Bipolar Like Me - Depression and Smoking

Depression and Premenstrual Syndromes

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

Most women have some symptoms, whether physical or emotional, related to their periods. Symptoms are present during the five days before a woman gets her period and then disappear within a day or two of ... Read more... »

Shame: The Quintessential Emotion

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

It's the quintessential human emotion, says New Brunswick, N.J., psychologist Michael Lewis, Ph.D., in his writings. All extravagant behaviors are reactions to it, says Philadelphia psychiatrist Donald I. Nathanson, M.D. It's the root of dysfunctions ... Read more... »

Medications for Depression

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

The kind of depression that will most likely benefit from treatment with medications is more than just "the blues." It is a condition that is prolonged, lasting two weeks or more, and interferes with a ... Read more... »

Choosing the Best SSRI

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

As the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia & Depression in Great Neck, N.Y., pointed out, mood disorders are caused by a flaw in chemistry, not character. That's why medications that alter brain chemistry play ... Read more... »

Paroextine may help treat compulsive hoarding

Monday, November 13th, 2006

New research has found that certain antidepressants work well to reduce symptoms of compulsive hoarding. It's very common to have a collection of some kind — acquiring and retaining nonessential objects is nearly universal and found ... Read more... »

Medications: Symptom Relief, Not Cure

Saturday, November 4th, 2006

Just as aspirin can reduce a fever without clearing up the infection that causes it, psychotherapeutic medications act by controlling symptoms. Like most drugs used in medicine, they correct or compensate for some malfunction in ... Read more... »

Why Do Women Get the Blues?

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare, 1600-01 Diagnosing Depression in Women Did you know that women are twice as likely to experience ... Read more... »

Side Effects of Antidepressant Medications

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

Like all medications, antidepressants may produce unwanted side effects. While various drugs have different side effect profiles, most individuals experience fewer side effects with the newer antidepressants (example: SSRIs, SNRIs). Some symptoms will go away ... Read more... »

Treatment of Panic Disorder

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

Treatment can bring significant relief to 70 percent to 90 percent of people with panic disorder, and early treatment can help keep the disease from progressing to the later stages where agoraphobia develops. Before undergoing any ... Read more... »

Key Points about Antidepressant Therapy

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

It takes from two to six weeks for an antidepressant to begin to work. You may feel worse before you feel better because side effects can occur almost immediately, whereas therapeutic benefits appear later. The ... Read more... »

Anxiety, Worry, and Stress, Oh My: The Bugaboos of Modern Life

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Anxiety, worry, and stress are all afflictions of life in the modern world. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 10 percent of the American population, or 24 million people, suffer from anxiety ... Read more... »

Depression and Baby Boomers: How Having It All May Be Too Much

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Among the generation that has continually attempted to have it all, many baby boomers are now reluctantly adding a diagnosis of depression to their list of gains. As the leading cause of disability in the ... Read more... »

Identifying and Treating Major Depression

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

I feel like I'm floating under an endless gray sky in an endless gray sea of tepid water. There is no horizon. There is nothing to break the monotony. I feel nothing. I see nothing. ... Read more... »

Men Can Get the Blues

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Depression traditionally has been considered a female disorder. But men can and do get depressed. The big difference is that men may be less likely to seek treatment for depression because they see mental illness ... Read more... »

Depression and Smoking

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Depression is associated with an increased frequency of smoking. Addicted smokers are characterized by preoccupation with smoking, abnormal attachment to cigarettes and anticipation of brain reward from the drugs in cigarette smoke. Attempts to quit ... Read more... »

Antidepressants Articles