NYC Psychotherapist Colette Dowling's Blog on Women's Mental HealthNYC Psychotherapist Colette Dowling writes a blog that offers cutting edge information on women's mental health issues, including hormone-related swings in depression, anxiety, and compulsive eating. Here you'll receive updated information on the social and biological influences on women's mood problems. You'll also learn about psychological distortions that get in the way of being able to work productively and feel secure in relationships. Ms. dowling has been researching and writing about women's wellbeing and mental health since the early eighties, when her best-selling book, The Cinderella Complex:Women's Hidden Fear of Independence, was first published. Since then, a great deal that's new has been learned about how women can be helped to feel better, especially during times when estrogen and serotonin levels shift: premenstrually, during pregnancy, postpartum, during the perimenopause, and even in later life. Women's mental health issues are different than men's. Here you can get ongoing, up-to-date information and support on emotional problems that are special to women. (Note: Don't forget to click on the orange button if you'd like to subscribe to Colette Dowling's RSS feed, which will provide you with cutting edge updates. All you need is the free RSS reader from either My Yahoo!, My MSN, or "My Google". NYC Psychotherapist Colette Dowling has an M.S.W. from The Smith College School for Social Work and post-graduate training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis at The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, in New York. Ms. Dowling has a private practice in Manhattan. You can view her professional profile at Http://therapist.psychologytoday.com/34706.
May 1, 2010, New York Psychotherapist Colette DowlingNew York psychotherapist Colette Dowling helps women develop emotional strength and individuality while remaining vulnerable, open and loving in intimate relationships. Permalink -- click for full blog post "New York Psychotherapist Colette Dowling" May 1, 2010, NYC Psychotherapist and writer Colette DowlingNYC Psychotherapist and writer Colette Dowling has published many books on women's psychology and mental health issues. an office in Manhattan and specializes in the treatment of women. Permalink -- click for full blog post "NYC Psychotherapist and writer Colette Dowling " Jan 16, 2010, the twilight craze: women and hysteriaAdult women's fascination with the adolescent Twilight series is described as clinical hysteria by Colette Dowling, psychoanalyst and author of the Cinderella Complex. Permalink -- click for full blog post "the twilight craze: women and hysteria" Feb 19, 2009, Real Love: Can You Deal With It?Real love is based on an appreciation of the individuality, separateness, and freedom of another. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Real Love: Can You Deal With It? " Feb 19, 2009, Love or Emotional Hunger?Love or emotional hunger? The deep yearning for another isn't always love. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Love or Emotional Hunger?" Feb 19, 2009, The Cinderella ComplexIn the 80s, NY therapist Colette Dowling discovered women's deep-rooted conflicts with independence and labled them The Cinderella Complex. Permalink -- click for full blog post "The Cinderella Complex" Feb 14, 2009, Anxiety: A Treatable DisorderMany who have chronic anxiety, panic disorder, or social phobias may be suffering from a treatable disorder of brain neurotransmitters. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Anxiety: A Treatable Disorder " Feb 8, 2009, Symptoms of DepressionWhat are the symptoms of depression? This article describes what the illness actually feels like. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Symptoms of Depression" Feb 5, 2009, Why Women PanicWomen women panic--in fact having attacks at 2.5 the rate of men--is a subject for scientific speculation. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Why Women Panic" Nov 9, 2008, Women's Self Confidence: A StruggleThat Begins in ChildhoodWomen's self confidence is often inhibited, in part because they were taught to be self-doubting as children.. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Women's Self Confidence: A StruggleThat Begins in Childhood" Nov 2, 2008, Depression and Troubled SleepDepression and troubled sleep go hand in hand. In fact, troubled sleep can be the first sign of depression. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Depression and Troubled Sleep" Oct 17, 2008, A Loved One's Depression: What to DoA loved one's depression can be hard on us. It's difficult knowing what to do. Author and psychotherapist Colette Dowling gives advice on how to help the one you love. Permalink -- click for full blog post "A Loved One's Depression: What to Do " Oct 12, 2008, Mood and the BrainThe body, in particular the brain, plays a big role in mood --who's vulnerable to mood disorders, who isn't, and how bad these disorders might become. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Mood and the Brain" Oct 12, 2008, Premenstrual Cravings Can Be Tamed!Premenstrual cravings result from lowered serotonin, the mood and appetite regulator. Here's how to naturally build serotonin and tame premenstrual cravings. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Premenstrual Cravings Can Be Tamed! " Oct 11, 2008, PMS: How to Deal With ItPMS is a real physiological illness that affects 60% of all women in varying degrees. Good news? It can be treated. Permalink -- click for full blog post "PMS: How to Deal With It" Sep 28, 2008, Hostile Work Environment for Women at the TopWomen at the top face a hostile work environment. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Hostile Work Environment for Women at the Top" Sep 28, 2008, Sex Hormones and Women's MoodA link between sex hormones and women's mood points the way to greater emotional stability. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Sex Hormones and Women's Mood" Sep 28, 2008, Depression Light TherapyDepression Light Therapy is being offered patients by a sophisticated new program at Columbia University. Individualized dosages and timing are prescribed for patients. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Depression Light Therapy" Sep 28, 2008, Sexual Abuse of School GirlsSexual abuse of school girls can cause psychological trauma, including PTSD (Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder). Parents should be aware. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Sexual Abuse of School Girls " Sep 28, 2008, Hot Flashes: What Are They and When Will They Depart?Some women have a harder time with hot flashes because their serotonin levels are low. They may be helped with special treatment. Permalink -- click for full blog post " Hot Flashes: What Are They and When Will They Depart?" Sep 19, 2008, Compulsive Eating: How to Beat ItCompulsive eating has been found to be connected with the same disturbance in the brain that is found in depression and other mood disorders. This has led to new information on how to get over it. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Compulsive Eating: How to Beat It " Sep 8, 2008, Postpartum Depression Is Treatable--and Often Preventable!Postpartum depression is surprisingly treatable and in some cases preventable. Women who inform their doctors of previous depressions can be offered preventative medication immediately post-birth. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Postpartum Depression Is Treatable--and Often Preventable!" Aug 24, 2008, Women and Self EsteemSocial conditioning contributes to the problem of women and self esteem. The good news is that the effects of conditioning can be changed. Permalink -- click for full blog post " Women and Self Esteem" Aug 24, 2008, Menopausal Depression is No MythMenopausal depression is common and can be treated. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Menopausal Depression is No Myth" Aug 10, 2008, Women's Strength: The Myths That Shrink UsWomen's strength has historically been denied, producing the false concept of a "weaker sex'. Research shows that women's physical potential is vastly underestimated. Permalink -- click for full blog post " Women's Strength: The Myths That Shrink Us" Aug 9, 2008, Girls' Dieting and Depression: An Adolescent CrisisGirls' dieting often has a relationship to depression. Some girls start dieting as a way of coping with depression. Others become depressed because extreme dieting affects their serotonin levels. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Girls' Dieting and Depression: An Adolescent Crisis " Aug 6, 2008, Low Thyroid in Women Mimics DepressionLow thyroid, known as hypothyroidism, wreaks havoc with moods, energy, weight and cognition. Women are especially vulnerable.The good news is that it's treatable. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Low Thyroid in Women Mimics Depression" Sep 29, 2007, Natural Prevention of Post Partum DepressionBreastfeeding can counter the effects of depression in new mothers. New Hampshire researcher Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, has found evidence supporting a connection between breast feeding and mental health for mothers. Her studies were published in the International Breastfeeding Journal. Post partum depression is thought to be related to proinflammatory cytokines that arise during the last trimester of pregnancy. In addition, stressors such as sleep loss, physical discomfort, and psychological trauma can add to the possibility of such an inflammatory response. Earlier research has found that breastfeeding reduces stress, calming the mother's nerves and decreasing her emotional reactivity. The connection between stress and the mother's inflammatory response suggests that breastfeeding can deter the onset of postpartum depression. In addition to breastfeeding, exercising 2-3 times a week has been found to reduce not only depression, but anger and stress as well. Certain dietary supplements have also been found helpful. Omega-6 fatty acids (found in vegetable oils), when combined with omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oils), lower the proinflammatory cytokines that trigger postpartum depression. Other articles on special aspects of women's mental health can be found on the website of NYC psychotherapist Colette Dowling, LMSW. See http://www.womens-wellbeing-and-mental-health.com. For consultation with Ms. Dowling write to her at dowling colette@earthlink.net.or call 718-594-0201 May 28, 2007, Self-injury/CuttingPeople are self-injuring when they harm their own bodies as a way of coping with overwhelming emotions. Frequently it's an impulsive act, most commonly cutting, although it can also be burning or scratching, hitting or punching, head-banging, or even bone-breaking.The person becomes upset and spontaneously thinks of a way to do damage to her body. From a clinical perspective, self-injury is different from cultually sanctioned practices such as scarring, piercing and tattooing, because of the emotional intent behind the behavior. Self-injury is an unhealthy coping method for dealing with cerain overwhelming feelings, usually pain or anger. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Self-injury/Cutting" May 28, 2007, A Warning on the new Anti-Period PillPills to completely eliminate menstruation? This week the FDA announced it has has approved Lybrel, by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a pill designed to get rid of a woman's menstrual period. Women are being told they don't have to feel fat and messy every month. Teens are even told they'll do better academically if they're on the pill, and that their social lives will improve! The long-term safety of these pills is unknown and the existing safety data are frighteningly limited. Already many young women are badly affected by cultural messages about body image.The promotion of menstrual suppression sends a message to young women just entering puberty that a natural and healthy bodily function is negative and should be stopped. Feb 22, 2007, Menopause and the BrainWhat has the brain got to do with menopause? Plenty, researchers at the University of Texas are betting. They've received a 1.4 million grant from the National Institue on Aging to find study whether some of the symptoms that come along with menopause are preventable. "Most people do not think of the brain as a source of hormones," Gore said. "The brain can also sense levels of estrogen and then increase or decrease its output in order to maintain overall balance of hormones." "We're hoping by funding this study, as well as others dealing with estrogen and the aging brain, that we will be able to understand how best to replace the functions that are lost or impacted by the loss of estrogen," said Andrew Monjan, the chief of the neurobiology aging branch at the National Institute on Aging. Results of this research may also help us to understand why women become infertile, even as early as their late 30s and 40s. "We want to know what changes occur in the brain's hormones that may be responsible for some of this loss in fertility," said Andrea Gore, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy and lead researcher for the study. She's hoping the study may eventually help women who want to have babies later in life. Feb 14, 2007, Shaky Relationships Take a Toll on the Immune SystemFeeling insecure in close relationships with others may take a toll on the immune system, preliminary research suggests. Italian researchers sstudying 61 healthy women found that those with difficulty establishing close, trusting relationships had weaker immune function. Experiments showed that the women's "natural killer" immune system cells were less lethal compared with those from other study participants. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, are in line with research showing that chronic stress can impair immunity. The researchers looked at a trait known as "attachment insecurity," characterised by difficulty trusting and depending on others, and worry about being abandoned by loved ones. A person's "attachment style" is based on a child's relationship with his or her parents. It affects people's ability to regulate their own emotions, including how they perceive and deal with stress. A causal link between insecure attachment, impaired immunity, and poorer health "is far away from being proved," Picardi cautions. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Shaky Relationships Take a Toll on the Immune System" Feb 7, 2007, Mothers of Infants Are 7 Times More Likely to Suffer Mental IllnessA recent study in Denmark shows that 10 to 19 days after giving birth, women with newborns are seven times more likely than women with older infants to suffer severe mental illness. Problems range from anxiety and depression to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Finally scientists are beginning to home in on the rapid hormonal and physiological changes after childbirth that can trigger mental illness. Moms who are leep deprived and lack social support are particularly at risk. Only one in five mothers with depression is diagnosed. And only one in five of THOSE actually receives treatment! "Women with postpartum depression are very ashamed of the problems that they're having,” says Jennifer Grosman, a clinical psychologist in Washington. “They think that they're supposed to be happy and enjoying being a new mother and if they're not, then they really feel very guilty about that. So they may go to great lengths to hide how they're really feeling and sort of put on a happy face." Too few doctors screen for postpartum depression in new mothers; a routine questionnaire would catch many of the cases that otherwise go undetected. "Obstetricians are reluctant to ask questions about a woman's emotional state because they're afraid of opening a can of worms that they don't know how to deal with,” says Grosman. “But if they were properly educated and informed and given the proper referral sources, then they would be better equipped to help serve their patients." Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association. Feb 3, 2007, Sexual Compatibity May Lie In Your GenesA new study has found that romantic "chemistry" is, in fact, chemical. How sexually attracted we'll be to someone else is affected by our genes! Christine Garver-Apgar, a psychologist at the university of Mexico, has discovered a link between a set of genes involved with immune function and partner selection in humans. In sum, humans are inclined to prefer mates who have DISSIMILAR MHC genotypes (MHC is Major Histocompatibility Complex) This arramgement may help avoid inbreeding between partners, as well as strengthen the immune symptoms of their offspring, the author of the study speculates. But what does that actually mean for humansexual behavior? In the tudy,"as the proportion of the couple's shared genotypes increased, women's sexual responsbility to their partners decreased, their number of extra-pair sexual partners increased and their attraction to men other than their primary partners increased, particularly during the fertile phase of their cycles," Garver-Apgar. So much for the mystery of sexual attraction. Depressing thought: can pre-marital gene testing be far behind? Source: This study is published in Psychological Science Permalink -- click for full blog post "Sexual Compatibity May Lie In Your Genes" Feb 3, 2007, Menopause Before 40? Oh god.Do some women actually hit menopause before 40? They do. Menopause, which marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years, usually occurs around age 50 or 51. But for various reasons different types of early menopause are possible, including: * Premature menopause, defined as menopause before age 40. There are no more menstrual periods, no ovarian function, and pregnancy is no longer possible. * Premature ovarian failure, which is similar to premature menopause. But women in this category, whose whose ovaries seem to have stopped producing hormones early, can still have intermittent, unpredictable ovarian function for years. This means they may occasionally release an egg (ovulate) and--though this is rare--they can become pregnant. The average age of onset for premature ovarian failure is 27 years. It's experienced by about 1 percent of American women. Treatment-induced early menopause is produced by removal fo the ovaries, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. The standard treatment for early-onset menopause is hormone therapy (until you reach the average age of menopause). Note that at least one study has shown that risks related to hormone therapy don’t apply in the same way to women with premature menopause or premature ovarian failure. Bottom line, a doctor experienced in reproductive hormone disorders is critical for the woman who wants to stay healthy--including protecting against osteoporisis--during early-onset menopause. Source:The February issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource. Jan 31, 2007, Scanning a Woman's Menstrual BrainImagine this! Someon has finally conducted an MRI scan tracking women's brains across the menstrual cycle. Sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone fluctuate throughout a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle. During the follicular phase at the start of the cycle, the egg is maturing and the body releases estrogen; progesterone is secreted during the luteal phase, when a fertilised egg might implant. To see how these hormone swings influence the brain, Jean-Claude Dreher at the National Institute of Mental Health, decided to use magnetic resonance imaging to examine changes in female brain activity over the course of the month. The team scanned the brains of 15 women at different stages of menstruation as they played a game with hypothetical prizes of money.During the follicular phase, both the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala showed higher activity both when the women were anticipating a reward and when they got it. Researchers concluded that the women were probably experiencing greater feelings of reward during the first half of their menstrual cycles than they were during the second. It isn't known whether women also get more pleasure from activities such as sex, shopping or eating chocolate during the first half of their menstrual cycle.“However, certain behaviours that are known to involve reward systems, such as drug addiction, might be enhanced during the follicular phase," says Emily Stern at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. "Indeed, previous experiments have shown that women report getting more pleasure from cocaine and amphetamine use during the follicular phase compared to the luteal phase." Dreher believes his findings may lead to better treatment for women with drug abuse problems, or those with mood disorders. Source: 22:00 29 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0605569104) Permalink -- click for full blog post "Scanning a Woman's Menstrual Brain" Jan 30, 2007, SAD,SAD,SAD?The first big surprise about SAD is that you don't have to be sad to have it--any more than you have to be sad to have depression. The second big surprise is that SAD actually IS depression. A University of Rochester research review says that Seasonal Affective Disorder is actually a subtype of major depression and should be treated as such. SAD is sometimes missed in the typical doctor's office setting. If you tell your GP you have more than usual fatigue, trouble sleeping, problems with eating (too much or too little) and low libido and he says "Tut-tut, you'll feel better when the warm weather comes around," flee to a psychiatrist's office.Why? Because SAD is both real and treatable. For some patients, SAD is precipitated by darker days causing a shift in 24-hour hormonal rhythms. The loss of natural light because it's gray outside can be replaced with treatment by indoor light-therapy units designed for SAD. These are special devices with very high lux--usually 10,000 units or more, and they work By regulating your natural supply of melatonin. Jan 19, 2007, Therapy Reduces Risk of Postpartum DepressionCan postpartum depression be prevented? The answer is Yes, even in high-risk mothers. Preventive counseling reduced the risk of postpartum depression from 20 percent to 4 percent within three months of delivery, in a recent study from Brown university. Other studies have shown similar preventative benefits for at-risk mothers. Young, poor, first-time mothers with few resources and a family history of depression have a one in five chance of developing major depression in the first few months after the baby is born! Postpartum depression has effects on children that are both both immediate and lasting. At least one study found that infants of depressed mothers develop more slowly, including measurably lower IQ in boys at later ages. The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is launching a study of in-home cognitive therapy offered to depressed first-time mothers during the year after they deliver. Jan 13, 2007, Treating Depressed Mothers is Crucial to Child WelfareChildren of depressed parents are three times more likely to develop a mental illness in childhood! A new study by Myrna Weissman, the grandmother of psychiatric epidemiology, and the STAR*D Child Team shows that effectively treating the depressed mother profoundly improves the mental health of her children. The children of mothers who recovered reported fewer mental health problems within 3 months of their mothers going on medication. In this study, a child with a mental health problem had more than twice the chance of improving if the depressed mother recovered. In fact, the mother HAD to improve at least somewhat if the child was going to have any chance of improving. Clearly, untreated maternal depression has a huge effect on children. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Treating Depressed Mothers is Crucial to Child Welfare" Dec 30, 2006, Lithium: A Brilliant DiscoveryThe modern era of pharmacotherapy began in 1949, when Australian psychiatrist John Cade discovered lithium, a cure for mania. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Lithium: A Brilliant Discovery" Dec 30, 2006, Gotten SAD Over the Holidays?Light therapy is a newly recognized, non-drug treatment for depression. The lightboxes have traditionally been used for winter depression (SAD, or seasonal affective disorder), researchers in the Dept. of Psychiatry at Columbia University now recognize that light therapy can lift depression at any time of year. Light therapy also works in conjunction with anti-depressants. Columbia's Light Therapy Program - the first of its kind the U.S., serving patients near and far - provides expert guidance. You receive clinical evaluation, analysis of your sleep-wake and biological rhythm patterns during depression, instruction in the method, and monitoring and dose optimization. Call the Columbia Psychiatry Department at (212) 305-6001. Discuss with a staff member your interest in a general clinical evaluation for depression, light therapy, or both. E-mail address: lightion@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu Permalink -- click for full blog post "Gotten SAD Over the Holidays?" Dec 28, 2006, Epidemic: Teen Mental IllnessA new survey has discovered a silent epidemic of mental illness among teenagers. In 2005, TeenScreen, a large, school-based mental health screening program developed at Columbia University, screened 55,000 young people in 42 states. About one third of kids screened positive for psychaitric illness. Yet most mental illness in young people goes unrecognized and untreated. Even those who receive treatment tend to do so only after a long delay: 6 to 8 years for patients with mood disorders and 9 to 23 years for those with anxiety disorders! In the United States, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among persons 15 to 19 years of age. In 2005 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16.9% of U.S. high school students seriously considered suicide, and 8.4% had attempted suicide at least once. Children and teens are notoriously secretive about their own psychopathology: parents are unaware of 90% of suicide attempts made by teenagers, and most teens who attempt suicide do not warn parents, siblings, or friends. It is accepted medical practice for teenagers to get frequent physical checkups, though the odds of finding a serious physical disease are very small. In contrast, the chance that a teen has a treatable psychiatric illness, such as anxiety, mood, or addictive disorder, is 21%. There's no doubt that we need better mental health interventions for adolescents Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, Dec. 26, 2006. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Epidemic: Teen Mental Illness" Dec 20, 2006, Bye Bye to Herbs for Hot FlashesAccording to the 2000 census, about two million women turn 50 every year, and 51 is the average age of menopause. Many of these women experience menopausal symptoms of varying intensity. Unfortunately, alternatives to menopausal hormone therapy, including over-the-counter supplements and phytoestrogens, are are often assumed to be safe simply because they are herbal. A recent study at the NIH cast a dim light on the use of herbal supplements for hot flashes. In large tial the government agency learned that black cohosh, whether used alone or with other botanical supplements, did not relieve hot flashes in postmenopausal women or those approaching menopause. The same study found that women using menopausal hormone therapy did receive significant relief from their hot flashes and night sweats. Three-hundred and fifty-one women, ages 45 to 55, took part in the HALT Study, conducted at the Seattle-based Group Health Center for Health Studies. Each participant was experiencing at least two hot flashes and/or night sweats daily at the start of the study. The women were approaching menopause, having missed at least one menstrual cycle in the preceding 12 months, or were postmenopausal, having had no menstrual cycle in at least 12 months. Researchers included women who were perimenopausal (or in the menopause transition) because most previous studies looked only at postmenopausal women, who tend to have fewer symptoms than women going through menopause. Initially, the women were randomly assigned to receive one of five therapies: Black cohosh A multibotanical supplement, including black cohosh, alfalfa, boron, chaste tree, dong quai, false unicorn, licorice, oats, pomegranate and Siberian ginseng A multibotanical supplement plus diet counseling to increase consumption of foods containing soy Menopausal hormone therapy, consisting of estrogen with or without a progestin A placebo, containing no drug or supplement "While this study found that black cohosh alone or with other herbs did not reduce menopausal hot flashes," said NCCAM Acting Director Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D., "it highlights the importance of studying herbs using well-designed research to find out what works and what does not. With this information women and their physicians can have a meaningful discussion of complementary and alternative medicine approaches to menopause." The full report is titled "Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms of Menopause with Black Cohosh, Multibotanicals, Soy, Hormone Therapy, or Placebo. A Randomized Trial." It is in the 19 December 2006 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 145, pages 869-879). The authors are K.M. Newton, S.D. Reed, A.Z. LaCroix, L.C. Grothaus, K. Ehrlich, and J. Guiltinan. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Bye Bye to Herbs for Hot Flashes" Dec 19, 2006, New Yorkers Have a Great Source for Information on Mental HealthFamilies and loved ones of those suffering from mental illness can tap into a bonanza of information in The Patient @ Family Library and Learning Center. In all my years of doing research on psychiatric subjects I never knew about this special library until noting it on a Columbia University website (http://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/libraries.html). Open to the public, this library, located at the New York Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, has breathtaking views of the Hudson River. Visitors are welcome to browse the collection of books, videos and pamphlets, and will also find information on community resources and coping with mental illness. Telephone number 212-543-6713. Dec 19, 2006, Blocking Blue Light Prevents Postpartum Depression!A special light bulb designed for use in infant nurseries has been announced by physicists at John Carroll University. Its secret? The special bulb lacks the blue light rays that suppress melatonin production. Melatonin is the all-important hormone that promotes sleep. Lack of sleep and disruption of the circadian rhythm has been linked to depression. The new light bulbs will help new mothers avoid postpartum depression. Ten to fifteen percent of births result in postpartum depression that's severe enough to require treatment. Rapidly changing hormone patterns have long been thought to be the cause. But there's another factor that until now has been overlooked--namely, the mother's exposure to light when she's up during the night. When a new mother gets up at night to take care of her baby and turns on an ordinary light, her pineal gland may stop making melatonin. When she returns to bed she may have a hard time going back to sleep. Researchers say that if this happens several times a night, mom's melatonin production falls off. And when this happens night after night, it isn't long before her circadian cycle becomes completed disrupted, leading to depression. Blocking block blue light in the nursery and the bathroom solves part of the problem, but what about lights in the kitchen and refrigerator? Say mom needs to get a bottle from the fridge and then has to stand around in the kitchen while it warms. To solve this problem without putting special lightbulbs throughout the house, the researchers have developed wrap-around eyeglasses to protect against the blue rays in ordinary light. Researchers believe the special melatonin-producing lightbulbs can protect babies as well as mothers. Newborns do not produce a lot of melatonin and since they, too, get exposed to light at night, the researchers speculate that avoiding suppression of the littel melatonin babies DO ave will help them sleep better. In addition, it's thought that if the mother is breast feeding, both she and her baby will benefit if she uses her special glasses for a few hours before bedtime. Protection against night time light will maximize her melatonin, and since melatonin is present in breast milk, it aids the baby's sleep. Broader tests to establish the benefits of protecting mothers of infants against blue light have been initiated. In the meantime, special light bulbs for use in the nursery are available at http://www.sleeplamps.com Permalink -- click for full blog post "Blocking Blue Light Prevents Postpartum Depression!" Nov 30, 2006, What makes a good partner?Imagine a government being interested in how its citizens think and feel about intimacy. Well the Australian government was interested. It found, in a national survey, that Australians want their partners to love them, to be fun to be with, and to like sex. Big surprise, you say? To me the big surprise is a country whose government even cares about what makes people feel satisfied with their relationships. The Australian study discovered that its citizens, both male and female, were much more interested in qualities in their partner that made them feel good than they were in the person's physical attributes. One unexpected thing to emerege was that people placed a higher priority on a partner who loved them than they did on a partner whom they loved. “That is, in choosing a partner, we are looking for someone who cares about us more than we are looking for someone we care about,” Professor Najman said. (I won't comment on that, except to say that it's depressing.) The second surprise was the relatively low priority that both men and women say they place on a person's physical attributes. Looks, financial status and intelligence made up three of the bottom four for both groups. And while men and women wanted a partner who enjoyed sex, that their partner had a good orgasm ranked low-- ninth for men and eighth for women. “Our research suggests that enjoying the sex is certainly important to people . . . but having a good orgasm is not that important,” Professor Najman said. Permalink -- click for full blog post "What makes a good partner?" Nov 27, 2006, Menopause, the Later the BetterWomen today are hitting menopause 18 months later than their mothers' generation did, according to new research. The average age for menopause (officially marked by having gone a year without a menstrual period)is now 50 years and six months. The mothers' of today's menopausal baby-boomers experienced "the change" at 49. Menopause has been arriving later and later as longevity increases. Women born in 1915 went through the menopause an average of 17 months earlier than women born in 1939. Scientists have put forth no single reason why women are reaching the menopause later. The delay may be associated with genetic, social, environmental and/or hormonal factors. Professor John Studd of the British Menopause Society said: "If menopause is delayed it is because of better health, less smoking and less drinking." Temperance, ladies, temperance. I think Professor Studd has taken a leap into the void with this pronouncement. Better health may be a reason women are living longer, but to relate late onset menopause to better health practices suggests that menopause is a disease rather than an adaptive hormonal change. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Menopause, the Later the Better" Nov 25, 2006, New Help for Mild to Moderate PMSFinally someone has decided to do a formal study in which women with "only" mild-to-moderate PMS symptoms are treated with antidepressant medcation. Since the late 80s,doctors have used antidepressants to treat women with very severe premenstrual syndrome (called Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder,or PMDD). Dr. Susan Kornstein, a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at Virginia Commonwealth University decided to do a study that looked at treating women with moderate symptoms using low doses of the antidepressant sertraline, sold under the brand name Zoloft. (Other antidepressants such as fluoxetine, the generic version of Prozac, are also used to treat PMS.) "Premenstrual syndrome is very common," said Kornstein, who is executive director of the VCU Institute for Women's Health and the VCU Mood Disorders Institute. Symptoms can be severe enough to interfere with relationships and work, "PMS is very real," said Donna Pinnell, a women's health nurse practitioner at Virginia Women's Center. "We have patients complaining of mild to severe PMS symptoms. It can affect their day-to-day living, their relationships with partners, other family members and co-workers." Symptoms of premenstrual syndrome can include irritability, moodiness, bloating, fatigue, anger, headache, breast tenderness, abdominal pain and backache, weight gain, acne flare-ups, constipation or diarrhea, decreased coordination, depression and food cravings. Kornstein's study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, enrolled 314 women ages 25 to 45 at 22 sites throughout the country. Women were randomly chosen to get a placebo, an inactive dummy drug, or 25 to 50 milligram doses of sertraline (Zoloft)for four menstrual cycles. The study was designed to look at dosing during the luteal or post-ovulation phase of the menstrual cycle, which starts at ovulation and ends the day before the period begins. Ovulation occurs about midway or 14 days into the menstrual cycle. The interesting thing is that when used to treat depression, antidepressants often take several weeks before any change in symptoms is noted. But when used to treat PMS, antidepressnts are effective almost immediately. This means that when treating PMS, it isn't necessary for patients to take antidepressants every day of the month. Women can begin experiencing PMS symptoms anytime from puberty onward, but unfortunately most don't seek help until their 30s. "The most common thing that brings women in for treatment is the irritability, partly when they lash out at their children," said Kornstein. Children don't understand why their mother is delightful one day and grouchy the next. Permalink -- click for full blog post "New Help for Mild to Moderate PMS" Oct 27, 2006, Are Babies of Depressed Mothers Safe?What happens to babies who are born to depressed moms? Until very recently, little study has been done on the effect of untreated depression during pregnancy, But new research has nailed down very specific effects on babies whose mothers' depression goes untreated during pregnancy. Investigators led by Dr.Sheila M. Marcus, M.D., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor reported the preliminary findings from 53 infant-mother pairs of 135 pregnant women enrolled in the study. In the study, various maternal stress hormones were measured throughout pregnancy. Infant cord blood was examined for adrenocorticotrophic hormone and cortisol while salivary cortisol was measured for the first seven months after birth. This study was reported at the annual meeting, this fall, of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Following are its highlights: Babies born to women with untreated major depressive disorder * had elevated stress hormones * showed significant changes in neurobehavioral function * were born significantly earlier. The mean gestational ages of the depressed mom babies were: 35.6 weeks for infants born to women with major depressive disorder. 38.6 weeks for those of women with high risk of depression (past history of depression or Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale likelihood ratio greater than 10). 39.4 weeks for those born to women at low risk of depression (no past history of depression and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale likelihood ratio less than 10). The findings for infants of high risk women were 1) poorer quality of movement, 2) more hypotonia and, 3) higher stress scores Motor maturity tended to be lower and cortisol levels higher in the infants whose motheres were depressed BUT the differences were not significant! Women who developed major depressive disorder had significantly higher cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels compared to low risk women. The cord blood of babies born to depressed mothers tended to have more cortisol. Again, this increase in cortisol did not reach significance in the relatively small group analyzed. It's important to note that in this study, at least, no significant differences were seen when the babies were scored at age two weeks on a neurobehavioral scale that describes developmental and behavioral maturation, central nervous system integrity and stress responses. [Primary source: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Source reference: Marcus SM, et al "Perinatal Depression: Neuroendocrine and Behavioral Impacts on the Neonate" AACAP] Permalink -- click for full blog post "Are Babies of Depressed Mothers Safe?" Oct 22, 2006, What Dieting Can Do to Body and BrainThink dieting makes you look and feel great? Think again. Following is a summary of what dieting can do to the body and the brain. • Heart volume decreases. This is not good for competitive athletes-- or for anyone who simply wants to avoid fatigue. • Heart's work output decreases. This means that everything you do, physically, feels harder than it ought to. • Veins are less prominent. You may think this looks great but in fact veins will collapse when food intake is inadequate. • Metabolism drops by 40 to 50 percent. Ironic, isn't it? Metabolism affects the rate at which your body burns food. When you slow your metabolism down it takes less food to cause you to gain weight. Doctors say this is the No. 1 reason diets fail. • Bloating. Edema or the accumulation of water can cause puffy, bloated ankles, wrists and, in some cases, abdomens and faces in those who eat too little. • Cold intolerance. Those who diet excessively feel cold when everyone else in the room feels warm. • Urinary frequency. Inadequate calory intake affects bladder function. • Strength and endurance decline. Ever think those models on the runway look weak? They are. Speed and accuracy doesn’t appear to be impaired in dieters, but the capacity to lift, push, and carry loads is. So is the ability to climb, walk long distances and stand for long periods. • Skin changes. What dieting does to the skin. Ugh. Dieters's skin becomes pale, cold, dry, thin, scaly and rough. It may become, inelastic and blotched with brown pigmentation. • Hair changes. The hair of thsoe who are calory deprived may become thin, dry and fall out. • Painful eardrums. Oddly, the ability to hear is enhanced in dieters. Ordinary sounds may seem too loud and disturbing. Sensations of ringing in the head may be noted. • Eye changes. Calorie restriction has been linked with difficulty focusing, frequent eye-aching pain and seeing spots. • Sexual dysfunction. Amenorrhea (absence of periods) and decreased birthrate is seen among women. Men show lack of interest in sex and can experience a decrease in the size of their testes. • Aging beyond one's years. Reseachers have ovserbed that dieters may appear older and even behave older than their chronological age. In summary, dieting will eventually make you feel and look worse. Don't believe it? Well... take the risk. Stay healthy! Look good! Permalink -- click for full blog post "What Dieting Can Do to Body and Brain"
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