Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

What's the connection between autism and depression?

Excerpt from: Autism Speaks (click for full article)

 

This is an important question. Mood disorders – including depression – do appear to be more common in those with developmental disabilities than in the general population.

However, diagnosing depression in those with autism represents a challenge that dates back to Leo Kanner’s original description of “infantile autism,” in 1943.

Kanner described a disturbance of “affective contact” in those with autism. Clinicians use the term “affect” to describe how someone’s emotional state appears to others. In other words, does the person look depressed or anxious? This can be different from “mood.” Mood refers to how someone actually feels inside.

Affect and mood are not always aligned. For example, someone’s expression may appear flat and register little reaction. However, that person may say that he or she feels fine. Clinicians refer to this as an “incongruence of affect and mood.”

Common Gene Variants Explain 42% of Antidepressant Response

Excerpt from: Science Daily (click for full article)

 

Antidepressants are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, but many individuals do not experience symptom relief from treatment. The National Institute of Mental Health's STAR*D study, the largest and longest study ever conducted to evaluate depression treatment, found that only approximately one-third of patients responded within their initial medication trial and approximately one-third of patients did not have an adequate clinical response after being treated with several different medications. Thus, identifying predictors of antidepressant response could help to guide the treatment of this disorder.

A new study published in Biological Psychiatry now shares progress in identifying genomic predictors of antidepressant response.

Many previous studies have searched for genetic markers that may predict antidepressant response, but have done so despite not knowing the contribution of genetic factors. Dr. Katherine Tansey of Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and colleagues resolved to answer that question.

Autism, Psychiatric Disorders Close Genetic Cousins

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop (click for full article)

 

In the largest study of its kind, researchers are reporting that autism may be more closely tied to a handful of other psychiatric disorders than previously thought.

Scientists analyzed the genomes of more than 60,000 people finding that those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia may all share genetic risk factors.

For the study published online this week in the journal The Lancet, researchers looked at the genomes of 33,332 people, each of whom had one of the five psychiatric disorders targeted, and 27,888 people with no mental health issues. They found four areas of genetic code with variations seen in people with all five psychiatric conditions.

The discovery could help improve understanding of the psychiatric disorders, researchers said, and may lead to more accurate ways to diagnose the conditions.

Mapping the mind to treat depression

Excerpt from: CTV News (click for full article)

 

The Obama administration recently announced it will spend billions of dollars to examine the workings of the human brain but this type of research is nothing new for a group of U of C experts.

The Brain Activity Map Project is being compared to the Human Genome Project and this kind of brain mapping has already begun at the University of Calgary.

A cap with 64 electrodes, combined with MRI imagery, is giving researchers a complete picture of brain function right down to the millisecond.

Dr. Protzner says they are hoping the research will allow them to create maps of the brain that they can then use to compare others to in order to determine an appropriate treatment for them.

“What we want to do is get a map of brain dynamics that best responds to, for example, cognitive behavior therapy, and a map that’s different, in a predictable way, that best responds to pharmacotherapy. And if we can create these maps and then compare individuals to it then that’s how we could go about predicting treatment options,” sid Dr. Protzner.

Equine Therapy: Can Working With Horses Reduce Suicide Risk?

Excerpt from: Psych Central (click for full article)

 

In 2008, at the East Mountain Youth Lodge, Dr. JoAnn Jarolmen, a social worker, conducted a pilot study on equine therapy for troubled youth. She studied 13 teenagers who took part in a program called HorseTime, founded by Kathy Krupa, an Equine Growth and Learning association certified instructor, and found that, after working with the horses, the teenagers were less angry and aggressive, improved their relationships with their parents and peers and had fewer suicidal tendencies.

And perhaps not surprisingly, the public is quite supportive of the idea of using horses to prevent suicide. Veteran Rescue Equine Therapy Ranch recently used Stay Classy, a crowd supported fundraising site to fund their equine therapy program, quickly reaching their target goal of $500,000.

A 2005 study conducted by a Masters student at Denver seminary for the degree of Counseling Psychotherapy also had similar findings, as at-risk adolescents, age 12-18 who participated in an equine-assisted therapy program demonstrated better psychosocial functioning compared to those who did not. While improved psychosocial functioning will not guarantee reduced suicide risk, it can certainly be considered to be associated with it.

 

New Study Links Childhood Bullying to Adult Psychological Disorders, Surprising Even the Study's Authors

Excerpt from: Slate (click for full article)

 

A significant study from Duke, out today, provides the best evidence we’ve had thus far that bullying in childhood is linked to a higher risk of psychological disorders in adulthood. The results came as a surprise to the research team. “I was a skeptic going into this,” lead author and Duke psychiatry professor William E. Copeland told me over the phone, about the claim that bullying does measurable long-term psychological harm. “To be honest, I was completely surprised by the strength of the findings. It has certainly given me pause. This is something that stays with people.”

Based on the findings, Copeland and his team divided their subjects into three groups: People who were victims as children, people who were bullies, and people who were both. The third group is known as bully-victims. These are the people who tend to have the most serious psychological problems as kids, and in the Duke study, they also showed up with higher levels of anxiety, depressive disorders, and suicidal thinking as adults. The people who had only experienced being victims were also at heightened risk for depression and anxiety. And the bullies were more likely to have an antisocial personality disorder.

Shingles vaccine offers 'poor protection' for seniors with untreated depression, study finds

Excerpt from: McKnight's (click for full article)

 

Seniors who are depressed may be at higher risk for shingles, even if they are vaccinated. This is according to research published recently in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

University of California-Los Angeles researchers followed 92 study participants for two years. All were 60 or older and had been vaccinated for shingles. Some had a major depressive disorder (MDD) and were being treated for it, some had an MDD but were not receiving treatment, and some did not have a diagnosed MDD.

The participants with untreated depression were “poorly protected” from shingles even though they were vaccinated, said lead research Michael Irwin, M.D. The immune response was “normalized” among the other two groups.

The study has implications for other types of vaccines, the researchers noted. For example, diagnosing and treating depression may improve seniors' responses to the influenza vaccine.

Grief Over New Depression Diagnosis

Excerpt from: New York Times (click for full article)

 

First, the new volume revises some of the criteria for major depressive disorder. The D.S.M. IV (among other changes, the new manual swaps Roman numerals for Arabic ones) set out a list of symptoms that over a two-week period would trigger a diagnosis of major depression: either feelings of sadness or emptiness, or a loss of interest or pleasure in most daily activities, plus sleep disturbances, weight loss, fatigue, distraction or other problems, to the extent that they impair someone’s functioning.

Traditionally, depression has been underdiagnosed in older adults. When people’s health suffers and they lose friends and loved ones, the sentiment went, why wouldn’t they be depressed? A few decades back, Dr. Kupfer said, “what was striking to me was the lack of anyone getting a depression diagnosis, because that was ‘normal aging.’” We don’t find depression in old age normal any longer.

But critics of the D.S.M. 5 now argue that depression may become overdiagnosed, because this version removes the so-called “bereavement exclusion.” That was a paragraph that cautioned against diagnosing depression in someone for at least two months after loss of a loved one, unless that patient had severe symptoms like suicidal thoughts.

Caregivers also must care for themselves

Excerpt from: The Columbus Dispatch (click for full article)

 

A November 2011 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the University of Pittsburgh found that caregivers’ self-reported health statuses declined as they cared for loved ones with Alzheimer’s.The report was based on a study of 1,222 pairs of caregivers and the Alzheimer’s patients they looked after for at least four hours a day. It found that health-care costs for caregivers averaged $4,766 more per year than the costs for noncaregivers.

The university and alliance teamed with MetLife to produce a 2010 report that found that workers who are caregivers cost their employers an estimated 8 percent more in health-care costs, potentially amounting to an additional $13.4 billion in such costs annually in the United States.

At the same time, caregivers provide a significant service to society. In Ohio alone, 1.3 million caregivers contribute nearly 2 million hours of unpaid help to others annually, care that exceeds $14 billion in value, according to the state Department of Aging.

Are You Doing Too Much? The Difference Between Caretaking and Caregiving

Excerpt from: Byrd & Garrett: Wealth Preservation  (click for full article)

 

Caregiving and caretaking are both words that describe elder care, but they can also be used to distinguish between a healthy relationship and an unhealthy one. A caretaker is someone who provides care but in a manner that is unhealthy either to the caretaker or to the elderly person. Caregiving, on the other hand, can be used to describe a healthy relationship where both the caretaker and the elderly person have a positive experience.

So how do you know the difference? It’s a fine line, but caretaking is often stressful, frustrating, and exhausting. Caregiving, on the other hand, is loving and, though it can be stressful at times, is something you draw strength and inspiration from.

Caretaking will often lead to feelings of depression in the person who provides care. The long hours, stressful situation, and feeling of constant pressure are common feelings for caretakers who are overwhelmed by the process. Also, unhealthy caretaking relationships do not give the person providing care a sense of accomplishment. Caregivers, on the other hand, come away feeling better about themselves knowing that they have helped someone else with their problems.