May 09 / Simcha

Male Postpartum Depression (Rosen & Kelly)

A growing number of young men are struggling with depression around the time of the birth of their first child. Many first-time dads would rather stifle their feelings than talk about them, making the home situation more heated and fraught, and their sense of helplessness exacerbated.

With no socially acceptable forum where they might share and explore some of these feelings, male postpartum depression is easily eclipsed by its maternal counterpart, and often missed altogether. The following is abridged and edited from an article that appeared in Parents Magazine.

Dec 05 / Simcha

Four Behaviors to Combat Depression (A. Korb)

In The Upward Spiral (New Harbinger Publications, 2015), UCLA neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, he offers multiple tips for rewiring the brain, altering its chemistry, and in so doing, creating an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life.

Sep 09 / Simcha

The Biology of Depression (E. Kandel)

brainman — Image: Olimpia Zagnoli (NYTimes, 9.6.13)

In his recent article in the NYTimes (The New Science of Mind, 9.6.2013), Professor Eric Kandel, asks us to consider the biology of depression. It is his belief that growing understanding of the physical workings of brain disorders, whether psychiatric or neurological, will give us new insights into who we are as human beings.

May 14 / Simcha

How Antidepressants Work: A New Explanation

The following selection from a recent Elle Magazine article about the use of antidepressants to improve couple relations (The Couple Who Medicates Together by Louisa Kamps 4.18.12,) offers an interesting look at how anti-depressants work.

Many of us believe that SSRIs work by correcting a simple serotonin deficiency in the brain, but scientists who study depression now mostly consider that to be “last-century thinking,” as one Harvard neuroscientist put it. The new view of how depression develops, and how antidepressants work to relieve it, revolves around stress — wear and tear, that is, in parts of the brain that regulate emotions.

Jan 17 / Simcha

No Evolutionary Upside in Depression

In a recent Science Times article in the New York Times, Richard A. Friedman, professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, explores a growing trend in academic circles to view depression as a “natural” condition that, like ordinary sadness, may provide evolutionary advantages. Separate studies by psychologists Paul W. Andrews (U. of Virginia) and Joseph P. Forgas (U. of New S. Wales) suggested that something about sadness might improve analytical reasoning and the capacity for critical, accurate detection of deceptive communication.