Recovery Michigan

According to a recent study headed by scientists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada, eating commercial baked goods (fairy cakes, croissants, doughnuts, etc.) and fast food (hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza) is linked to depression.

Published in the Public Health Nutrition journal, the results reveal that consumers of fast food, compared to those who eat little or none, are 51% more likely to develop depression.

Furthermore, a dose-response relationship was observed. In other words this means that "the more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression," explains Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, lead author of the study, to SINC.

I believe that in recovery from psychosis, severe depression or any other condition that either lands you on a psychiatric ward, or results in you having to take serious time out from work/family commitments, there is one piece of essential kit that you will not be able to do without.

That piece of essential kit comes in the form of an i-Pod, MP3 Player, Walkman (if you’re still stuck in the 80′s, as many of us are) or personal entertainment device.  God…. these days you can have one of these on your phone.

Managing Chronic Pain in Adults With or in Recovery From Substance Use Disorders , is a new manual developed to equip clinicians with practical guidance and tools for treating chronic noncancer pain in adults with histories of substance use disorders . The manual was developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The manual is one of the latest in the Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) series. TIPs are best-practice guidelines developed by SAMHSA to help provide state-of-the-art information to behavioral health care providers about effective treatment approaches.

This TIP is organized into two parts:

·        Part 1. Managing Chronic Pain in Adults With or in Recovery From Substance Use Disorders

·        Part 2. Managing Chronic Pain in Adults With or in Recovery From Substance Use Disorders: A Review of the Literature

The data collected shows that psychiatrically healthy carriers of the TCF4 gene also filter stimuli less effectively - like people who suffer from schizophrenia. It turned out that primarily smokers who carry the risk gene display a less effective filtering of acoustic impressions. This effect was all the more pronounced the more the people smoked. Non-smoking carriers of the risk gene, however, did not process stimuli much worse. "Smoking alters the impact of the TCF4 gene on acoustic stimulus filtering," says Boris Quednow, explaining this kind of gene-environment interaction. "Therefore, smoking might also increase the impact of particular genes on the risk of schizophrenia." The results could also be significant for predicting schizophrenic disorders and for new treatment approaches, says Quednow and concludes: "Smoking should also be considered as an important cofactor for the risk of schizophrenia in future studies." A combination of genetic (e.g. TCF4), electrophysiological (stimulus filtering) and demographic (smoking) factors could help diagnose the disorder more rapidly or also define new, genetically more uniform patient subgroups.class="posterous_quote_citation">via medicalnewstoday.com

This week's digital story is a story from Leah Harris about mental health recovery. About overcoming a legacy of oppression. About reclaiming her life and defining herself on her own terms. About being part of a global movement working for rights, dignity, and justice for people labeled with mental illness, mad people, and people living with emotional distress.

For more information about mental health recovery and empowerment visit: the National Empowerment Center: www.power2u.org

Great and short video!

According to a study conducted by US Army Public Health Command, the number of suicides committed among US army personnel increased 80% between 2004 and 2008. The study is published online in Injury and Prevention.

The researchers explain that approximately 40% of these suicides might be linked to military events after the United States became involved in Iraq.

You think?

Given that almost 70% of young adults with Asperger syndrome have suffered from depression, it is vital that psychiatric care staff are aware of this so that patients are given the right treatment, reveals research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Tove Lugnegård, researcher at the University of Gothenburg, has shown in her thesis that mood disorders and anxiety disorders are very common among young adults with Asperger syndrome. Around 70% of the young adults with Asperger Syndrome in the study reported at least one previous episode of depression, and up to 50 % had had repeated episodes - a remarkable result given that the mean age of the group was just 27 years.

Mayo Clinic researchers this week will announce the use of the blood pressure drug prazosin as an effective treatment to curb post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related nightmares.

Even mild dehydration can alter a person's mood, energy level, and ability to think clearly, according to two studies recently conducted at the University of Connecticut's Human Performance Laboratory.

The tests showed that it didn't matter if a person had just walked for 40 minutes on a treadmill or was sitting at rest - the adverse effects from mild dehydration were the same. Mild dehydration is defined as an approximately 1.5 percent loss in normal water volume in the body.

I first encountered the concept of arrival fallacies in Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project. Which goes to show that you should occasionally attempt to learn from people who are very unlike yourself (Greg Rader has a nice post about this from a few months ago). If you’ve been following my writing for any length of time, you probably know by now that I am deeply suspicious of the very idea of happiness, and its pursuit. The Rubins of the world rarely get on my radar.

An arrival fallacy in the sense of Rubin is any pattern of thinking that fits the template, I’ll be happy when ______ (Rubin credits Tal Ben-Shahar’s book Happier, which I haven’t read, for the concept).

Another interesting piece from the author of Tempo