Few studies have examined changes of diurnal cortisol profiles prospectively, in relation to non-pharmacological interventions such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). Fifty-six patients remitted from recurrent depression (≥3 episodes) were included in an 8-week randomized controlled trial comparing MBCT plus treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU for depression relapse prophylaxis....
Depression appears to be somewhat epidemic in the modern world. In prior empirical studies we found depression significantly associated with empathy-based guilt, empathic distress, and an overly active or misattributing moral system. In this study, we compared 98 Buddhists, who were primarily Tibetan meditation practitioners to 438 non-Buddhist, non-practicing community adults on a measure of...
Bipolar depression is often refractory to treatment and is frequently associated with anxiety symptoms and elevated suicide risk. There is a great need for adjunctive psychotherapeutic interventions. Treatments with effectiveness for depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as suicide-related thoughts and behaviors would be particularly beneficial. Mindfulness-based interventions hold promise,...
Amino-acid neurotransmitter system dysfunction plays a major role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) to investigate whether prefrontal levels of amino-acid neurotransmitters predict antidepressant response to a single intravenous infusion of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist ketamine in MDD patients....
The current study investigated whether mindfulness and psychological flexibility uniquely and separately accounted for variability in psychological distress (somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress). An ethnically diverse, nonclinical sample of college undergraduates (N = 494, 76% female) completed a Web-based survey that included the self-report measures of...
Increased synaptic serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) levels may underlie antidepressant-like effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) that may be more prominent in subjects with mood disturbance. The Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) strain is an important animal model of depression. These rats are more immobile in the forced swimming test (FST), and their immobility is reversed by known...
Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, New Hampshire. edgar.a.romero-sandoval@dartmouth.eduA LARGE population of patients concomitantly experiences chronic pain and depression or symptoms of depression (52% in pain clinics, or 85% in chronic facial pain dental clinics, for example).1How these two syndromes coexist, interact, reinforce each other, and/or are maintained is poorly...
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is associated with depression. In rodents, pain is often assessed by sensory hypersensitivity, which does not sufficiently measure affective responses. Low-dose ketamine has been used to treat both pain and depression, but it is not clear whether ketamine can relieve depression associated with chronic pain and whether this antidepressant effect depends on its...
Objective: A socio-cultural model of depression in Confucianism-oriented societies has the basic assumption that its psychopathology is determined by the disturbance of a harmonious relationship with others. We present a case study in the context of the socio-cultural background to address the relevant issues regarding mental health. Case Report: A 46-year-old housewife patient with major...
Background: Ketamine is a potent NMDA receptor antagonist with rapid antidepressant properties at subanaesthetic doses. This multimodal imaging study reveals the effects of a subanaesthetic ketamine infusion on fMRI-BOLD responses during an emotional processing task and their relationship to glutamatergic metabolite concentrations in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC) assessed by...