depression | davanti counselling

Red Nose Day helps to break the taboos around mental health

Depression is often suffered in silence: you soldier on, not able to feel any enjoyment in life, and the weight can be crushing. But celebrities suffer from depression too, as X Factor winner James Arthur has shown in his public support for Red Nose Day.

James has spoken about the depression and anxiety he has suffered in the past – and how making and singing music has helped alleviate his pain. He was visiting the STAMP Revisited mental-health project in the North East, which is one of the programmes supported by Comic Relief funds, and hopes that he’ll be able to break some of the taboos around depression. James is quoted as saying: “In my life I’ve had some low points, so now it’s really important to give something back because I’m really passionate about changing people’s perceptions about mental health.”

When someone in the public eye speaks out, perhaps it will encourage others to reach out for help too.

Gaming improves wellbeing in older generation, says academic study

Psychologists say older people who play video games are happier than those who don’t. (pic: istockphoto.com/Feverpitched)

You might traditionally expect people around retirement age to favour pursuits like crosswords, bridge, bowls or knitting. But scientists have shown that people aged 60-plus are active in more unusual ways. They’ve found that the senior generation who play video games are happier than those who don’t.

Psychologists from North Carolina State University in the US researched ‘Successful aging through video games‘ with 140 people aged 63 and over. They wanted to discover the differences in emotional wellbeing and depression between older adults who play video games and older adults who don’t game at all.

They found that older people who played video games regularly or occasionally had higher levels of wellbeing and fewer incidence of depression compared with older people who aren’t gamers. “Findings suggest that playing may serve as a positive activity associated with successful aging,” concluded the researchers.

Antidepressants + therapy = better chance of recovery from depression

Experts say that antidepressants work better when combined with psychotherapy. (pic: istockphoto.com/jordachelr)

Antidepressants alone are not enough to recover from depression, according to a leading neuroscientist. Medication needs to be combined with counselling or psychotherapy for it to have a beneficial effect, says Professor Eero Castrén at the University of Helsinki.

Antidepressants work by opening neural pathways and restoring ‘plasticity’ in the brain. By reopening this plasticity, false connections in the brain can be addressed through therapy and through the patient’s own observations (much like children learn about the world by absorbing what’s going on around them). However, just taking antidepressants on their own doesn’t help to address any problems, fears or phobias.

Professor Castrén says: “By combining antidepressants and therapy, long-term effects can be achieved. Simply taking drugs is not enough. We must also show the brain what the desired connections should be.”

His findings back his earlier research published in Science that show “antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy combined are more effective in treating mood disorders than either treatment alone”.

Creating happy memories can boost depressed people’s mood

Scientists say that associating a positive memory with an everyday object, like a phonebox, can be mood boosting.

When you’re in the grip of depression, it can be difficult to recall anything positive from the past or feel any optimism for the future. But scientists have tested a method of creating positive memories which have some evidence of boosting the mood of people who feel depressed.

The positive memory strategy is called Method-of-Loci (a way of linking something you need to remember with a location you know well) and it was tested by researchers the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge (UK). The report of their findings was published in the Clinical Psychological Findings journal.

In tests, they asked people with depression to come up with 15 positive memories and then to associate those memories with a positive feeling or everyday object, such as a phone box or the front of their house. The outcome was that this technique of association was more effective in recalling happier memories, which could help alleviate depressive symptoms.

The scientists conclude: “Depression impairs the ability to retrieve positive, self-affirming autobiographical memories. Our study shows that richly elaborated or self-affirming memories in those with a history of depression can have a self-reported beneficial effect on mood.”

Study proves self-help books can help manage severe depression

Reach for a self-help book as the first port of call in managing depression (pic: istockphoto.com/IvanBastien)

It can be hard to see the light when the cloud of depression darkens your days. But there’s evidence to show that reaching out for self-books and websites can help people who are severely depressed.

Researchers from The University of Manchester studied 2,470 patients with low and high levels of depression. They concluded that ‘low intensity’ interventions such as self-help books and interactive websites were as helpful to people with severe depression as they were to people with milder symptoms. They recommend using self-help books as an initial treatment option.

“Patients with more severe depression can be offered low intensity treatments as part of a stepped care model,” says Professor Peter Bower, who led the research at The University of Manchester.

Have you found any self-help books particularly helpful in managing your depression?