Minneapolis St. Paul Mental Health Blog

Mental Health Help | Diagnosing a patient with clinical depression can be difficult, research is expanding to help patients and prescribers.

Depression is a complex illness that can be caused by one or a mix of many things, from environmental stressors to genetics. The search for better understanding to properly diagnosis patients is an ongoing process, here is another way that studies / research are paving the way:

Inflammation and Depression | Acute inflammation is a protective mechanism, but chronic inflammation causes simultaneous destruction and reparation of tissue that harms the body in the long term. Usually, inflammation is triggered by physical injury or infection.  This could represent a relationship between the two.

But a new study out of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has highlighted a link between clinical depression and brain inflammation that might be crucial in better understanding stress and depression's physical impacts on the body, as well as in developing better treatments for these mental health issues.

In the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, the researchers found that people with clinical depression had a 30% increase in brain inflammation, also referred to as neuroinflammation - from the study:

It's uncertain whether the inflammation caused the depression or vice versa, or if it's simply a correlation. But the study makes it clear that the link should be further examined. Research has found a link between clinical depression and brain inflammation, that is a positive sign for opening up new treatments (according to studies in JAMA Psychiatry).  

We all know about it as having a concussion, a head impact from playing football or any other contact sport that puts shock / pressure on the brain. 

The long term effects of it are yet to be fully understood, yet the research lends itself to reasons to be concerned.  Here is some very useful information from a recent Psychiatricadvisor.com article:
[During the last decade, medical science has elucidated a myriad of expressions of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and shown that in some cases, there is the presence of cellular and ultrastructural alterations. mTBI, also known as a concussion, is expressed in how neurons and their supporting cells utilize their energy substrate, glucose, and this impairment is termed “metabolic vulnerability,” implying that sustaining a second impact, while still symptomatic, is detrimental to successful recovery or could lead to long-term effects.
Most instances of concussions are self-limited, and resolve within the first week. However, there is the chance that in about 10% of cases, a more prolonged clinical course will transpire, constituting post-concussion syndrome (up to 8 weeks post-injury), or the prolonged post-concussion syndrome (9 weeks and longer). Concussion symptoms usually consist of the following: Headache, memory loss, dizziness, balance abnormalities, sleep disturbance, visual abnormalities, poor school performance, and others.

Drinking energy drinks is very much a version of self medicating, be smart about it.

Mental Health Awareness | Visual distortions and hallucinations were symptoms particularly strongly linked to self-destructive behavior.  

It is important to get help before things get out of hand. Here is some great information on why recognizing these types of patterns can help according to a recent study conducted at the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland.

E-cigarettes, facts and how the marketing behind them is just like the 60’s, inaccurate.

Post Partum Depression, getting the help you need.

The birth of a baby can trigger a jumble of powerful emotions, from excitement and joy, to fear and anxiety. But it can also result in something you might not expect — depression. (Mayo Clinic)