Mood Change Medicine
Neuroplasticity
St. John’s Wort: Getting its Benefits without the Drawbacks
St. John’s wort may fight depression by modulating cortisol, calming stress, extinguishing inflammation, boosting neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, increasing tryptophan and normalizing melatonin. But there are more powerful ways to heal depression that do all those things and more. Continue reading
Low Tryptophan = Low Serotonin. Does Low Serotonin = Depression?
There’s a major controversy over whether or not depression is caused by low tryptophan and it’s consequence—low serotonin. Some researchers assert that there’s no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin. What does the science say about the causes of depression . . . Continue reading
Exercise Better than Drugs for Lifting Mood
The most common antidepressant drugs got bottom-of-the barrel results in a landmark systematic review comparing the drugs’ effect on depression with that of the talk-therapy CBT and a range of exercise modalities, according to data published by the prestigious British Medical Journal in February 2024. Continue reading
Foods that Stress and Depress—Foods that Promote Well-being
A 2017 randomized controlled trial of 67 depressed patients asked the question: “If I improve my diet, will my mental health improve?” Half of them received nutrition counseling, and for them the answer was yes. Not true for the other half, who got social support sessions instead of nutrition counseling. Continue reading
Gut-Brain Axis: Director of Mental Health?
There’s burgeoning evidence that the various bacterial species inhabiting our gut have an important influence on our psychological health. Based on their antidepressant and anxiolytic effects, these beneficial bacteria that inhabit our GI tract have been dubbed “psychobiotics”. Continue reading
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: A Swiss-Army Knife for Tackling Anxiety & Depression
The value of reducing stress is widely embraced. An analytic review of 39 studies including 1,140 people with conditions including generalized anxiety disorder and depression found that mindfulness-based therapy, a widely-used stress-busting technique, was associated with significant improvement in anxiety disorders and depression. Continue reading
Talk Therapy Changes the Brain with Lasting Benefits
CBT was found to reduce the size of over-active amygdalas, in people with social anxiety. CBT was also found to reduce amygdala overactivation. The researchers postulated that reduction in both the size and overactivation of the amygdala resulted in decreased reactivity to anxiety-provoking situations, explaining how CBT reduces social anxiety. Continue reading
Inflammation: Foe of Mental Health
Depressed patients starting psychotherapy with higher levels of inflammation are less likely to be helped by it, a 2020 study showed. And for those who had somatic symptoms of depression—like appetite changes, fatigue, aches and pains and sleep disturbances—the worse the symptoms, the higher the levels of inflammation. Continue reading
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