Updates about psychiatry and our practice.
A study of 15 population-based cohorts, totalling 56,351 individuals, suggests that there is a correlation between inflammation as measured by elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and a specific sub-group of symptoms of depression. The inflammation cluster consisted of four physical symptoms: changes in appetite, felt everything was an effort, loss of energy, sleep problems; and one cognitive symptom: little …
Psychology Tools offers a wealth of new resources for patients and therapists at Gateway Psychiatric. These tools include hundred of worksheets, handouts, exercises, podcasts, and information sheets that are solidly founded in clinical research. The entire collection is searchable by resource type, problem and therapy type and thus easily accessible. Gateway is licensed to share these materials with any patient …
A powerful online assessment that automatically scores a couple’s strengths and challenges. Created by Drs. John and Julie Gottman in collaboration with The Gottman Institute and Affective Software Inc. This clinical tool consists of 337 questions about friendship, intimacy, how well you know your partner, how you manage emotions and conflict, how you share your values and goals, and what …
80% of women in the U.S. will experience at least one pregnancy and 84% of babies will be breastfed. In addition, more than half of women use medications during lactation. There are many reasons for using medications during breastfeeding, but the post-partum period is a time of high vulnerability to mood and anxiety episodes, and the effects of a mood …
The COVID-19 pandemic appears to be associated with a higher burden of depressive symptoms than might have been predicted in comparison with earlier disasters and society-wide disruptive events, such as the September 11th attacks. Since April 2020, self-reported symptoms of depression have increased over the previous year, and remain high. A survey1 published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas …
Suicide remains a sad mystery in many ways. Those left behind can never really know what was in their loved one’s mind at the last. We blame ourselves, and we deal with all the guilt, anger and grief that the act leaves behind, but we can never completely understand what leads someone to take their own life. Willa Goodfellow, in …
Three different findings associated with insulin resistance and pre-diabetes are predictive of developing depression according to a study published online from the American Journal of Psychiatry. Study Summary MedPage Today (9/23/2021) writes that, “Three surrogate measures for insulin resistance all showed a significant link with developing a major depressive disorder [MDD] over a nine-year follow-up period,” researchers concluded. The 601-participant study …
Google’s Hangouts Meet is finally giving way to the more advanced version, Google Meet. For several years we have been using Google Meet as the preferred way of setting up telepsychiatry sessions at Gateway Psychiatric. There are two essential points to know. The information about how to join a Google Meet is to be found in the invitation to the …
Interesting study out of Taiwan that uses their fairly comprehensive population based data set to look at the relative risk of having different disorders in a family where one parent either has bipolar one or bipolar two disorder. I found this study interesting in that it suggests that bipolar one has a higher genetic loading for any kind of bipolar …
Next week will commence another round of our 6 week Bipolar 101 group for Gateway clients/patients hoping to learn more about how to manage the impact of their moods with more grace and awareness. Bipolar 101 is an online, six session group that covers topics such as general knowledge of the disorder, medications, substance use, early detection of episodes, healthy …
