Depression

Depression affects about 16 million American adults every year. Depression, in itself, is bad enough. It’s symptoms include sadness, sleep disturbances, loss of interest in things you used to enjoy, weight changes, poor concentration, lack of motivation, physical aches, and thoughts of suicide and death. These symptoms reduce your quality of life, impair your productivity,… Read On »

More and more studies are finding that the “Mediterranean diet” significantly reduces the symptoms of depression. One recent meta-analysis of more than 40 studies of diet and depression found that people who followed the Mediterranean diet were 33 percent less likely to suffer from depression. On the other hand, people who ate a diet high… Read On »

Intelligence has many advantages. Higher IQ is associated with better grades, better jobs, higher pay, and even longer life. However, intelligence has drawbacks too. For example, studies have found that higher IQ is associated with more drug use and earlier drug use. Studies have also found that higher IQ is associated with more mental illness,… Read On »

There is a large overlap between people who suffer from major depression and people who suffer from social anxiety disorder. This makes a certain amount of sense to anyone who has struggled with either or both of these conditions. Depression causes you to be irritable and socially isolated. You don’t want to bring others down… Read On »

Worrying and rumination are common features of depression and anxiety disorders. When you worry, you react as though a problem were already happening and will keep happening indefinitely. However, the things we worry about often never happen. If you’re prone to worry, this makes no difference because you feel like you have to be ready.… Read On »

  If you’ve ever suffered from seasonal affective disorder, or even sat indoors for a week, staring out at incessant rain, you probably have some intuition that your mood is connected to sunlight. Studies have, in fact, found a correlation between low vitamin D, which is produced in your skin when sunlight shines on it,… Read On »

When we think of anxiety and depression, we typically think about the psychological symptoms. Symptoms most often associated with depression include sadness, loss of motivation, irritability, disturbed sleep, feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, and persistent thoughts of suicide and death. Anxiety is characterized by worries about the future, worries about social situations, intrusive thoughts, rumination,… Read On »