chemical-imbalance

Debunking the “chemical imbalance” theory yet not throwing out the antidepressant baby with the bathwater

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A recent study found incon­sis­tent evi­dence link­ing the neu­ro­trans­mit­ter sero­tonin to depres­sion. In an arti­cle for The Con­ver­sa­tion, the authors of the study con­clud­ed that it is impos­si­ble to say that tak­ing SSRI anti­de­pres­sants is worth­while. But is it safe to con­clude that sero­tonin is not involved in depres­sion or that mod­ern anti­de­pres­sants aren’t help­ful in treat­ing the con­di­tion? [Read more…] about Debunk­ing the “chem­i­cal imbal­ance” the­o­ry yet not throw­ing out the anti­de­pres­sant baby with the bathwater

Study: Families’ Perspectives on ADHD and its Treatment

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In 2005 the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Pedi­atrics (AAP) began an ini­tia­tive to pro­mote an approach to care among its mem­bers in which “…the pedi­atric team works in part­ner­ship with a child and a child’s fam­i­ly to assure that all of the med­ical and non-med­ical needs of the patient are met.” A crit­i­cal­ly impor­tant focus of this approach is the role of the fam­i­ly and child — as devel­op­men­tal­ly appro­pri­ate — in the devel­op­ment of an over­all plan of care.

This shared deci­sion-mak­ing approach is espe­cial­ly impor­tant for con­di­tions like ADHD where there is not a sin­gle treat­ment that is the most appro­pri­ate and pre­ferred option for all patients. How­ev­er, [Read more…] about Study: Fam­i­lies’ Per­spec­tives on ADHD and its Treatment

In the News: Brain Calisthenics, Bilingual Brains, Debunking Myths on Mental Illness

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Let us high­light a cou­ple of insight­ful and brief arti­cles in the New York Times and a very pow­er­ful analy­sis in The New York Review of Books; they pro­vide use­ful clues about Brain Cal­is­then­ics, Bilin­gual Brains, and Debunk­ing Myths on Men­tal Ill­ness. [Read more…] about In the News: Brain Cal­is­then­ics, Bilin­gual Brains, Debunk­ing Myths on Men­tal Illness

Closing the Circuit: Helen Mayberg’s research could revolutionize depression treatment

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Blue, DepressionAt some point in their lives, 5 to 12 per­cent of Amer­i­can men and 10–25 per­cent of women will suf­fer an episode of depres­sion, mak­ing it the most com­mon­ly diag­nosed men­tal dis­or­der today. Unlike nor­mal sad­ness, which pass­es with time, depres­sion feels unstop­pable and caus­es peo­ple to lose inter­est in near­ly all activ­i­ties. Because it affects a per­son­’s abil­i­ty to eat, sleep, work, and func­tion nor­mal­ly, it exacts a huge cost on the econ­o­my, esti­mat­ed at $30 bil­lion dol­lars annu­al­ly. The cost in human suf­fer­ing can­not be measured.

Mil­lions of peo­ple diag­nosed with depres­sion turn to med­ica­tion as a treat­ment, and many of the most pop­u­lar [Read more…] about Clos­ing the Cir­cuit: Helen Mayberg’s research could rev­o­lu­tion­ize depres­sion treatment

emWave in Golf Digest

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We often talk about how stress man­age­ment is as impor­tant as cog­ni­tive train­ing for brain fit­ness. We have also seen how traders can improve their per­for­mance by learn­ing how to man­age emo­tions of anx­i­ety and fustration.

Golf Digest has just pub­lished an arti­cle on how golfers can see their game improved thanks to stress man­age­ment pro­grams. Golf Digest’s Edi­tion includes the arti­cle Play­ing with heart: Peb­ble Beach’s top teacher wants to choke­proof your game, explain­ing how Laird Small, direc­tor of the Peb­ble Beach Golf Acad­e­my and the 2003 PGA of Amer­i­ca Teacher of the Year, has been using these pro­grams for a num­ber of years.

Even more inter­est­ing­ly, it also relates how [Read more…] about emWave in Golf Digest