YOUR HEALTH: Stimulate your depression
Treatments include counseling, medications, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, to stimulate the mood-regulating parts of the brain.
"Not all patients respond to the medication or to the neuromodulation," explained Dr. Francisco Romo-Nava, a physician scientist at the University of Cincinnati's Lindner Center of HOPE.
Dr. Romo-Nava and his colleagues are studying a new way to treat mental health disorders.
The neuroscientists are testing a device that delivers stimulation to a patient's spine.
Dr. Romo-Nava says the stimulation will improve the feedback in the central nervous system that is sometimes disrupted when a person has a psychiatric disorder.
For now, patients undergo spinal stimulation for 20 minutes, three times a week, for eight weeks.
"The kind of stimulation that we use is very well tolerated," he explained.
"The most frequent description is like a tingling sensation
Researchers say this stimulation therapy could be the first step to developing better treatment for some patients.
Dr. Romo-Nava was granted a patent for the stimulation method that utilizes transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
He says his research team is trying to determine how often, and how long, patients should undergo the stimulation for the best results.
Between 80% and 90% of people with depression respond well to treatment, and almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms.
A new form of magnetic brain stimulation relieved symptoms of severe depression in 90% of participants in a study conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The researchers are conducting a larger, double-blinded trial in which half the participants are receiving fake treatment and are optimistic it will prove to be similarly effective in treating people whose condition hasn't improved with medication, talk therapy, or other forms of electromagnetic stimulation.
Want To Better Cope With Your Depression? Read This
Depression is a disorder that affects millions of people at some time in their life. For some, it becomes a chronic condition that can last for months or even years. There are many misunderstandings about this disorder and many ways to treat those who suffer from it. The following article provides you with all the information you need to help yourself or a loved one understand and cope with this oftentimes debilitating illness.
Get out of the house and socialize. Get involved in activities outside the home and meet people. Even calling on friends and family can help. Let them know about your struggles with depression, and ask for their help. Have them call you out when you start displaying negativity, and to praise or compliment you when you act positively.
Focus on foods that are good for you when battling depression. If you body does not have good things to draw on, then your body can not help you in the fight. Keep your body happy with items like fruits and vegetables. Stay far away from junk food and food that you overindulge in.
Increase the amounts of foods you eat that help your body produce serotonin, such as fish. Serotonin is a neurochemical that your body uses to improve your body. Many medications act to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain, but you can create this effect naturally by changing your diet.
If you suffer from depression, it is important that you do not skip meals. Not eating anything can cause you to become irritable and tired, which can, in turn,cause your depression symptoms to flare up. Try to eat 3 meals every day, and space these meals about 4 to 6 hours apart.
Make sure you're getting about eight hours of sleep a night. People with depression tend to either sleep too little or far too much. In either case, both your mood and your health will suffer. Schedule your sleep patterns so that you're getting just the right amount of sleep each night.
A great piece of advice for someone struggling with depression is to actually watch what you eat. Many times those who are depressed eat goods that actually make them feel worse. Avoid fried and fatty goods which will make you feel slow and lethargic. Focus on high energy foods like nuts.
Do something that you truly enjoyed doing when you were a child. As we grow up, we sometimes try to act like we are too mature for certain fun activities. If you loved swinging on a playground or playing board games, feel free to let your inner-child out and do those things.
Pay attention to your symptoms and your body, especially when it comes to concentration and memory. Many people suffer from mild memory loss as they age, and blame it on "senior moments" or even early senility. However, in many cases, those memory loss incidents are more related to depression than age. Treatments for depression may be surprisingly successful in dealing with the memory problems.
If your job is part of the cause of your depression, you may want to think of cutting down on some of your harder duties. Talk to your boss about how you are feeling and ask if you can do lighter projects. Try not to bring the stresses of your job home with you.
Reaching out to help other people can be a wonderfully effective way to overcome the challenges of depression that you may be facing yourself. With depression, there is often a tendency to focus inward and shut out the outside world. Making the effort to look past your own pain and help another person will remind you of the power you have to improve a life and influence activities in your own world. Look for opportunities to volunteer your services in your community and know that you will be expanding your opportunities to bring joy to yourself and those you reach out to help.
A great way to deal with depression is to make sure that you do not lose track of your social life. This is extremely important because if you do not have a social life, you may lose touch with the people who are in the best situation to help you with your problems.
If you have been more info prescribed a medication that you feel comfortable taking, you should not feel embarassed to take it. People who have heart problems or lung problems are sure to take their medicine and the same should be true for people who have head problems, it is there as a way to help you.
Remember that one of the key things about getting out of being depressed is that you have to stay positive. You not only have to stay positive but you have to try new methods of trying your best to better your life. The tips you just learned are great places to start getting your life positive and back on track, so start today and be hopeful. The only way out of this is to apply yourself -- remember that.