can drop BDNF levels within hours of consumption, and we can prove it’s the fat itself by seeing the same result after injecting fat straight into our veins. Perhaps that helps explain why increased consumption of saturated fats in a high-fat diet may contribute to brain dysfunction—that is, neurodegenerative diseases, long-term memory loss, and cognitive impairment. It may also help explain why the standard American diet has been linked to a higher risk of depression, as dietary factors modulate the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor.



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  • Does Fasting Help Treat Depression? 

    Does Fasting Help Treat Depression? 

    Caloric restriction can boost levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is considered to play a critical role in mood disorders.

    For more than a century, fasting has been espoused as a treatment of supposed “great utility in the preservation of health,” especially rejuvenating the body and, above all, the mind. When people fast for even 18 hours, though, they may get hungry and irritable. After one or two days, positive mood goes down and negative mood goes up, and after three days, fasters can increasingly feel sad, self-blame, and suffer a loss of libido. Then, something strange starts to happen: People experience a “fasting-induced mood enhancement…reflected by decreased anxiety, depression, fatigue, and improved vigor.” Studies tend to show this across the board. Once you get over the hump, fasters frequently experience “an increased level of vigilance and a mood improvement, a subjective feeling of well-being, and sometimes of euphoria.” And, no wonder, as, by then, endorphin levels may rise by nearly 50 percent, as seen here and at 1:06 in my video Friday Favorites: Fasting to Treat Depression. 

    This enhancement of mood, alertness, and calm makes a certain amount of evolutionary sense. Our body wants us to feel poorly initially so we continue to eat, day to day, when food is available, but if we go a couple of days without food, our body realizes we can’t just mope in our cave; we need to get motivated to go out and find some calories.

    So, can fasting be used for mood disorders, like depression? It’s great that people can feel better after a few days of fasting, but the critical question revolves around the “persistence of mood improvement over time” once fasting ends and eating resumes. The little published evidence we have comes out of Japan and the former Soviet Union, and some of it is just ridiculous, like this study that included women with a variety of symptoms, which the researchers blame mostly on marital conflict, as you can see below and at 2:08 in my video. Husband not treating you right? How about some “electroshock therapy”? That didn’t seem to help much, so what about “hunger therapy”? Of course, starving the women made them hungry, but that’s what Thorazine is for. If they keep getting injected with an antipsychotic to calm them down, they can sail right through. So, what happened in the study? What would we even do with those results? 

    Another study, however, skipped the Thorazine. The participants fasted for ten days, but they were also kept in bed all day on “absolute bed rest,” completely isolated and “prohibited from seeing other people except the attending doctor and nurse…also denied access to television, radio, newspapers or any other forms of information.” So, if people got better or worse, it would be impossible to tease out the effects of the fasting component on its own. But researchers found that they apparently did get better, with efficacy reportedly demonstrated in 31 out of 36 patients suffering from depression, as seen here and at 2:56 in my video.

    The researchers concluded that fasting therapy may provide an alternative to the use of antidepressant drugs, “thinking the fasting therapy may be a kind of shock therapy.” People are so relieved to be eating again, to get out of solitary confinement, and to even just get out of bed that they report feeling better. That was at the time of discharge, though. How did they feel the next day, the next week, the next month? Fasting is, by definition, unsustainable, so what we want to ideally see are some kind of longer-lasting effects.

    Researchers did a follow-up with a few hundred patients, not just a few months later, but after a few years. Of the 69 who were evidently suffering from depression, 90 percent reported feeling good or excellent results at the end of the ten-day fast, and, remarkably, years later, 87 percent of the 62 individuals who replied claimed that they were still doing well. Now, there was no control group, so we don’t know if they would have done just as well or even better without the fast, and it was all self-reporting, so there may have been a response bias where participants tried to please the researchers. Who knows? Maybe they were afraid they’d get sent back to solitary if they didn’t respond affirmatively. We have no idea, but we do have good evidence for the short-term mood benefits.

    Why would fasting improve feelings of depression? In addition to the endorphins and the surge in serotonin, the so-called happiness hormone, when we fast, there is a bump in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is considered to play a crucial role in mood disorders. Researchers have perked up rodents with it, but we aren’t rats or mice. What about us? Humans with major depression have lower levels of BDNF circulating in their bloodstream. Autopsy studies of suicide victims show only about half the BDNF in certain key brain regions, compared to controls, suggesting it may play an important role in suicidal behavior, as seen here and at 4:38 in my video. 

    We can boost BDNF with antidepressant drugs and electroshock; we can also boost it with caloric restriction. We can get a 70 percent boost in levels after three months of cutting 25 percent of calories out of our daily diet, as shown below and at 4:51.

    Is there anything we can add to our diets to boost BNDF levels so we can get the benefits without the hunger? We’ll find out next.



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  • Depression, Fingertip Changes, And Other Symptoms You Might Miss

    Depression, Fingertip Changes, And Other Symptoms You Might Miss

    You do not smoke, and you do not have a persistent cough: so you might think lung cancer is not your concern. But think again. While smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer deaths, about 20% of people diagnosed have never touched a cigarette. Spotting early signs is crucial, yet many symptoms are so subtle they are easy to miss.

    People with lung cancer may experience a persistent cough, repeated chest infections, coughing up blood, breathlessness, chest pain, constant fatigue, and unexplained weight loss. While these are the common signs people typically associate with lung cancer, we are going to explore the silent warnings the body may send that are often easy to overlook.

    Face and Neck Swelling: Lung cancer patients can develop tumors near the superior vena cava, a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the head, neck, upper limbs, and torso back to the heart. This complication, known as superior vena cava syndrome, occurs when the tumor presses against the vein and nearby lymph nodes, causing blood to back up and resulting in swelling in the face and neck.

    Mental Health Symptoms: Studies have shown that people who were later diagnosed with lung cancer often developed mental health issues such as confusion, anxiety, and depression. These symptoms could be caused by tumors affecting the brain, the impact of cancer on the immune system or hormones, or high calcium levels related to cancer.

    Finger clubbing: Finger clubbing is a notable yet often overlooked symptom associated with lung cancer. It occurs when certain lung tumors produce hormone-like substances that increase blood flow and fluid accumulation in the fingertips, leading to their enlargement. This condition is characterized by rounded, bulging fingertips and nails that may appear shiny or curve more than usual.

    Stomach Problems: It is estimated that around 40% of lung cancer patients develop tumors that release substances that could disrupt normal calcium levels. Excessive calcium in the blood affects digestion and causes stomach cramps, nausea, and constipation.

    Shoulder and back pain: Not all lung cancers affect the respiratory system. For example, a Pancoast tumor is a type of lung cancer that grows in the upper part of the lung and can spread to the ribs, vertebrae, nerves, and blood vessels. This type of lung cancer can cause pain in the shoulder blade, upper back, and arm.

    Early detection of lung cancer:

    The survival rate for lung cancer largely depends on how far the cancer has spread at the time of diagnosis. If detected early, when the cancer is still localized, and treated promptly, some lung cancers can go into remission. Therefore, if you experience any symptoms, it’s important to consult with a doctor. However, keep in mind that these symptoms may not necessarily indicate lung cancer, as they could be linked to other conditions.

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  • Depression May Trigger Severe Period Pain, Sleep Disturbances May Aggravate It: Study

    Depression May Trigger Severe Period Pain, Sleep Disturbances May Aggravate It: Study

    Severe menstrual cramps can affect a woman’s mood and her mental well-being. However, a new study reveals a surprising twist: depression may actually trigger severe period pain, with sleep deprivation worsening its severity.

    Dysmenorrhea, or severe period pain, affects around 15% of women and typically occurs just before menstruation, and subsides after a few days. If the menstrual cramps occur without any underlying condition, it is called primary dysmenorrhea. This type of period pain is often caused by high levels of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that increase uterine contractions. Secondary dysmenorrhea, however, is caused by medical conditions like endometriosis or uterine fibroids.

    In the latest study published in Briefings in Bioinformatics, researchers discovered that depression significantly impacts primary dysmenorrhea after evaluating around 600,000 cases from European populations and 8,000 from East Asian populations, finding a strong link in both groups. The researchers also conducted a genome-wide association study and identified key genes and proteins involved in this interaction.

    “Our findings provide preliminary evidence that depression may be a cause, rather than a consequence, of dysmenorrhea as we did not find evidence that period pain increased the risk of depression,” said lead author Shuhe Liu from China’s Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University.

    Another interesting observation was that sleeplessness, commonly experienced by those with depression, played a key role in connecting depression and dysmenorrhea.

    “We found that increased sleep disturbances could exacerbate menstrual pain. Addressing sleep issues may therefore be crucial in managing both conditions,” Liu said.

    However, larger studies and biological experiments are needed to fully understand the causal association between menstrual pain and depression. Meanwhile, based on the current findings, the researchers are calling for improved mental health screening for individuals suffering from dysmenorrhea. Liu explained that this could lead to more personalized treatment options, reduced stigma, and better healthcare for those affected.

    “Depression and menstrual pain significantly impact women’s lives across the world, yet their connection remains poorly understood. Our collective goal is to critically investigate these issues and improve care for women by uncovering these complex connections and finding better ways to address them,” lead author Dr. John Moraros, from the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China told CNN.

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  • Just 80 Minutes Of Weekly Exercise Reduces Baby Blues, Postpartum Depression Symptoms: Says Study

    Just 80 Minutes Of Weekly Exercise Reduces Baby Blues, Postpartum Depression Symptoms: Says Study

    For new moms who are looking for an all-natural way to ease their baby blues or depression, here’s some good news: a brisk walk or yoga might be just what you need to relieve symptoms. Researchers have found that mothers who engage in exercise programs with at least 80 minutes of moderate activity each week experience significant reductions in the severity of baby blues and postpartum depression.

    Postpartum depression is a serious mental health condition impacting over 10% of women in the first year after childbirth. Hormonal shifts, genetic predisposition, and environmental factors can trigger it. In contrast, the ‘baby blues’ is a milder, temporary form of depression that usually fades within a few weeks as hormone levels stabilize.

    Researchers behind the latest study investigated the benefits of exercise on maternal mental health by evaluating 35 studies involving 4072 participants from 14 countries. Participants exercised at different frequencies, from 1 to 5 days a week, with sessions lasting between 15 and 90 minutes. Activities included aerobic exercise, strength training, stretching, yoga, and combinations of these forms.

    “Pooled data analysis of the study results showed that compared with no exercise, exercise-only interventions were associated with less severe symptoms of depression and anxiety after giving birth and an almost halving in the odds (45%) of developing major postpartum depression,” the news release stated.

    Although with an increase in exercise volume, there were greater reductions in depression symptoms, researchers noted significant positive effects, even with a minimum threshold of 80 minutes per week of moderate activities spread across at least four days. Moderate activities included brisk walking, water aerobics, stationary cycling, and resistance training with bands, weights, or body weight.

    Based on these findings, researchers recommend starting postpartum exercise within the first three months after childbirth for improved mental health.

    “The findings of this review show the efficacy of exercise in improving mental health outcomes for postpartum individuals. Given the comparable effectiveness we observed of postpartum exercise in reducing depressive symptom severity to conventional treatments, exercise could provide mothers with relatively safe, accessible and inexpensive alternatives to address mental health conditions,” the researchers wrote in the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

    “Additionally, using exercise to improve postpartum mental health could reduce current concerns with conventional treatment options, such as the largely unknown long-term effects of antidepressant use during lactation on the child or prohibitive costs of regular psychosocial therapy visits,” they added.

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  • Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia May Lower Risk Of Postpartum Depression: Study

    Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia May Lower Risk Of Postpartum Depression: Study

    Good sleep is essential for mental well-being of every human being. While it is difficult to ensure good sleep during pregnancy, getting behavioral therapy for insomnia could not only solve sleep issues, but could even reduce the risk of postpartum depression, a recent study has revealed.

    Postpartum depression is a mental health condition that affects around 10% of women after giving birth. The symptoms include severe mood disorder, constant fatigue, difficulty sleeping at night with daytime drowsiness, difficulty caring for oneself or the baby, withdrawal from social contact, trouble concentrating and making decisions, and distressing thoughts, such as fears of harming the baby.

    The patients are recommended to get sleep, rest, and exercise, and seek therapy or medications for relief, depending on the severity of the symptoms.

    According to the latest study published in the Journal Of Affective Disorders, getting cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) may serve as a protective factor against postpartum depression.

    “Early intervention is crucial for infant and parental mental health. Our research explores how addressing sleep problems like insomnia can lead to better mental health outcomes for families, helping parents and their children thrive,” said Dr. Elizabeth Keys, the study’s co-author, in a news release.

    The therapy starts by identifying a patient’s thoughts, behaviors, and sleep patterns that contribute to insomnia. Misconceptions or habits disrupting sleep are then challenged and reframed to enhance sleep quality.

    “CBTi is the gold standard for the treatment of insomnia and has consistently been shown to improve symptoms of depression. Its treatment effects are similar to antidepressant medications among adults, but with fewer side effects, and is therefore often preferred by pregnant individuals,” said Dr. Keys.

    During the trial, researchers evaluated 62 women with insomnia, who underwent a five-week CBT-I intervention specifically adapted for pregnancy. The participants’ insomnia and depression symptoms were tested before the intervention, immediately after, and again six months postpartum.

    The results revealed that there was a significant improvement in sleep among the participants and reduced depressive symptoms six months after postpartum.

    “These are enormously encouraging results for anyone who has struggled in those early weeks and months with their newborns. Our study adds to the growing evidence that treating insomnia during pregnancy is beneficial for various outcomes. It’s time to explore how we can make this treatment more accessible to pregnant individuals across the country to improve sleep health equity,” Dr. Keys added.

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  • Is Mindfulness a Treatment for Depression?

    Is Mindfulness a Treatment for Depression?

    Depression is a classic example of what’s referred to today as an invisible illness. When you’re depressed, you may find yourself expending precious energy just so you can appear to the world as if nothing at all is troubling you. 

    This “it’s-work-to-seem-fine” coping mechanism illustrates just one way in which depression complicates your life. Not only are you exhausting yourself pretending to be OK, you may find it hard to rally support from friends, family, and coworkers who only see how well you seem to be functioning. 

    While there is rapidly growing recognition of the very real difficulty and damage caused by depression, the stigma of past decades and centuries lingers. We often still hear the familiar notion that you can just “pull yourself together and get on with it,” as though keeping a “stiff upper lip” should be enough to defeat depression. But strong neurochemical, social, and environmental factors contribute to this very real, physical illness, and successful treatment requires more than maintaining an “upbeat attitude.”

    Depression Is a Chameleon 

    Our ability to recognize and effectively treat depression—which 1 in 14 people will experience in their lifetime—is complicated by the fact that it manifests differently in everyone affected, according to the National Institutes of Health. Anything—your age, your gender, or the stage of your depression—can change what the illness looks like for you, meaning it’s not necessarily simple to get a diagnosis, or even recognize symptoms of depression, whether in yourself or in other people.

    For women, depression is more likely to appear as sadness, worthlessness, and guilt. Hormonal and life cycle-related changes, as in postpartum depression, can make women more susceptible to developing the illness. In fact, women are statistically more likely than men to experience depression. 

    For men, depression often looks like exhaustion, irritability, and sleeping problems. They also lose interest in things they once enjoyed. Men are also more likely to turn to drugs and alcohol, experiment with reckless activity, or become intensely devoted to work in order to distract themselves from their illness.  

    For teens and tweens, depression can look like extended and severe periods of sulking, getting into trouble at school, prolonged irritability, and an intense feeling of being misunderstood. 

    These are by no means the only ways depression can appear. Some people experience short, intense periods of depression, while others feel it as an unmoving cloud over their awareness; for some, it’s linked to difficult life events, while for others it doesn’t go away even when their outward circumstances seem fine. 

    Should You Try Mindfulness for Depression?

    Various treatment options for depression exist, including drug regimens and talk therapies. However, the jury continues to be out on how effective antidepressants are for treating depression. A comprehensive 2018 study conducted by an international research team examined 522 studies, including 116,477 patients, to learn about the effectiveness of 21 antidepressant medications. The researchers discovered that, although nearly all of the drugs were more effective than placebos, their effects were still “modest” in most cases.

    Complicating treatment is the fact that depression is often a chronic condition that tends to relapse, even with medication and talk therapy. According to research, relapse rates range from 50% to as high as 80%.

    Interestingly, when mindfulness is added to the standard depression treatment protocols, relapse rates decline. But it’s unlikely that simply practicing basic mindfulness meditation will ease your depression symptoms. In fact, such an attempt could be supremely unhelpful, notes Julienne Bower, PhD, professor of health psychology at UCLA.

    She tells us that the research showing that mindfulness meditation improves symptoms of depression is, at best, vague. She also notes that it’s really hard to meditate on your own when you’re depressed.

    Zindel Segal, PhD, concurs. The Distinguished Professor of Psychology in Mood Disorders at the University of Toronto, Dr. Segal has pioneered the use of mindfulness meditation for promoting wellness in the area of mood disorders. He was also one of the team who developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a research-backed mindfulness protocol for depressive disorders.

    Chronic Unhappiness?

    “When we talk about depression, and where mindfulness is strong and less strong as a treatment, we have to know what type of depression you have,” says Segal.

    “Don’t consider mindfulness a treatment when you’re dealing with acute depression,” he advises. Depression “shuts down your concentration and disrupts your executive network ability,” which makes practicing mindfulness difficult, says Dr. Segal. Instead, for acute depression, consider seeing a mental health professional for treatment with antidepressants, cognitive behavior therapy, or both. Mindfulness can bolster those treatments, but not replace them.

    Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, however, was specifically designed to help people who are depressed or chronically unhappy. MBCT is a therapeutic protocol that combines cognitive therapy, which helps people interrupt the disturbing behavior or thought patterns that interfere with their lives, with mindfulness practices that help you learn to develop a healthier relationship to unhelpful thought patterns.

    “Our research looked at specific ways that MBCT helps people work with rumination and worry in ways that are more generous and compassionate,” says Dr. Segal. “This therapy helps you learn to ‘de-center’ and allows you to see your thoughts unfold moment to moment. It helps you to not listen to the messages that depression is sending you.”

    How MBCT Helps

    The goal of MBCT is to help you become familiar with the ways your mind and your thinking patterns contribute to depression, which helps you to develop a new relationship to your depression.

    According to Dr. Segal, many people describe leaving the MBCT training with these two major insights:

    1) Thoughts are not facts.

    2) Depression is not me.

    At first, these points may seem overly simplistic—but when we pay attention to how we are thinking and feeling, over time we become better at spotting the buildup of difficult emotions and thoughts. In that way, we can deal with them more skillfully, instead of just reacting in ways that might not be good for us.

    “Mindfulness practices—focusing on the breath and body, as well as mindful movement and developing greater mindful attention to everyday activities—help us learn to recognize the feelings and patterns of thinking that cause unhappiness,” says Willem Kuyken, PhD, the Ritblat Professor of Mindfulness and Psychological Science at the University of Oxford.  “We learn that thoughts are just thoughts. They are not facts, and we can choose whether to give them power over our minds and hearts. In time they can even help us savor and enjoy all the things that give us pleasure and a sense of accomplishment,” adds Kuyken.

    When it comes to depression that relapses after treatment, he suggests that MBCT has proven to be particularly helpful, if you adhere to the program. The program consists of eight weeks of classes, as well as at-home practices you do on your own for about an hour a day. “Many people [with depression] are trying to turn around very long-standing and ingrained habits of thinking and behaving, and that will take time and effort,” says Dr. Kuyken. He notes that a recent study by Dr. Segal showed that the more a person practices MBCT over time, the greater the benefits for easing depression.

    To find a therapist who has been trained and certified in practicing MBCT, visit accessmbct.com

    If You Need Help

    If you or someone you care for is having suicidal thoughts, these helplines in the US, Canada, and UK offer free, confidential prevention, crisis resources, and support 24/7/365.

    US: Dial 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
    988lifeline.org

    Canada: Dial 988 to reach the Suicide Crisis Helpline.
    988.ca

    UK: Dial 116-123 to reach Samaritans.
    samaritans.org

    This article was first published in the April 2020 issue of Mindful magazine.

    The Ultimate Guide to Mindfulness for Sleep 

    Sufficient sleep heals our bodies and minds, but for many reasons sleep doesn’t always come easily. Mindfulness practices and habits can help us fall asleep and stay asleep. Consult our guide to find tips for meditation, movement, and mindfulness practices to ease into sleep. Read More 

    • Mindful Staff
    • July 13, 2023



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  • Childhood Fitness Linked To Lower Stress And Depression In Teen Years

    Childhood Fitness Linked To Lower Stress And Depression In Teen Years

    Encourage your child to stay active. Swapping tablets for running shoes can make a real difference to their mental well-being. A recent study revealed that maintaining good physical fitness from childhood to adolescence is associated with reduced stress and depression during the teenage years.

    Mental health in adolescence is becoming an increasing concern, with more teenagers facing challenges like depression, stress, and anxiety. It is estimated to affect around 25%–30% of young people.

    The new study published in Sports Medicine emphasizes the importance of stepping away from screens and encouraging physical activity.

    To explore the connection between childhood fitness and adolescent mental health, researchers followed up with 241 participants over eight years. Their findings reveal that better cardiorespiratory fitness and improvements in physical activity during this time were linked to reduced symptoms of stress and depression in the teenage years.

    The researchers also noted that better motor fitness, including skills like agility, coordination, and balance during childhood, was linked to improved cognitive abilities and reduced stress and depression in adolescence. However, the connection between motor fitness and depression was not as strong as the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and depression.

    “Our findings highlight the importance of assessing several indices of physical fitness to quantify its role in cognition and mental health in research among children and adolescents. These results also suggest that promoting a variety of physical activities and reducing recreational screen time, thereby improving physical fitness, should be used as one option to improve cognition and mental health in youth,” the researchers wrote in the study.

    The researchers also noted that screen time during adolescence played a role in understanding how cardiorespiratory fitness and motor fitness affected mental health.

    “Our results should encourage policymakers as well as parents and guardians to see the significance of physical fitness more holistically, as poor physical fitness can increase mental health challenges and impair cognitive skills needed for learning,” said Eero Haapala, study author in a news release.

    “The whole of society should support physical fitness development in children and adolescents by increasing physical activity participation at school, during leisure time, and in hobbies,” Haapala added.

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