Depression

Depression is associated with an increased risk for both disability and death. One possible way that depression may adversely affect physical health is by altering immune function, and depressed individuals have been shown to have signs of both decreased immune cell activity and elevated markers of systemic inflammation. From a group of 79 pre- or perimenopausal women participating in the multisite Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, researchers studied the links between depressive symptoms and the presence of a class of compounds called proinflammatory cytokines, which serve as cellular messengers to activate the immune response. The women averaged 48 years of age, 61% were white and 39% were black, 72% were married, and 23% were current smokers. In addition, 29% reported recent sleep problems. The women completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale.

Suicide

Some people with bipolar disorder become suicidal. Anyone who is thinking about committing suicide needs immediate attention, preferably from a mental health professional or a physician. Anyone who talks about suicide should be taken seriously. Risk for suicide appears to be higher earlier in the course of the illness. Therefore, recognizing bipolar disorder early and learning how best to manage it may decrease the risk of death by suicide.

The following factors all make a difference with presence or absence of depression; therefore, in a recent study these factors were controlled for by grouping participants into like groups:

• medical illness

Although it is not fully known what exactly causes clinical depression, theories abound: biological and genetic factors, environmental influences, pathogenic thinking, and childhood or developmental events, to name a few. A combination of factors may put one person at greater risk for developing depression than someone else who does not experience those same factors.

All of us feel sad from time to time. Feeling sorrow, crying, or feeling sad are hallmarks of being a human being. However, sometimes these feeling are much more than a normal ‘blue spell’, and symptoms can become so severe they physically incapacitate a person, even bringing their normal thinking processes to a grinding halt. This is Major Depression: a painful disease accompanied by severe suffering.

Editor's Note:

"Race" is sometimes mentioned as a risk factor in the development of certain cancers and a number of other diseases. When you read this in a discussion about an illness, note that the explanation seldom refers to anything biological. Instead, it usually refers to behavior, such as eating habits. The kinds of behavior usually mentioned as risk factors are culturally determined. They are not genetic or biological.

Conventional medicine prescribes antidepressants for depression, frequently overlooking the possibility that many people are actually suffering from hypothyroidism, which if treated properly, may stop the depression. It has been found that many people who suffer from depression also are hypothyroid. This article explains why there is a connection.

In a May, 2006 release -- in collaboration with the manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) -- the FDA has acknowledged the antidepressant Paxil causes a statistically significant increased rate of suicidality in depressed adults, as measured in controlled clinical trials. The results are based on a re-analysis of all adult controlled clinical trials that compared Paxil with a placebo.

According to a study described by the National Institute of Mental Health, it appears that depression is an important risk factor for heart disease along with high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. A study has found that people who had a history of depression were four times more likely to suffer a heart attack and those who were depressed were four times as likely to die after a heart attack in the next 6 months as those who were not depressed.

A UCLA study published in the June 2006 edition of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS Medicine, suggests that the use of antidepressants to treat depression has saved thousands of lives, despite the concern about a possible link between suicide risk and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).