 
Perfect Pots, which is run by students at the Holbrook Centre for Autism, has been given a prestigious social enterprise award for the Best Social Enterprise in a School.
The project was chosen for the way it has inspired students and made a positive contribution to the community.
Students beat off competition from two other shortlisted schools before being presented with the award in a special ceremony run by the Social Enterprise Coalition in London on Thursday.
The annual awards scheme recognises successful social enterprises around the UK.
Perfect Pots, which provides filled plant pots and hanging baskets, has been running as part of the charity Holbrook Opportunities for Placement and Employment (HOPE), which aims to provide students with work experience to equip them with employable skills when they leave the school at 19.
The charity’s managing director, Caroline Bell, who is also the deputy head of the school, said: “All of us are thrilled by this award, and really pleased to have been recognised on a national level.
“Working in a social enterprise has already made a huge difference to young people with autism and learning disabilities at the centre.
“It has helped them to believe in themselves and to better understand their abilities, as well as to cope with the challenges they face.”
Social enterprises are businesses run for social purposes.
Perfect Pots lets students at the school take part in all aspects of the business, from planting and designing the pots to overseeing the accounts.
The products have been distributed to local businesses and organisations, including Belper Town Council.
Dylan Nolan, one of the students involved in the project, said: “I like working for Perfect Pots because I am good at it and I like earning money.”
Source: Â http://www.belpernews.co.uk/news/National-prize-for-autistic-students.5892929.jp
By Stephanie Pappas
Stanford University School of Medicine
Scrambled connections between the part of the brain that processes fear and emotion and other brain regions could be the hallmark of a common anxiety disorder, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings could help researchers identify biological differences between types of anxiety disorders as well as such disorders as depression.
The study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, examined the brains of people with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, a psychiatric condition in which patients spend their days in a haze of worry over everyday concerns. Researchers have known that the amygdala, a pair of almond-sized bundles of nerve fibers in the middle of the brain that help process emotion, memory and fear, are involved in anxiety disorders like GAD. But the Stanford study is the first to peer close enough to detect neural pathways going to and from subsections of this tiny brain region.
Such small-scale observations are important for understanding the brains of people with psychiatric disorders, said Duke University neuroscientist Kevin LaBar, PhD, who was not involved in the research. “If we want to distinguish GAD from other anxiety disorders, we might have to look at these subregions instead of the general signal from this area,” he said. “It’s methodologically really impressive.“
To get close enough to discern one region of the amygdala from another, Stanford psychiatry resident Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, and his colleagues focused on “regions of interest” defined by detailed anatomical studies of human brains. They recruited 16 people with GAD and 17 psychologically healthy participants and scanned their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures blood-flow fluctuations caused by changes in activity in different regions of the brain. Each person spent eight minutes in the fMRI scanner, letting their minds wander.
The researchers analyzed the resulting data to determine which areas were connected – that is, which regions were likely to activate in tandem. They first looked at one subregion, the basolateral amygdala, which sits at the base of the amygdala. In healthy participants, they found that the subregion was linked to the occipital lobe at the rear of the brain, the temporal lobes beneath the ears and the prefrontal cortex just behind the forehead. These regions are associated with visual and auditory processing, as well as with memory and high-level emotional and cognitive functions.
The other subregion, known as the centromedial amygdala and found at the top of the amygdala, was associated with subcortical, or deeper, areas of the brain. These connections included the thalamus, which controls information flow throughout the brain and helps regulate alertness from its perch in the midbrain; the brain stem, which regulates heart rate, breathing and release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine; and the densely wrinkled cerebellum, which sits behind the brain stem and controls motor coordination. The associations corroborated what anatomical studies in animals have found, said Etkin, the lead author of the study. The team also analyzed resting fMRI data from 31 more healthy people and found similar results.
But in people with GAD, the scans revealed another pattern. The two regions still sent emissaries to their separate targets, but the lines of communication were muddled.
“The basolateral amygdala was less connected with all of its targets and more connected with centromedial targets,” Etkin said. “And the centromedial was less connected with its normal targets and more connected with the basolateral targets.“
The researchers also found that both amygdala regions had less connectivity to the region of the brain responsible for determining the importance of stimuli. This could mean that people with the disorder have a harder time discerning truly worrisome situations from mild annoyances. At the same time, the amygdala was more connected to a cortical executive-control network previously found to exert cognitive control over emotion.
The cognitive control connection might explain why GAD is characterized by obsessive worry, Etkin said. People with the disorder feel overwhelmed by emotion and don’t believe they can feel sad or upset without coming completely undone. So, in an attempt to avoid facing their unpleasant feelings, they distract themselves by fretting. Such overthinking may work in the short term but becomes problematic over time.
Researchers can’t say for sure whether the connectivity abnormalities came first or whether excessive worrying shaped the brain by reinforcing particular neural pathways. Still, the patterns uncovered by neurological scans could one day help psychiatrists diagnose and treat the disease.
“This is a nice example of neurology and psychiatry joining forces,” said Michael Greicius, MD, assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford and senior author of the paper.
The next step, said Etkin, is to study patients with other anxiety disorders and with depression. That will allow researchers to see if patterns of amygdala connectivity differ between disorders. If they do, brain scans could one day become additional diagnostic tools for disorders with symptoms that often overlap.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the residency-research program of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.
Etkin A, Katherine E. Prater KE, Schatzberg AF, et al. Disrupted Amygdalar Subregion Functional Connectivity and Evidence of a Compensatory Network in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(12):1361-1372 Â [Abstract]
 
Andrew A. Nelles / for msnbc.com  Ron Brix, a retired computer systems developer for Wrigley who has Asperger Syndrome, is on the board of Aspiritech, a company that trains high-functioning autistic people to work as testers for software companies. He works on homework for a class on Java programing at his Westmont, Ill., home.
A new movement helps hone unique traits of disorder into valuable skills
Ron Brix’s longtime job as a computer systems developer for Wrigley, the gum and candy maker, required intense attention to detail, single-minded focus and a willingness to work on something repetitively until perfect.
The secret he credits to his success? Autism.
Brix, age 54, was diagnosed in 2001 with Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism often marked by the exact traits that help make him an ideal employee.
The developmental condition, which strikes about 1 in 150 U.S. children, is considered a “spectrum disorder” because it affects people in many different ways to varying degrees, from mild social troubles to a severe inability to communicate.
It’s often seen as a heartbreaking diagnosis, but now some revolutionary companies see autism as something else: a resource.
A quiet movement is growing around the globe to help transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autistic adults into sought-after job skills.
In Denmark, the company Specialisterne (the name means “the specialists”), trains people with autism as specially skilled employees who are sent out as hourly consultants to companies to do data entry, assembly work and other jobs that many workers would find tedious and repetitive. Founded in 2004 by businessman Thorkil Sonne, the father of an autistic son, the company has 50 employees, 75 percent of whom are autistic.
In the United States, the non-profit Chicago company Aspiritech recently launched a pilot program to train high-functioning autistics as testers for software development companies. Their first client is mFluent, an iPhone application company near Chicago.
Aspiritech — whose board includes Brix, now retired from Wrigley, and the actor Ed Asner, whose son Charles is autistic — claims those who are autistic have a talent for spotting imperfections, and thrive on predictable, monotonous work.
Brix says his ability to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else gives him an advantage. And Specialisterne says tests show their employees can be up to eight times more accurate at tasks like manual data entry than workers without autism.
“The stuff we do is boring for [others], like going through a program looking at every detail, testing the same function over and over again in different situations, but it doesn’t disturb those of us with autism,” says Thomas Jacobsen, an autistic employee at Specialisterne. “That’s our strength.”
Still, software testing isn’t simply a repetitive exercise, notes Dan Shiovitz of Marchex, a software company in Seattle that specializes in online search and advertising. While traits of “detail focus, willingness to repeat tasks and technical aptitude are ones we look for in testers, testing has a lot of creative work,” he notes. Testers need to be able to figure out possible solutions to problems and be agile enough to change plans at the last minute or deal with sudden new requirements.
These were challenges to Brix in his job programming machines that mix ingredients and wrap gum. A large part of his job involved the human factor, such as designing the interactive screens that operators use to run the machinery. Brix also did on-site set-up, which meant travelling to Wrigley’s international locations, meeting new people and functioning in new cultures.
At Wrigley, Brix’s longtime colleague Rod Onusaitis helped him navigate his social interactions.
“We got along well,” says Onusaitis, an engineer. “I knew what his problems were and I was able to guide him in the right direction to complete his tasks. He was very detailed oriented and a good programmer, but sometimes overlooked the big picture.”
Next generation of autistic adults
Each year, over 26,000 children born in the U.S. will eventually be diagnosed with autism, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated half-million people under the age of 21 are autistic, and Specialisterne estimates that 85 percent of them can expect to be unemployed or underemployed.
Aspiritech founder Brenda Weitzberg has a 30-year-old autistic son who, in spite of having a college degree, has been limited by his social skills to jobs like collecting carts for a grocery store.
“I am a friendly guy, and my co-workers like me,” says Oran Weitzberg, “however, I have limited social skills and autism does make finding and keeping a job difficult. I have trouble interpreting nonverbal signals from others, and I had to learn to converse in order to be a good co-worker.”
He says his retail work at Target, Trader Joe’s and AMC Theatres has helped him learn to interact with others.
Both Brenda and Oran Weitzberg say he struggles with poor organizational skills. “He needs an executive secretary,” says Brenda Weitzberg. “But I know a lot of men like that.” She says seeing her son’s struggles inspired her to try to “address the explosion of children with autism who are becoming adults.”
Brix also admits to difficulty in multi-tasking and organizing, in addition to his poor social skills. “I tend to be distant and aloof,” he says. “I do not do a good job at reading facial expressions, and I do like my solitude.”
As the numbers of those with autism are on the rise, so is an understanding of the disorder, both in society and in the workplace. Anthropologist Dawn Prince, of Bellingham, Wash., has written books about using her Asperger syndrome as a prism for her work on gorillas. She applies her obsession for learning to understanding their social interactions.
Animal behavior expert Temple Grandin, who is autistic, says her says her intense attention to detail was an asset in designing effective cattle containment systems that are now widely used. Grandin, who will be portrayed by Claire Danes in an HBO biopic scheduled to air in early 2010, advocates for employing autistics.
“Society loses out if individuals with autism spectrum disorders are not involved in the world of work, or make other kinds of contributions to society,” she wrote in her book “Developing Talents.”
Unique challenges
Brenda Weitzberg is realistic about the challenges, though. Aspiritech is currently running on donations and volunteers, and is seeking grants, investors and more company contracts. A pilot program trained three software testers, including Oran Weitzberg, who is now teaching others. Aspiritech is now interviewing candidates for the next training round.
At Specialisterne, the company in Denmark that trains and employees people with autism, founder Sonne says, “I think there’s a huge opportunity for people who want to run businesses based on freeing the resources of people with autism.”
To start Specialisterne, Sonne quit his job in information technology and communications and took out a second mortgage on the family home. Last year, the company made a small profit. Their clients include the toy company LEGO and Microsoft. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC.)
Potential employees go through months of screening and training before they are sent as hourly consultants to clients who must understand that the specialists will work only part-time, and they cannot work in a chaotic environment with more than a few other people in the room. In return, Specialisterne assumes much more responsibility for their employees than most companies, with learning experts and social workers on staff.
Read in Full:Â http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34047713/ns/health-mental_health/
 
November 20, 2009 5:38 PM, by Dave MungerÂ
We received an astonishing number of responses to last week’s Casual Fridays study, which claimed to be able to identify what makes a good writer in just a few minutes.
Of course, I wasn’t actually very confident that a brief survey could actually identify the factors that make a good writer. But I did have a hunch that there were certain traits that were more likely to be associated with good writing.
Was there a trick to the study?
Some respondents had a hunch that writing wasn’t the only thing we were interested in. You were right — we were also studying a completely unrelated phenomenon — more on that later.
But we did want to know about your writing as well, so let’s start with that. The study asked a few questions about writing ability: how much writing you do for work/study, how easy writing comes to you, whether you’ve been published, and so on. Then there was a surprise writing test: 3 minutes to write as much as you can on any topic, to be judged for coherence but not content. Finally, a few more questions.
This week’s study asked more of our readers than we usually do, so we expected that we wouldn’t get as many responses as usual. We were wrong about that: over 1,400 responded to the survey, and over 800 wrote an essay response. The average response length was 133 words — quite impressive for a three-minute time limit!
Many of the essays were skeptical that any human would actually read them, but I read every single one. I wanted to get a rough sense of the quality of the essays, so I assigned each a “grade.” To get an A, you had to be coherent for the entire essay, and not switch topics. Just writing complete sentences and only switching topics once or twice earned a B. A semi-random string of sentences earned a C. Incoherent drivel got a D, or in rare cases, an F. These were converted to a 4-point grade scale (where A=4 and F=0). This graph shows the distribution of grades:
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As you can see, B was by far the most common grade, with very few Ds and Fs. There were some great little stories, including several I wish the writers had had time to finish. Lots about babies and cats. But did the questions we asked shed any light on what makes a good writer?
 
Our friends electric … Gary Numan and Little Boots. Photograph: Sarah Lee
Paul Lester
guardian.co.uk 3 December 2009 21.35 GMT
He arrived in 1979, bringing synthpop to the masses. She is part of the bold new wave reinventing the genre for the 21st century. So what happened when Gary Numan met Little Boots?
As far as Little Boots is concerned, only one thing happens at this recording studio in north London. “This is where I hang out with 80s legends,” she laughs. Earlier this year, she recorded a track called Symmetry, from her top five album Hands, with Phil Oakey of the Human League in this very room. And today she is going to be rehearsing here for a BBC 6 Music session with Gary Numan, synthpop’s prince of darkness, a man who 30 years ago was one of the most adored pop stars in Britain, even if the music press treated him more as a figure of mirth than menace.
His head full of Philip K Dick and JG Ballard, Numan was, to say the least, a different kind of pop star. He wore boiler suits, painted his face white and lined his eyes kohl-black; he coldly intoned songs about machines programmed to rape (Down in the Park), robot prostitutes (Are ‘Friends’ Electric?) and sci-fi ultraviolence (Cars) over icy keyboard patterns. Virtually unimaginable in this Simon Cowell age, his dystopian visions and songs of alienation connected in a big way with the British public, making him the strangest of teen sensations and the biggest solo artist in that period between punk and the arrival of the new romantics.
Little Boots and Numan have yet to meet, so Blackpool’s pop princess is a bit nervous. “He’s got such an aura,” she says. “You don’t quite know what to expect. His whole aesthetic is quite uncomfortable yet somehow enjoyable. There’s something really uneasy about it, a dark, unsettling vibe, that I really like.”
Read in Full:Â http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/03/gary-numan-little-boots-feature
 
Article Date: 04 Dec 2009 – 1:00 PST
The National Autistic Society (NAS) has today criticised the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report for ignoring the many thousands of people with autism, in their first assessment of the state of adult social care in England.
NAS director of communications and public affairs, Benet Middleton, said;
“We are extremely frustrated and disappointed that the performance of autism services has not been measured within this report.
With almost two thirds of adults with autism telling us they do not have enough support to meet their needs we know that thousands simply are not able to enjoy the same rights, freedoms or quality of life as the rest of society.
Assessments such as this are hugely important in driving an improvement in the quality of services and yet again people with autism have been overlooked.
The Government’s adult autism strategy, due next spring, presents one of the best opportunities we have ever had to tackle the routine inequality experienced by people with this serious, lifelong and disabling condition. The CQC must specifically report on autism services so we can see whether the strategy is working and crack down on those who are performing badly.”
The CQC is working in a number of areas to improve adult social care. The NAS looks forward to working together with the CQC to ensure that services for people with autism reach the standard that they need and deserve.
The CQC’s assessment of social care services for adults includes measuring their performance against seven outcomes set by the Government. These are improved health and emotional well being, improved quality of life, making a positive contribution, choice and control, freedom from discrimination, economic well being and personal dignity. It is evident from NAS research that for most adults with autism these remain a wish list.
– 63% do not have enough support to meet their needs
– 1 in 3 are experiencing serious mental health difficulties due to a lack of help
– 72% would like to spend more time in the company of other people
– Only 15% are in full time paid employment
– 56% have been bullied or harassed in adult life*
*Statistics from the NAS I Exist campaign based on a survey of 1,412 adults with autism in England published in 2008
– Autism (including Asperger syndrome) is a lifelong developmental disability. It is a spectrum condition occurring in varying degrees of severity. Over 500,000 people have autism in the UK today and over 2 million people are affected by the disability. It is characterised by a triad of impairments: difficulties forming social relationships, problems with verbal and non-verbal communication and the development of strong narrow obsessional interests.
Source
The National Autistic Society
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172940.php
10 Types of Female Friends
December 1, 2009
Awhile back I wrote about the four kinds of friends you need in your life to become more resilient. Now let’s talk about the kind of friends you actually have! Or at least the 10 types of female friends described by author Susan Shapiro Barash in her new book, Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. (I promise to follow up with one for the guys, okay?).
For her book, Shapiro interviewed 200 women of assorted backgrounds and ages, and asked them all kinds of nosy questions about their friends. The result is a labyrinth of 10 types of female friendships. I have excerpted the following descriptions from her book:
1. The Leader
The leader is the friend we feel we must have, the one who can make or break our social lives. Being the leader renders one a “winnerâ€â€“she is strong and outspoken; she understands her potency. She is the one who gets us invited to parties and makes the decisions for herself and for her friends.
2. The Doormat
The doormat is a martyr, and the position she takes among her friends is obvious: She isn’t one to make her demands known and rarely questions anything. She is useful when any friend, in any category, is in a bad way–the doormat absorbs her sorrows willingly. The doormat yearns to belong to a group, and also seeks out intimate friendships. To this end, she isn’t critical and won’t give you a hard time.
3. The Sacrificer
The sacrificer is the one who takes the leap for her friends, and in tough times, we lean on this person, who will answer her phone in the dead of night to console you. The sacrificer’s search for closeness is often what motivates her, and she is confident that she can handle a friend’s expectations. When a sacrificer discovers that her friends are less dedicated than she, she can be very disappointed.
4. The Misery Lover
Enough women describe their misery lover as a friend who cares more about your bad news than your good news. These friends rally when a crisis hits and are even able to make a small incident into a bigger problem, at times. Although we find this friend consoling when the chips are down–if you’ve gained weight or lost your job, had a fight with your sister or mother, begun divorce proceedings, or are suffering along with an unhappy child–when the situation improves, she distances herself.
5. The User
The user stands alone in how every step she takes is purposeful and deliberate….This friend can be enticing and charismatic and knows how to wheedle her way into one’s life and firmly entrench herself. She also has a hidden agenda and, to this end, considers what is best for her. The conflict is that she’s very appealing; there is a sense that the friendship is attractive enough to keep it intact, as frustrating as it can be.
6. The Frenemy
The frenemy is the dark side of the user, with manipulation an underlying factor in these negative relationships. Many times her act is refined, unlike that of blatant enemies on the schoolyard during our grade school days…..Although it is apparent why and when one should walk away from this kind of friend, cultural messages, oddly enough, ramp up our view of frenemies. This gives tacit approval for the emotions and passive-aggressive behaviors that accompany the relationship.
7. The Trophy Friend
The trophy friend is out for the conquest of making you her friend. To this end, you elevate her to a new level and she, in turn, offers you something you don’t already have. This friend is capable of seduction; she discovers you, and it is thrilling to be together….The trophy friend is savvy about intimacy and passion but falls short on commitment.
8. The Mirroring Friend
The mirroring friend has an identity that resonates with our own. So we are drawn to her, even if we aren’t the same exact kind of friend ourselves; it is the mirroring aspect of the equation that makes it work. Our mirroring friends want to be with us in good times and bad with their matching joys and sorrows … and are able to provide great solace.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/12/01/the-10-types-of-female-friends/
Digital Solutions Developed to Support Divorced Families
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2009) — More than half of all marriages end in divorce, and the majority of these involve children, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Conflict between parents, before and after divorce, is associated with feelings of anger, helplessness, loneliness and guilt in children. Now, an online program created by University of Missouri researchers is teaching separated parents to maintain and nurture relationships with their children.
“There is a great need for effective online programs to support and educate separated parents,” said Larry Ganong, co-chair of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. “In many cases, parents who divorce also move apart, and relocation makes it difficult to attend court-mandated trainings or develop effective strategies for co-parenting. Children are often the ones who suffer when parents don’t take steps to minimize issues caused by separation.”
…
The MU researchers offer tips for separated and divorced parents:
- *Avoid criticizing the other parent and arguing in front of children.
- *Reassure children that conflict and divorce are not their fault.
- *Plan relaxing activities for kids to make transitions between households less stressful.
- *Establish consistent routines and responsibilities in each household.
- *Avoid using the child as a messenger — discuss parenting and financial issues directly.
- *Avoid asking questions about other parent, which can make children uncomfortable.
How To Apologize to a Woman
Although this blog is essentially devoted to the subject of divorce, every now and then I will discuss some aspect of marriage that leads to divorce and suggest ways to reduce the damage. Having mediated domestic disputes for thirty years it occurs to me that men and women regard apologies from very different perspectives. And simple as it may seem, these different views of apology are the source of extensive damage to many marriages. In short, most men don’t know how to apologize. In intimate relationships an effective apology can quickly heal an inadvertent injury. Similarly, an ineffective apology or the complete failure of an apology can cause an inadvertent injury to be experienced as a major wound to the relationship.
For women, apologizing is a way of reconnecting with someone whose feelings you have hurt, however inadvertently. When a woman gets feedback that something she has done or failed to do has left another feeling offended or injured, she is usually quick to apologize. A breach in the relationship is avoided and the relationship continues undisturbed. Neither the woman offering nor the woman receiving the apology regard it as unusual but rather see it as a routine aspect of relationships.
Apologies for men are very different. Men tend to view apologies as humiliating and a loss of face. Scholars of genderhumiliation have observed that for men, verbal communication is tied up with their concern for the way their status is perceived by others. Men are more conscious of the impact of what they say on how others perceive their power position or lack of power. So for a man to acknowledge that he has done something wrong often means that he feels diminished in the eyes of those who hear the apology. Thus a woman apologizes to maintain healthy relationships and feels no sense of loss. But a man apologizes and feels a sense of loss if not humiliation. The result of this difference is that men are reluctant to apologize and in many cases, do not know how to craft a sincere apology.
It is this lack of knowledge I seek to address here. Most of the women in the couples I see for divorce mediation complain that their marriages suffer from a terminal lack of intimacy. They report that their husbands are unable or unwilling to respond to their wives’ feelings and the husband’s tendency to stonewall when presented with a complaint leaves his wife feeling disconnected and alienated. It appears that in most modern marriages it is the woman who is angry at her mate more often than the reverse. Women express anger at their husband’s sins of commission as well as sins of omission. And the most common sin of omission is his failure to apologize when he has offended. So here is a brief tutorial for men on how to apologize.
DIRECTIONS FOR MEN:
NECESSARY ELEMENTS OF AN APOLOGY
There are six elements of a proper apology. If you do not want to waste your time you must include all six:
1. Acknowledge the Wrongful Act
You need to begin by saying ” I was wrong and I am sorry.” There are no substitutes for this admission. If you say something dumb like “I am sorry that you think I was wrong,” you might as well spare yourself and not bother. There is no getting around it. You were wrong so plead guilty and get on with it.
2. Acknowledge that You Have Hurt her Feelings.
Understand that your wrongful act has hurt her feelings and made her feel disconnected from you. You cannot reconnect without attending to the feelings piece. So you say “I was wrong and I am sorry that I have hurt your feelings” Once again, you cannot wimp out by fudging and saying ” I am sorry that your feelings are hurt” You have to connect your wrongful act to her hurt feelings.
3. Express Your Remorse
An expression of remorse and regret is the way you demonstrate your ability to feel an appropriate response to her hurt feelings. So you say, “I was wrong and I am sorry that I hurt your feelings and I feel terrible that I have done something that has hurt you.” (It will help here if you actually look remorseful)
4. State Your Intention Not to Repeat
This may be difficult particularly if you are a repeat offender but it is an expression of your acknowledgement of your need to reform. “I know that I am sometimes insensitive to what you need but I am going to try my hardest not to do it again.” If you smirk at this juncture you’re going to have to go back and start all over.
5. Offer to Make Amends
If you don’t know what would help ask her. “What can I do to make it up to you?” The particular act of contrition may be negotiated but the important thing is to express your willingness to do something by way of compensation. Of course, once you commit to do something you need to do it lest you render the entire effort useless.
6. Seek Forgiveness
Read in Full:Â http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/divorce-grownups/200903/how-apologize-woman-o
The Big 5 Model of Personality
If you’ve taken a college psychology course or have any interest in personality, you’ve more than likely come across the term “Big Five†personality dimensions or personality traits. These have been gathered through the result of decades’ worth of psychological research into personality. While they don’t capture the idiosyncrasies of everyone’s personality, it is a theoretical framework in which to understand general components of our personality that seem to be the most important in our social and interpersonal interactions with others.
Decades of research on personality has uncovered five broad dimensions of personality. These so-called Big Five dimensions are called:
- *Extraversion (your level of sociability and enthusiasm)
- *Agreeableness (your level of friendliness and kindness)
- *Conscientiousness (your level of organization and work ethic)
- *Emotional Stability (your level of calmness and tranquility)
- *Intellect (your level of creativity and curiosity)
A considerable amount of research suggests that personality is stable throughout life and associated with a range of important life outcomes, from academic and occupational success, to marital stability and physical health.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/10/the-big-5-model-of-personality/
Do Opposites Attract Or Do Birds Of A Feather Flock Together?
February 14, 2005 (From the Archives)
Do opposites attract or do birds of a feather flock together?
Results show that couples were highly similar on attitudes and values; however, they had little or no above-chance similarity on personality-related domains such as attachment, extraversion, conscientiousness and positive or negative emotions. There is no evidence that opposites attract. What is most intriguing is that when the researchers assessed marital quality and happiness, they found that personality similarity was related to marital satisfaction, but attitude similarity was not. […]
“However, once people are in a committed relationship, it is primarily personality similarity that influences marital happiness because being in a committed relationship entails regular interaction and requires extensive coordination in dealing with tasks, issues and problems of daily living. Whereas personality similarity is likely to facilitate this process, personality differences may result in more friction and conflict in daily life,†say the authors.
Reducing Marital Stress Through Communication
November 17, 2009
One heavily researched area within psychology is couples’ and marital communication. How a couple chooses to communicate — especially during a conflict — affects all sorts of things in the relationship: stress, relationship health, intimacy, even each person’s health. As Gouin et al. (2009) note in a summary of our existing research on this issue:
Individuals reporting lower marital satisfaction experienced more non-specific physical illness symptoms over a 4-year period than individuals with higher marital satisfaction. Among healthy women, lower marital satisfaction was also associated with a more rapid progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Furthermore, women who were initially dissatisfied in their marital relationship were more likely to develop metabolic syndrome over an 11-year period.
Among women hospitalized for an acute coronary event, those who reported moderate to severe marital strain at baseline were 3 times more likely to experience a recurrent coronary event during a 5-year follow-up, compared to women reporting less marital stress. Poor marital quality was also associated with a lower 3-year survival rate among end-stage renal disease patients, and a lower 8-year survival rate among congestive heart failure patients.
Collectively, these results from prospective observational studies provide evidence of an association between marital stress and negative health outcomes.
The latest research from Graham et al. (2009) shows that couples who are more considerate and rational during a fight release lower amounts of stress-related proteins. This suggests that rational communication between partners can ease the impact of marital conflict on the immune system.
Read in Full: Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/17/reducing-marital-stress-through-communication/
Wives Roles & Marital Satisfaction
At risk of sounding like a 1950s relationship guide, research out of Iowa State University is making an interesting claim: to achieve high satisfaction in your marriage, let the woman have her way in matters of the relationship. The authors found that women had more intensity for events within the marital relationship, and that women that had male partners who provided more positive feedback and understanding of their concerns were more likely to have satisfying relationships.
My view is slightly more nuanced than the misleading but eye-catching headline “Key to marital happiness? Let the wife have her wayâ€. Essentially, I think that simple acknowledgement of concerns and understanding facilitates better communication, problem solving, and balance of power in a relationship. Men who are able to engage at an intimate emotional level with their wives (obviously just rolling with the stereotypes, but certainly these roles could be reversed) will have a greater level of closeness that would increase satisfaction. Simply letting someone have his/her way would be destructive in the long run and lead to resentment or disengagement.
Source: Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/07/08/wives-roles-marital-satisfaction/
The State of the American Woman
November 16, 2009
About a month ago, Time Magazine published the results of a landmark survey gauging where America stands on the battle of the sexes. The results show that women are much more powerful than they were 40 years ago. In the 60s, one-third of all workers were woman. Now half are. Almost 40 percent of women are the primary breadwinners or are contributing substantial income for the household budget. And according to a Mediamark Research & Intelligence survey, women make 75 percent of the buying decisions in the home. You know the telemarketer who asked for the decision-maker of the house? Apparently it’s the wife.
Women’s power extends to the academic world, as well. Author Nancy Gibbs explains in “Time†that half of Ivy League presidents are women, and the female dropout rate has been cut in half since the 70s. Also, the ratio of 60-40 of men and women on college campuses has reversed. Moreover, half of all law and medical degrees go to women.
But they are stressed, anxious, and not as happy.
Why?
According to the poll results, both men and women say that the government and businesses haven’t adjusted to the revolution and need to do more to help families manage it all. For example, 54 percent of women and 49 percent of men say businesses need to be more flexible with work hours and schedules; they also agreed that companies need to give more paid time off, better or more day-care options, and longer school days or longer school years.
But are women really less happy than they were back in the day we wore pearls with our aprons and greeting Dad at the door when he arrived home from work, the turkey roasting in the oven?
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/16/the-state-of-the-american-woman/
The world looks different if you’re depressed
by Jessica Hamzelou
DEPRESSION really does change the way you see the world. People with the condition find it easy to interpret large images or scenes, but struggle to “spot the difference” in fine detail. The finding hints at visual training as a possible treatment.
© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd
New Mental Treatment Improves Anxiety and Depression in Secondary Education Teachers
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2009) — A doctoral thesis carried out at the University of Granada has proved that a mental training based on mindfulness — an emotional self-regulating tool that consists in focusing on what we are doing, thinking about or feeling at every moment — helps to fight against psychological diseases such as anxiety, depression, concern or complaints about health, very common among secondary education teachers, and is very positive for emotional regulation.
This research work has analysed the psycho-physiological mechanisms related to the mindfulness, checking the effectiveness of a training programme that works as an emotional self-regulating tool. Mindfulness is a type of mental training increasingly popular in the U.S., based on the practice of self-awareness and in terms such as attention, awareness and the reference to a specific moment.
The work, developed by Luis Carlos Delgado Pastor and supervised by professor Jaime Vila Castellar, of the department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, has confirmed the effectiveness of training mindfulness abilities applying it to two different groups with defined features: a 20-girls sample with high-level concern and a group of 25 secondary education teachers.
Read in Full: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203091906.htm
Depression Meds Can Place Seniors At Risk
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on November 30, 2009
A new combined study of previously published research warns that older adults who take several types of medications — such as antidepressants or sedatives — are at greater risk to fall.
According to experts, more than 30 percent of individuals older than 65 will fall at least once a year. Sadly, falls and their complications are the fifth-leading cause of death in the developed world.
Each year, 85 percent of all injury-related hospital admissions and more than 40 percent of nursing home admissions are related to falls, and the annual costs related to falls and their complications are estimated to be in the billions of dollars worldwide.
Both internal and external risk factors contribute to falls, and medications have previously been implicated in the probability of falling and in the risk of sustaining a fracture.
John C. Woolcott, M.A., of University of British Columbia and Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences, Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 22 previously published studies conducted between 1996 and 2007.
The studies involved 79,081 participants older than 60 years and evaluated nine drug classes: antihypertensive agents; diuretics; beta-blockers; sedatives and hypnotics; neuroleptics and antipsychotics; antidepressants; benzodiazepines; narcotics; and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
When the data were pooled and results adjusted for other factors, the use of sedatives and hypnotics, antidepressants and benzodiazepines were significantly associated with the risk of falling in older adults.
“Given the divergent results shown by some observational assessments within specific medication classes, the results of our meta-analysis reiterate the need for caution when prescribing these medications to seniors,†the authors write.
Read in Full: http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/11/30/depression-meds-can-place-seniors-at-risk/9788.html
Teen Insecurity Linked To Depression, Pain Complaints
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on November 30, 2009
Canadian researchers believe teenage anxiety can lead to physical and mental health issues.
Researchers from the Université de Montréal, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and McGill University found that insecure adolescents experience more intense pain in the form of frequent headaches, abdominal pain and joint pain.
Moreover, these teens were more likely to be depressed than peers with secure attachments.
Researchers launched this study to build on previous findings that childhood experiences play a major role in the relationships people develop in later life.
Simply put: insecure infants grow up to be insecure adolescents, and later, insecure adults.
“Although previous studies in adults found that an individual’s security level was influenced by painful experiences, it was not clear why relationship security should be related to pain,†says Dr. Tremblay.
“We found that adolescents with insecure relationships tend to be more ‘alarmist’ about their pain symptoms; they have a tendency to amplify the degree of threat or severity of their pain. This amplification leads to more intense pain and more severe depressive symptoms.”
Some 382 students, from grades 8 through 12, were recruited for the study from a Francophone high school in Montreal, Canada. Participants were asked to fill questionnaires on the frequency and intensity of their emotional and physical pain.
“It is possible that individuals who have insecure relationships may perceive the world as more threatening or more stressful and that manifests in physical symptoms,†says Dr. Sullivan.
“Alternately, it is possible that individuals who feel insecure might ‘express’ more intense distress as a means of eliciting support from others in their social environment.”
Interpersonal factors must be considered when managing adolescent experiences of pain and depression, according to the researchers.
“Adolescents have different health and mental health needs than adults. Although interpersonal factors have not been considered integral components of the treatment of pain and depression in adults, these factors might need to be considered in the treatment of adolescents,†stresses Dr. Sullivan.
The study is published in the Journal of Pain.
Source: University of Montreal
Related News Articles
A Relentless Hope: Surviving the Storm of Teen Depression
Psychotherapy Can Boost Happiness More Than Money: Study
For well-being, a $1,300 round of treatment equals a $41,000 pay raise, researchers say
— Robert Preidt
Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) — Psychological therapy may be much more effective at making people happy than getting a raise or winning a lottery prize, suggests an English study.
Researchers analyzed data on thousands of people who provided information about their mental well-being and found that the increase in happiness from a $1,329 course of therapy was so significant that it would take a pay raise of more than $41,542 to achieve an equal boost in well-being.
That suggests that therapy could be as much as 32 times more cost-effective at improving well-being than simply getting more money, the researchers said.
The study was published online Nov. 18 in the journal Health Economics, Policy and Law.
“We have shown that psychological therapy could be much more cost effective than financial compensation at alleviating psychological distress,” said study author Chris Boyce, of the University of Warwick. “This is not only important in courts of law, where huge financial rewards are the default way in which pain and suffering are compensated, but has wider implications for public health and well-being.”
“Often the importance of money for improving our well-being and bringing greater happiness is vastly over-valued in our societies,” Boyce explained. “The benefits of having good mental health, on the other hand, are often not fully appreciated and people do not realize the powerful effect that psychological therapy, such as non-directive counseling, can have on improving our well-being.”
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about emotional health.
Source: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100250017
Physician Depression Associated with Medical Errors
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on November 24, 2009
A new study discovers burnout and depression are associated with medical errors by American surgeons.
The self-reported mistakes were human-error as opposed to systemic or organization causes.
In the confidential study, nearly 9 percent of U.S. surgeons responding said they made a major error in the three months prior to being surveyed.
Over 70 percent attributed the error to themselves rather than a general or institutional source.
Results showed the components of surgeon burnout – emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and perception personal accomplishments – were related to errors; as was surgeons’ “mental quality of life†including depression.
“These results suggest that a surgeon’s personal mental health including burnout may have an effect on quality of care,†says lead author Tait Shanafelt, M.D.
“Our aim is to encourage more research to find ways to reduce distress among surgeons and to provide better support when errors occur.†The authors say medical errors can haunt surgeons for years and contribute to distress.
Of the 7,905 surgeons participating in the survey, 8.9 percent or 700 reported making recent medical errors that they considered major. All participating surgeons also completed standardized survey tools to measure burnout, quality of life, and symptoms of depression.
Read in Full: http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/11/24/physician-depression-associated-with-medical-errors/9756.html
Depression As Deadly As Smoking, But Anxiety May Be Good For You
Article Date: 19 Nov 2009 – 0:00 PST
A study by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London has found that depression is as much of a risk factor for mortality as smoking.
Utilising a unique link between a survey of over 60,000 people and a comprehensive mortality database, the researchers found that over the four years following the survey, the mortality risk was increased to a similar extent in people who were depressed as in people who were smokers.
Dr Robert Stewart, who led the research team at the IoP, explains the possible reasons that may underlie these surprising findings: ‘Unlike smoking, we don’t know how causal the association with depression is but it does suggest that more attention should be paid to this link because the association persisted after adjusting for many other factors.’
Read in Full: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171382.php
Motivational ‘Women-Only’ Cardiac Rehab Improves Symptoms of Depression
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2009) — Depressive symptoms improved among women with coronary heart disease who participated in a motivationally-enhanced cardiac rehabilitation program exclusively for women, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2009.
Depression often co-occurs with heart disease and is found more often in women with heart disease than in men. Depression also interferes with adherence to lifestyle modifications and the willingness to attend rehabilitation.
“Women often don’t have the motivation to attend cardiac rehab particularly if they’re depressed,” said Theresa Beckie, Ph.D., lead investigator and author of the study and professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Nursing in Tampa, Florida. “Historically women have not been socialized to exercise and their attendance in cardiac rehabilitation programs has been consistently poor over the last several decades. This poor attendance may be partly due to mismatches in stages of readiness for behavior change with the health professional approaching from an action-oriented perspective and the women merely contemplating change — this is destined to evoke resistance.”
Cardiac rehabilitation programs tailored to the needs of women and to their current level of readiness to change may improve adherence to such programs and potentially improve outcomes for women, she said.
Read in Full:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117161006.htm
Depression, ADHD, Psychotherapy and Medication
Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Nov 19th 2009
It is a fact that I receive E. Mail questions from people around the world about issues of mental health and mental illness. Some of them are from students who are working on various types of research papers that are related to psychology, social work and social psychology.
I recently received an interesting question from a forty year old man from the UK who stated the he is suffering from depression. He wanted to know what types of medication would help him feel better. He asserted that he had neither the time nor the money to invest in psychotherapy. Besides, he stated, he has a chemical imbalance in his brain and knows that medication will solve his problem. He also happened to state that he has suffered from many stresses over the years.
I thought it curious that a man of his age and from the UK would still believe that medication can cure psychological problems.
I answered his E. Mail by telling him that he would have to consult a psychiatrist who would do an evaluation and, based on the diagnosis from the evaluation, prescribe the necessary medicine treatment. I also pointed out that he could start by seeing his family doctor with whom he could discuss his symptoms and get a prescription for the same purpose.
However, I was quick to point out, very emphatically, that there is no cure in medication. Citing recent research, I reported that it is the combination of medication and psychotherapy that works best. In addition, I underlined the fact that, for many people, cognitive behavioral therapy can produce the same or better results than medication alone…I never heard back and, that’s OK, I rarely do.
Read in Full: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=33862&cn=5
Weight Loss Just As Successful With Depression
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on December 3, 2009
A new study finds women with mental health concerns are as successful losing weight as other women.
The results are important and encouraging as women with a depression diagnosis have often been disqualified from participation in weight loss programs.
Evette Ludman, PhD studied 190 female Group Health patients age 40 to 65 with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more: 65 with major depressive disorder and 125 without it.
The women had not been seeking treatment, but they enrolled in a one-year behavioral weight loss intervention involving 26 group sessions.
The intervention, developed at the University of Minnesota over the past 20 years, has proven at least as good as any other currently available nonmedical treatment.
Some previous research had hinted that depression might worsen outcomes in behavioral weight loss programs. That’s why trials of weight loss interventions typically exclude people with major depression.
Read More: http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/12/03/weight-loss-just-as-successful-with-depression/9906.html
Stepmonster: 8 Reasons Why Stepmothers Are Prone to Depression
By Therese J. Borchard
November 28, 2009
In her insightful book, Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do, author Wednesday Martin, Ph.D. explains why stepmothering is the “perfect storm†for depression. Here are eight risk factors she lists:
Risk Factor 1: Isolation and Alienation
Stepmothers often feel cut off from their husbands over stepfamily issues and different from the moms in their circles of friends who don’t have to deal with the tension and conflict involved in blending families.
Risk Factor 2: Rumination
What happens when you are isolated from the rest of the pack, estranged from the group of moms who are clueless to your issues? You think. A lot. Too much. Way too much. Martin quotes Yale psychologist Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Ph.D, who defines ruminative thinking as “a cycle of rethinking the past, worrying excessively about the future, not taking action, going over and over the same issues, letting concern spread to other issues, until there’s an avalanche of concern and a feeling of being overwhelmed.”
Risk Factor 3: Relational Tendencies
Martin calls the stepfamily a “tinderbox of sorts,†when you consider the combination of the stepmother’s relational tendencies with that of her often less emotional or relational husband and a bunch of resentful stepkids.
Risk Factor 4: Overcompensation and the Need to “Fix It”
Writes Martin: “With the specter of the wicked stepmother floating above our heads, we are under enormous pressure to prove–to the world and to ourselves–that we are not corrupt or sadistic, that we are, in fact, good, even perfect and beyond reproach. A fifty-eight-year-old stepmother named Belinda calls this the “Cinderella-in-reverse syndromeâ€â€“the stepmother’s drive to be whiter than white, better than best, and her tendency to overcompensate at her expense.
Risk Factor 5: Double Standards That Disempower
Martin has a great point here. Stepchildren are allowed to dislike and resent their stepmoms, while a stepmom must always show unconditional love for her stepchildren. And the author is right, too, when she argues that stepchildren have social support when they vent about their evil stepmom. The stepmom? Better close the trap.
Read Article in Full: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/28/stepmonster-8-reasons-why-stepmothers-are-prone-to-depression/
A Note To The Severely Depressed: Don’t Try So Hard
By Therese J. Borchard
November 27, 2009
I don’t know about you, but when I’m severely depressed 90 percent of my negative thinking is based on the fact that I am a failure because all my cognitive-behavioral strategies and positive thinking and mindfulness attempts aren’t working. I discussed this with Dr. Smith yesterday and she reminded me, once more, that severe depression can’t be treated in a mind-over-matter way. Her compassionate logic made me review the pages of my forthcoming book, Beyond Blue, where I list the neurological and scientific reasons why.
And I breathed a much-needed sigh of relief.
You deserve one too.
Here’s my passage:
Trying too hard was precisely my problem. It was the mind over matter issue again. In my mind, I was failing because I couldn’t think myself to perfect health. I couldn’t do it all myself.
Dr. Smith salvaged the last crumb of my self-esteem with this compassionate statement:
“Mindful meditation, yoga, and cognitive-behavioral therapy are extremely helpful for people with mild to moderate depression. But they don’t work for people such as yourself who are suicidal or severely depressed.”
Her advice was grounded in neuroscience.
One research study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in particular, used high-definition brain imaging to reveal a breakdown in the emotional processing that impairs the depressive’s ability to suppress negative emotions. In fact, the more effort that depressives put into reframing thoughts–the harder they tried to think positive–the more activation there was in the amygdala, regarded by neurobiologists as a person’s “fear center.†Says Tom Johnstone, Ph.D. the lead study author at the University of Wisconsin:
Healthy individuals putting more cognitive effort into [reframing the content] get a bigger payoff in terms of decreasing activity in the brain’s emotional response centers. In the depressed individuals, you find the exact opposite.
And then Dr. Smith asked me this: if I had been in a terrible automobile accident would I be so hard on myself?
“If you were in a wheelchair with casts on each of your limbs,†she said, “would you beat yourself up for not healing yourself with your thoughts? For not thinking yourself into perfect condition?”
Of course not.
…..
Here, then, are my three words for the severely depressed: Distract, don’t think. And surround yourself with people who truly understand mood disorders until you can believe in yourself again.
At least that’s what my doctor told me.
Read in Full: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/27/a-note-to-the-severely-depressed-dont-try-so-hard/
One Soldier’s Suicide Story
By John M Grohol PsyD
November 27, 2009
While we return to our daily lives after the holidays and get into the Christmas spirit, some families will not be celebrating this year. One family is James Weigl’s, a soldier who returned home after deployment, suffered from depression, and ultimately took his own life. Forty-three percent of soldiers who commit suicide do so after returning home from deployment, demonstrating that follow-up care with soldiers after deployment is just as important as mental health treatment while in active duty.
The story is an all-too familiar one. The article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel details the life of James Weigl, his active duty tour, return home, and his decline into depression. It’s a lengthy article, but it gives you an idea of how diverse the problems are that soldiers grapple with. It also details some of the hopefully-past problems the Army has in properly screening for mental health concerns earlier, rather than later:
Read Article in Full: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/11/27/one-soldiers-suicide-story/
Abstract: Agomelatine: A novel pharmacological approach to treating depression
Owen RT.
Medical Information Department, Prous Science, Barcelona, Spain.
Agomelatine is a melatonin analogue which represents a novel class of antidepressants. It acts as an agonist at melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors and as a specific antagonist at 5-HT2C receptors. It is rapidly absorbed orally and mainly metabolized via CYP1A2 hepatic isoenzymes, has no active metabolites and an elimination half-life of 1-2 hours.
Short-term trials (6-8 weeks) have confirmed the compound’s antidepressant effect in major depressive disorder at doses of 25-50 mg/day. It has comparable antidepressant activity to venlafaxine [Effexor®] (75-150 mg/day) and in one trial, showed statistical superiority to sertraline [Zoloft®] 50-100 mg/day. In long-term studies agomelatine was superior to placebo for relapse prevention at 10 months and treatment adherence rates were higher than with venlafaxine and sertraline over 6 months.
The drug has anxiolytic properties and a beneficial effect on sleep without affecting rapid eye movement (REM) activity.
Although agomelatine is generally well tolerated with low adverse event discontinuation rates, it currently requires monitoring of liver function because a small number of patients had raised liver enzyme activities in the trial program.
The compound has fewer effects on sexual function than venlafaxine and, unlike paroxetine [Paxil®], it causes minimal discontinuation symptoms upon abrupt withdrawal.
Agomelatine is currently being investigated for other indications such as seasonal affective disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and bipolar depression.
Copyright 2009 Prous Science
Miyazaki M, Aihide Yoshino A, Nomura S.
Department of Psychiatry, National Defense Medical College, Saitama 359-8513, Japan
Purpose: It has been established that a single anxiety disorder (AD) is more likely to be comorbid with other ADs as well as major depressive disorder (MDD). However, little is known about the comorbidity risks of MDD in patients with double or multiple ADs in comparison with those with a single AD. In this study, we estimated the comorbidity risks of MDD in patients with multiple ADs.
Method: The subjects were 217 consecutive outpatients with any ADs who were comprehensively diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The comorbidity rates of MDD in subjects with 2 or more ADs were compared with those in subjects with a single AD.
Results: The comorbidity rates of MDD in subjects with a single AD (n = 119), 2 ADs (n = 75), and 3 or more ADs (n = 23) were 20.1%, 45.3%, and 87.0%, respectively. The relative risks of the comorbidity of MDD in subjects with 2 and with 3 or more ADs compared with those with a single AD were 3.3 (95% confidence interval, 1.7-6.3) and 26.4 (95% confidence interval, 8.2-118.7), respectively. Generalized anxiety disorder was associated with a higher comorbidity rate of MDD in subjects with a single AD but not in subjects with 2 or more ADs.
Conclusion: The results showed that the presence of multiple ADs strongly predicts comorbidity with MDD in an exponential manner, suggesting that we should pay attention to the fact that patients with multiple ADs are more likely to be comorbid with MDD.
Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Secret to Good Health – Listen to the Data
November 27, 2009 | By Rachel Danks, PhD
A recent study proved what we all know … that healthy living really does improve long-term health. A lot. The US-based study found that not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight (BMI <30), exercising regularly (3.5 hours/week) and eating a balanced diet (high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, low in meat) reduced the risk of developing chronic disease by nearly 80% over the course of the study. 80%! Just imagine if a new drug promised an 80% reduction in chronic diseases – it would be a wonder drug! People would be beating a path to their primary care providers, demanding a prescription. Shareholders in the manufacturers would never have to work again!
But, such a remedy is readily available to everyone. It costs relatively little. It isn’t particularly complicated to follow. And yet, so few of us choose to take it. Certainly, the advice could hardly be described as exciting or (for most of us) fun, but surely it’s not that difficult to follow, is it? So, why are we so reluctant to do what is so obviously good for us?
One train of thought is that while we understand intellectual arguments perfectly well in our heads, our “gut,†which largely drives our behavior, just doesn’t get it. Our gut instinct is great for getting us out of immediate trouble — the fight or flight mechanism. But it is not so good at assessing long-term risk, and modifying behavior accordingly. It is for this reason that we tend to ignore hard data that should clearly direct our behavior in one way, while we react to risks that are intellectually indefensible.
