What is depression? Depressed people don’t all shuffle around with a long face, or cry at any provocation. MentalHealth.gov, a US government website, defines it as “losing interest in important parts of life”. Symptoms include eating or sleeping too much or too little; pulling away from people and usual activities; having low or no energy; more »
Read MoreAfrican American children are taking their lives at roughly twice the rate of their white counterparts, according to a new study that shows a widening gap between the two groups.
Read MoreYou’ve probably heard the term “shock treatment” used to describe electroconvulsive therapy or ECT. Psychiatrists don’t like the term because of the stigma surrounding it, which they say prevents the vast majority of severely depressed patients from ever trying it. What might surprise you to learn is that despite its misuse in the past, ECT more »
Read MoreDepression runs in families, we know. But it is only very recently, and after considerable controversy and frustration, that we are beginning to know how and why. The major scientific discoveries reported last week by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium in Nature Genetics are a hard-won breakthrough in our understanding of this very common and potentially more »
Read MoreBy Phil McCausland In the wake of the tragedy in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 students and staff, the Trump administration and many Republicans have said that the best way to end the seemingly constant stream of mass shootings is by combating mental illness. And while some think it a reasonable idea, mental more »
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