To our knowledge, the current study is the first report to demonstrate a potential effect of these psychosocial interventions on telomere length (TL) among distressed breast cancer survivors.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.29063/full
(Because of browser and firewall issues, this link may not work. The paper is attached in PDF format.)
My impression of this paper in two words: seriously cool. Continue reading
An estimated 11% of adolescents have an episode of depression by age 18 (Merikangas et al. 2010) and depressed youth are at greater risk of suicidality (Hawton, Saunders & O’Connor 2012), physical health problems including obesity (Goodman & Whitaker 2002), and high-risk behaviors (Armstrong & Costello 2002). However, only 60% of depressed adolescents receive treatment (Costello et al. 2014).
(Because of firewall issues, this link may not work. The article follows.)
With that strong introduction, a recent blog posting on The Mental Elf summarizes a major new JAMA paper on collaborative care for adolescents with depression. Continue reading
I have plenty of acquaintances, and a couple hundred ‘friends’ on Facebook. But real friends, mostly family, I can count on one hand. For me, making friends is like climbing a vertical rock wall with no ropes, requiring a degree of thrill-seeking, and a good deal of risk.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/living-with-schizophrenia-coffee-and-friends/
(Because of firewall issues, this link may not work. The article follows.)
This short New York Times essay describes the burden of living with Schizophrenia. Though just over 1,000 words, I think it explains the challenges of severe, persistent mental illness better than whole books written on the topic. Continue reading
By the 1880s, there were 75 psychiatric hospitals in the United States, and a survey estimated that less than 1% of prisoners had mental illness. For the next 90 years, it was widely accepted in the United States that people with mental illness belonged in hospitals rather than prisons.
Then it all came undone.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=1911272
(Because of firewall issues, this link may not work. A PDF version of this article is attached.)
In this editorial in the current issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina’s Dr. David Rubinow considers the unintended consequences of de-institutionalization, the decades long push for the mentally ill to be moved out of hospitals and into the community – and often into the forensic system. Continue reading
I attended the funeral, albeit awkwardly. I told myself not to feel defensive. I could learn from this, but that didn’t make it right. I didn’t recover for a very long while.
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2014/10/03/a_patients_suicide_a_doctors_devastation.html
(Because of browser and firewall issues, this link may not work. The article follows.)
Dr. Paul Garfinkel has had a storied career — psychiatrist, prolific researcher, administrator. There’s even a street named after him in downtown Toronto.
He can now add to the resume: published author of a moving and thoughtful memoir. Continue reading
In Canada, we need to stop thinking of depression as a Cinderella disease — as deserving as its stepsisters, but neglected nonetheless.
http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2014/09/29/cmaj.141128.full.pdf+html Continue reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/opinion/sunday/should-we-all-take-a-bit-of-lithium.html?_r=1
(Because of browser and firewall issues, this link may not work. The article follows.)
Should We All Take a Bit of Lithium? So asks Dr. Fels in this provocative and clever New York Times essay.
This we know: Lithium is an incredible mood stabilizer for people with Bipolar Affective Disorder. Lithium has anti-suicidal properties; Lithium slows cell apoptosis (programmed cell death) in the brain; Lithium works as an antidepressant. As Dr. Fels notes: “its efficacy in mood disorders and suicide prevention has been documented as well as or better than virtually any other psychotropic medication.”
So… should we all be taking it? Continue reading
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/home-free
Psychiatric patients often have problems beyond their core psychiatric issues. For people with severe, persistent mental illness, homelessness may be among them.
http://www.cmaj.ca/site/earlyreleases/9sept14_suicide-report-indicates-shift-at-WHO.xhtml
Yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day.
The Reading of the Week, an article from CMAJ, touches on this topic and discusses the recently released WHO report, “Preventing Suicide: A global imperative.”
The WHO report finds:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/28/cancer-depression-huge-treatment-effect-new-programme
How common is depression in cancer patients? Is it treatable?
Capping off an incredible effort, a series of papers was just published by the Lancet, the Lancet Oncology and the Lancet Psychiatry — 3 of the biggest journals in medicine.
Covering 21,000 patients with depression and cancer, the papers have important findings:
1. 73% of patients with depression and cancer go untreated for their mood disorder.
2. Depression is common in patients with cancer; depending on the type of cancer, 3 to 6.5 times more common than in the general population at a point in time.
3. And in smaller trials, cancer patients respond robustly to nurse-led, multi-modality treatment — even patients with poor (cancer) prognosis.
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