Agoraphobia: "unrealistic fear" Part 2

Experts believe that agoraphobia is a complication of a panic disorder. Most people avoid situations where they feel panic and thus live very sheltered lives. Unfortunately, the cause of agoraphobia is unknown. The disorder usually develops in late teens or early adulthood. It is estimated that 1-5 percent of individuals develop agoraphobia during their lifetime. Women are more prone to agoraphobia than men.

In some cases, fear of having a panic attack may be so great that one may not be able to leave safety of their home. In other cases, one learns to live a restricted lifestyle and is able to tolerate certain situations as long as one is accompanied by a dependent family member or friend. Risk factors that predispose to agoraphobia include having a panic disorder, a stress full experience earlier in life (child abuse), alcohol or substance abuse.

Agoraphobia can lead to social isolation, depression and make one overtly dependent on others. The despair often leads to alcohol and substance abuse to help cope with the situation of hopelessness and loneliness.

Agoraphobia: "unrealistic fear" Part 1

Agoraphobia is a mental disorder associated with unrealistic fear. The syndrome is intricately linked to anxiety. People who have agoraphobia fear being in certain places and easily develop panic like symptoms.

Agoraphobia tends to make people afraid even in open public places like elevators, bridges, high buildings, sporting events, use of public transportation, shopping malls and air planes. This fear can be so devastating that many people are trapped in their homes- this is the only place where they feel safe and rarely venture outside. Some individuals even fear being left alone at home, feel feeble and become dependent on others.

Agoraphobia is difficult to treat because it means confronting the fears. Other symptoms of agoraphobia include difficulty breathing, dizziness, sweating, fast heart rate, nausea, facial flushing, stomach cramps, chest pain, feeling complete lack of control, difficulty swallowing and a sense of doom.

Does lack of sleep cause depression? Part 2

"Adequate quality sleep could therefore be a preventative measure against depression and a treatment for depression," he added.

Chief executive at the mental health charity YoungMinds, Sarah Brennan said: "Enough sleep, good food and regular exercise and all essential to stay emotionally healthy. Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer with depression, yet we are still failing to provide our young people with the help and support to cope with it and prevent it.”

She adds, “Providing parents with information about how to look after your body, for example by getting enough sleep, and how to get help if they are worried about their teenager, will ensure problems are tackled early and prevent serious mental health conditions such as depression."

Final point: While it may sound reasonable to assume that adequate sleep may prevent depression this is clearly not so. There are many individuals who do sleep well and yet feel depressed- clearly indicating that there are many other factors which play a role in development of depression. If sleep was the only factor then sedatives (and not anti depressants) would have long been a cure for depression; caveat- sedatives can in fact worsen depression!

Does lack of sleep cause depression? Part 1

There has been a dramatic rise in childhood depression in the past 2 decades and no one knows why. A recent study by US researchers indicates that perhaps going to bed early may protect teenagers against depression and suicidal ideations. The latest study in 12-18 year olds showed that those teenagers who went to bed after midnight were 24% more likely to have depression than who went to bed at 10 pm. Moreover individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a nearly 71% higher risk of depression than who slept at least 7 hours.

The latest work from Columbia university medical center in NY looked at data gathered from over 15,000 teenagers collected in the 90s. The study revealed that at least one in fifteen teenagers was found to have depression.

All the data indicated that going to bed after midnight was a risk factor for depression and these individuals were more likely to develop suicidal thoughts when compared to children who went to bed at 10 pm. Besides the sleep factor, depression was found to be more likely in girls, older teenagers and in those teenagers who felt that their parents cared little about them.

Lead researcher Dr James Gangwisch does admit that perhaps it is the depression that could be causing the poor sleep patterns. However, it was observed that some of these teenagers only developed symptoms of depression after developing poor sleep habits. Lack of adequate sleep has been linked to aberrant mood changes including loss of concentration, impulsivity and anxiety.

Gingko does Zilch for the brain! Part 2

Says Dr DeKosky, vice dean School of Medicine, "For me, this kind of closes the book on whether or not, if you start taking ginkgo later in life, you are going to have cognitive benefit. We don't have good evidence that it maintains good brain health."
He goes on to add, "Quite frankly, one of the things that surprised us was that for an extract that has been around for this long, there ought to be a signal of some sort, or we ought to see some effect for it to have maintained its reputation for so long. And we didn't."

And what do alternative health care workers say about the study?

Says Douglas Mackay, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a principal trade association of dietary-supplement makers, "What we would really like to see is additional research. What we would not like to see is this study closing the door on answering other questions or subsets of questions on ginkgo."

So what does all this mean for the consumer?

There are always some die hard alternative health care fans who will continue to believe in the mythological properties of gingko. For those who are undecided and have common sense- save your hard earned money on gingko. If you want to have a healthy brain- eat well, exercise regularly and stop believing everything that you read on cyberspace!

Dec. 29, 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association

Gingko does Zilch for the brain! Part 1

For decades, alternative health care practitioners have been hyping the long term benefits of ginkgo for maintaining good mental function and cognition. There are thousands of anecdotal reports from vendors of this herbal supplement that it has “magical” brain stimulating properties. Now there is a study that finds that all the hype about gingko is false- the herb really does not slow down mental decline.

Led by Dr Steven DeKosky from the University of Virginia, six major US institutions looked at Gingko supplements and showed no discernible differences in the herb versus a sugar pill. The researchers looked at the effects of gingko on several brain tasks including attention, memory, concentration, language and cognition. The results revealed that gingko did not make one iota of difference compared to the sugar pill in improving any single brain function. This is the largest and longest study spanning over a mean of 6 years which has looked at effects of gingko on the brain. An earlier study led by the same team showed that ginkgo did zilch in preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s dementia. In the present study, more than 3,000 elderly volunteers between the ages 72-96 participated.

Mother’s depression worsens asthma in children! Part 2

"Intuitively, it may seem that we're dealing with a chicken-egg situation, but our study suggests otherwise. The fact that mom's depression was not affected by how often her child had symptoms really caught us off guard, but it also suggested which factor comes first," Riekert said.

Since depression can profoundly affect mental health concentration, cause fatigue and diminish concentration, it may weaken the mother’s ability to manage her child’s asthma. Asthma is a common respiratory ailment which often gets worse in winter and some children require daily treatments and multiple doctor visits.

"Mom is the one who must implement the doctor's recommendations for treatment and follow-up, and if she is depressed she can't do it well, so the child will suffer," said chief scientist Michiko Otsuki said in news press release.

This simple observational study may be true but there are many other factors in African Americans that have not been looked at. The economy, finances, physical health, obesity or lack of transport- all these can lead to worsening of not only asthma but many other medical disorders.

The study can be viewed online on the Journal of Pediatric Psychology Nov 2009.