Depression and Mental Health News
Fish oil may curb depression among teen boys
Eating more oily fish like sardines, salmon and yellowtail could help teenage boys feel less blue, suggests a new Japanese study.
The same does not appear to hold for teen girls, however.
Omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA and DHA, are found predominantly in oily fish. Because these nutrients are thought to play a role in brain function, many researchers have wondered whether increased consumption could lower the risk of depression. But studies of such an association among adults have yielded inconclusive results.
Until now, investigators had yet to look for the potential link in youth, a population also prone to the debilitating problem. So Kentaro Murakami of the University of Tokyo and colleagues analyzed the diets and rates of depression in more than 6,500 Japanese junior high school students between the ages of 12 and 15.
Overall, 23 percent of the boys and 31 percent of the girls suffered from symptoms of depression, including feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and sleep disturbances, they report in the journal Pediatrics.
Based on questionnaires of food intake, and adjusting for factors including age and parents’ education level, the investigators found that boys who ate the most fish — the top fifth based on total consumption — had a 27 percent lower odds of being depressed compared to those ranked in the bottom fifth.
Similar differences were seen when looking specifically at the EPA and DHA content of the fish consumed.
Meanwhile, no effect of fish oil on depression was seen among the girls.
The investigators admit that the differing effect of fish oil between boys and girls is difficult to explain, although they point to a few possibilities such as a stronger genetic role for depression in women compared to men.
They also caution that their findings do not provide enough evidence to determine if fish oil actually lowers the risk of depression. It might be, for example, that those who are depressed eat less fish.
Although more research is needed to confirm a cause-and-effect link, the researchers conclude that boosting the intake of fish, EPA and DHA “may be an important strategy for the prevention of depression.”
Sadie Frost Writes About Her Postpartum Depression In Memoir
Sadie Frost tells all about her postpartum depression while married to Jude Law in her memoir Crazy Days. The actress/fashion designer says she started spiraling out of control during her pregnancy with their first child, Rafferty, in 1996.
Things got worse when she was alone at home one night with the baby. She writes:
Eventually I wanted to press the self-destruct button. One night I arranged a babysitter and went out. I partied all night and got home the next day racked with guilt.
I was sitting at my dressing table, not feeling anything – just numb. I watched my hand slowly pick up a pair of scissors. It was as if I was being sucked down lower into the chair and the scissors seemed to be drawn to my arm. I appeared to have cut myself. Blood dripped down my arm. There was no sense of panic within me – I just felt empty.”
Her condition came back after the birth of the couple’s second child, Iris, in 2000. Eventually, their marriage couldn’t stand the emotional strain and the two divorced in 2003.
Law hasn’t been very happy with the memoir, set to be released in September. In July he took legal action and attempted to block his ex-wife from publishing images of their children. Frost reportedly agreed and removed the images and select passages that Law had issues with.
The former couple have three children together, Raffery, 13, Iris, 9, and Rudy, 7. Frost also has a 19-year-old son named Finlay with Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp. She met Law while she was still married to him.
(c) celebritybabyscoop.com
Skin condition linked to depression
A new study has found that individuals with psoriasis, a common immune-mediated skin disease, have an increased risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality.
Shanu Kohli Kurd, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, studied data from electronic medical records in the United Kingdom from 1987 to 2002.
The analyses included 146,042 patients with mild psoriasis, 3,956 patients with severe psoriasis and 766,950 patients without psoriasis (five control patients for each patient with psoriasis, selected from the same practice and similar entry dates).
“Stated another way, the excess risk attributable to psoriasis is one case of depression for every 39 patients with severe psoriasis per year (or per 87 patients in patients with mild psoriasis per year),” the authors write.
“The excess risks associated with psoriasis for anxiety and suicidality correspond to one case per 123 and 2,500 patients with psoriasis per year, respectively.”
Considering this data and the prevalence of psoriasis in the U.K., the authors estimate that there are more than 10,400 diagnoses of depression, 7,100 of anxiety and 350 of suicidality related to psoriasis each year.
The report has been published in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.