Recovery Michigan

"Previous studies have shown that antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy both activate neural stem cells in the adult brain to divide and form new neurons," says Hongjun Song, Ph.D., a professor of neurology and director of the Stem Cell Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering. "What were missing were the specific molecules linking antidepressant treatment and stem cell activation."

To make that link, Song's team and its collaborators assembled a body of evidence from different types of experiments. In one, they compared gene activity in the brains of mice that had and had not been treated with electroconvulsive therapy, looking specifically at genes with protein products that are known to regulate neural stem cells. The comparison turned up differences in the activity of one inhibitor gene for a chemical chain reaction that had been previously implicated in stimulating neural stem cells. Specifically, the therapy reduced the amount of protein the inhibitor gene, sFRP3, produced, which would in turn have given the growth-stimulating chain reaction freer rein.

The article also noted that exercise facilitates this process.

Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), including concussion, is one of the most common types of neurological disorder, affecting approximately 1.3 million Americans annually. It has received more attention recently because of its frequency and impact among two groups of patients: professional athletes, especially football players; and soldiers returning from mid-east conflicts with blast-related TBI. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of the more than 2 million U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan have experienced TBI.

A recent study by psychiatrists with the Iowa City VA Medical Center and University of Iowa Health Care finds that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild TBI have measurable abnormalities in the white matter of their brains when compared to returning veterans who have not experienced TBI. These abnormalities appear to be related to the severity of the injury and are related to cognitive deficits. The findings were published online in a recent issue of American Journal of Psychiatry.

Six weeks of daily electrical current therapy scored the same as six weeks on sertaline. However, when electrical current therapy and sertaline were combined, the scores were significantly greater - 8.5 points higher than the antidepressant alone and 5.9 points higher than direct current stimulation alone.

This finding has serious implications for future treatment of early stage major depressive disorder, showing great promise for combined treatment options as opposed to solely using antidepressants.

In a study of communities in Massachusetts with high numbers of opioid overdose deaths, the implementation of overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) was associated with a significant reduction in opioid overdose death rates. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this study provides observational evidence that OEND is an effective public health intervention to address the epidemic of fatal opioid overdose.

The study, which explored drinking and health outcomes in newly sober recovering alcoholics, is the first to show that physical manifestations of shame - from slumped shoulders to narrow chests - can directly predict a relapse in people who struggle with substances.

"Our study finds that how much shame people display can strongly predict not only whether they will go on to relapse, but how bad that relapse will be - that is, how many drinks they will consume," says UBC Psychology Prof. Jessica Tracy, who conducted the study with graduate student Daniel Randles.

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'>Disulfiram was the first medication approved for the treatment of alcoholism over 50 years ago. It works, at least in part, by preventing the metabolism of an alcohol by-product, acetaldehyde. High levels of acetaldehyde in the body quickly cause unpleasant symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, headache, and accelerated heart rate. Thus, disulfiram provides a very strong incentive to avoid drinking. Disulfiram was effective in reducing cocaine use in patients with the CC genotype and normal DβH levels, whereas those with the low DβH level T genotype showed no disulfiram effect. These data support the hypothesis that disulfiram reduces drug consumption, in part, by blocking DβH. </blockquote>

Functional signs of brain damage from excessive alcohol in young adults include memory and learning loss, as well as deficits in executive functions. These functions are directed by the hippocampus and front structures of the brain, which are not formed completely until the age of 25.

Structural signs of excessive alcohol misuse in young adults are shrinking of the brain, and notable changes to white matter tracts.

Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.

Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.

Most Michigan doctors say they are prepared to take on a wave of new patients -- if the state approves an expansion of its Medicaid program.  

Under the Affordable Care Act, nearly 300,000 more people could be added to the state's Medicaid rolls next year.

Marianne Udow-Phillips of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation says the nonprofit group surveyed 1,500 Michigan physicians.

 "Overall, 81% of primary care physicians say they're going to expand their practices to take new patients come 2014," Udow-Phillips says.

Part of vigilance about symptoms was “identifying triggers” to “prevent a fuller blown experience of symptoms,” said a participant who works as a coordinator at a nonprofit group. For instance, if being with people in close quarters for too long can set off symptoms, build in some alone time when you travel with friends.

Other techniques that our participants cited included controlling sensory inputs. For some, this meant keeping their living space simple (bare walls, no TV, only quiet music), while for others, it meant distracting music. “I’ll listen to loud music if I don’t want to hear things,” said a participant who is a certified nurse’s assistant. Still others mentioned exercise, a healthy diet, avoiding alcohol and getting enough sleep. A belief in God and prayer also played a role for some.

One of the most frequently mentioned techniques that helped our research participants manage their symptoms was work. “Work has been an important part of who I am,” said an educator in our group. “When you become useful to an organization and feel respected in that organization, there’s a certain value in belonging there.” This person works on the weekends too because of “the distraction factor.” In other words, by engaging in work, the crazy stuff often recedes to the sidelines.

I don't care for the "high functioning" language, which has been used in autism to marginalize and ignore people who can't speak, but the techniques and the basic notion of the possibilities of having the life you want are good.