http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11942320/Mindfulness-backlash-Meditation-bad-for-your-health.html “It is effectively a brand, a multimillion-pound industry that thrives on ever more people buying books, apps and courses,” says Wikholm. Then there’s the evangelical zeal of mindfulness fans; a well-intentioned desire to spread the word so others can benefit. “But, primarily, there’s a problem with the way thatContinue Reading

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/5/9451689/benefits-of-psychotherapy It seems this is a big problem in the research around treatments for depression. In 2008, researchers looked at studies on antidepressants for a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. They found that the medicine’s benefits had been exaggerated in the scientific literature because of publication bias.Continue Reading

http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/09/antidepressants-not-superior-to-psychotherapy-for-severe-depression/ In their guidelines for the treatment of depression, both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the British Association for Psychopharmacology suggest that while “psychotherapy is sufficient for treating mild depression, antidepressant medications (ADMs) should be used to treat severe depression in the context of major depressive disorder.” These guidelinesContinue Reading

http://www.imedicalapps.com/2015/08/moodtools-no-frills-comprehensive-psychoeducation-psychotherapy-depression-app/ Enter MoodTools. This no-frills free app — with optional paid premium features — provides a sizeable amount of psychoeducation on different types of depression, various treatments for depression, and what to do in situations such as suicide safety. And no-frills makes the app seem like a no-brainer. Although theContinue Reading

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11500273 “We know that ketamine is active in the frontoparietal circuit of the brain and disconnects these two parts,” he said. “In depression, those two parts of the brain work overtime in an over-connected way. It may be that ketamine works as an antidepressant by disconnecting those two parts ofContinue Reading

Click to access HENPOWERfinalreport.pdf Human – animal interaction can be observed in many situations, from the human being an interested observer of animals in their native habitat to pets co-habiting the same residence of their owner. When the interaction has specific goals and function it can be defined as AAT,Continue Reading

Fascinating new research shows #depression causes ongoing physical changes to part of brain managing emotion & memory http://t.co/ljFZgB4Pe3 — Black Dog Institute (@blackdoginst) July 1, 2015 The researchers found 65% of the depressed study participants had recurrent depression and it was these people who had a smaller hippocampus, which isContinue Reading