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Showing posts with the label depression

Genes Cause You to be Happy or Depressed

Your general outlook of is genetically linked, Whether you suffer from depression or are happy. Depression can be an inherited trait. Research has shown this to be the case, so could a happy personality also be genetic? Of course, it will have not effect on creativity. Many high achievers through history has suffered from dark periods in their lives. It could be said that perpetually happy people have nothing to strive for and are less likely to leave their mark, unless they have careers as comedians. Happy people do seem to have certain genes, however. Three gene variants are linked to a happy outlook, while two are causative factors for depression. A whopping 11 variants are responsible for neuroticism. If you are a pain in the .... to everyone else it could be those dozen or so genes - there is bound to be another gene in there somewhere. The above findings were identified in a major study involving 3,000 participants. It was concluded that genetic causation was weak.

Electrostimulation of the Brain Could Treat Elipepsy

It has been shown that elecrostimulation of one side of the brain can numb it and allow the other side, the creative part, to take over and temporally improve artistic skills. The sketching of animals by participants got much, much better. There is hope that treatments for brain disorders will be discovered. A project by Australian and French researchers has applied sequential electromagnetic pulses (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation - or rTMS) to mice. Abnormal brain connections were corrected by this process. Epilepsy, depression and tinnitus are caused by abnormal brain connections. Low-intensity repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LI-rTMS) had a positive result on mice born with abnormal organization of the brain. Permanent implants to human brains could improve life for many patients who have continuous episodes of brain maladies. The electrostimulation changes brain chemistry. A specific chemical spreads across large areas of the brain.

No Improvement in Mental Health

After a great deal of research we still do not know what mental illness is and what causes it.  There seems to be only general ways of categorizing individuals suffering mental problems.  Each person's illness tends to be unique.  Some people are on extremely high levels of medication.  Indeed, many have to rotate medications because the drugs lose their effectiveness. It is no wonder spending on the treatment of mental illness has not increased in the last twenty years.  Reforms carried out have not improved matters at all.  When sufferers attempt suicide they are kept in the mental health section of public hospitals, given medication and sent on their way a day or so later.  There is usually a little talk with them, but they are thrown out to deal with life's problems, alone. Nearly half of Australia will have mental problems at some time in their lives.  This is a frightening statistic.  Furthermore, there is discrimination.  In OECD countries Australia is near the

Study Shows Optimistic Cancer Sufferers Live Longer - Or Does It?

Treating the effect as the cause is wasting valuable time in finding a cure for cancer. A Study found that depressed people lived shorter lives when they had cancer. Depression per se and lack of hope, optimism and anxiety were tested. Those suffering from these "attributes" didn't live as long as "optimists" who were also cancer sufferers. A great leap of faith was made to claim that mood sufferers did not seek second opinions on cancer. Note that this was not proven it was just surmised. Overall findings were that optimism did not lead to better survival in people with cancer. Well this is game. set and match. You can't have it both ways. Either being optimistic improves survival or it doesn't. There is no doubt that psychological treatment improves the well being of cancer patients, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and say optimistic cancer sufferers live longer. A great deal of money is set aside for medical research. We have to be caref

Those in Developing Countries Suffer More Depression

Only Western people get depressed due to their fast way of living - right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Those in developing countries are also stressed as they struggle to survive. While Westerners do not have to worry too much about securing food, getting adequate sustenance for themselves and families is in many cases the main priority for the Third World population. An examination of depression in developing countries by the University of Queensland on 480,000 subjects highlights this disturbing finding. People in Third World nations just do not go to doctors for treatment. The survey in 91 countries shows that stress is common across the board. There is a fine line between depression and stress. Many would say they are the same thing. Anxiety was found to be higher in the USA with depression there being the lowest. Examining depression specifically, developing countries had more than twice the rate of the US - 9 per cent. Political and military conflict was the main

Magic Mushrooms Could Be Beneficial for Mental Health

Shamans of Central and South America used "magic" mushrooms when they supposedly took a journey into the life beyond. In this zone they made claims of being able to forecast the future. A test was done by the American Dr Andrija Puharich who held hands with a shaman as they took the mushroom together. Puharich reported that he and the shaman went down spiral stairs into the underworld. In other words they actually shared a mystical trance state. If this really occurred it means that people do not lead separate lives from each other. One person can drift into ecstasy when they take a drug, but two people? That puts a different perspective on things. Psilocybin, the chemical in magic mushrooms, was thought to excite the brain but new findings show the chemical reduces brain activity by suppressing neural firing in communication hubs, while at the same time stimulating the frontal cortex. Shamans and witchdoctors have taken drugs from plants they collected to give