Early, Quality Child Care Linked to Less Depression

Children of low income families benefit from quality educational child care as the involvement appears to protect children against the negative effects of their home environments.

The early intervention, for young children from infancy to age 5, appears to make a difference in decreasing symptoms of depression in early adulthood.

The report, from the FPG Child Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, uses data from the Abecedarian Project, a longitudinal study begun in 1972 in which 111 high-risk children were randomly assigned to early educational child care from infancy to age 5 or to a control group that received various other forms of child care.

The study is published in the May/June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development.

Read more . . . .

Depression amid Chronic Disease

By: Psych Central News Editor

on Monday, Jan, 29, 2007

Reviewed by: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
on Monday, Jan, 29, 2007

Receiving the diagnosis of a chronic disease or cancer is a traumatic, life-changing event. Unfortunately, the mental health effect of the incident is often obscured by attention to the physical disorder and the inability to determine “appropriate sadness” from clinical depression.

Researchers have developed a new tool to detect depression that will improve patients’ ability to come to terms with their disease.

Depression affects 25 percent of patients with advanced cancer – the stage at which the disease has begun to spread from its original tumor. At this stage, depression is difficult to diagnose as symptoms can be confused with a patient displaying ‘appropriate sadness’ – feelings which commonly result from suffering a terminal illness.

Accordingly, a University of Liverpool research team has created a method of testing for depression so clinicians can introduce additional treatment to enable patients to cope with the cancer more effectively. The tool could also be applied to sufferers of other serious illnesses such as Parkinson’s Disease and chronic heart disease.

Based on a screening system originally developed for sufferers of post-natal depression, the new tool - known as the ‘Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale’ (BEDS) - includes a six-step scale that assesses a cancer patient’s mental condition. The test includes questions on worthlessness, guilt and suicidal thoughts.

Read more . . .

Seek Help if “SAD”

By: Psych Central News Editor

on Wednesday, Jan, 24, 2007

Reviewed by: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
on Wednesday, Jan, 24, 2007

Many believe feeling down or gloomy during the winter months is just a part of life. In fact, a decline in sunlight has been linked to development of seasonal affective disorders (SAD). In a new study, some researchers now believe developing SAD can be a subtype of major depression and should be treated as such.

Lead author Stephen Lurie, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of Family Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, also noted that SAD is sometimes missed in the typical doctor’s office setting.

“Like major depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder probably is under-diagnosed in primary care offices,” Lurie said. “But with personalized and detailed attention to symptoms, most patients can be helped a great deal.”

New, preliminary studies link SAD to alcoholism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, not all people with SAD will have ADHD, according to the review article for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Read more . . .

Interesting. . . SAD and ADHD are linked.