Depression and anxiety
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Allelic variations in TPH2, the gene encoding tryptophan hydroxylase 2, the rate-limiting enzyme for brain serotonin (5-HT) biosynthesis, may be genetic predictors of panic disorder and panic responses to panicogenic challenges in healthy volunteers. To test the hypothesis that tph2 mRNA is altered in chronic anxiety states, we measured tph2 expression in an established rat model of panic disorder. ⋯ Our data support the hypothesis that chronic anxiety states are associated with dysregulated tph2 expression.
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Although losses are important consequences of disasters, few epidemiological studies of disasters have assessed complicated grief (CG) and none assessed CG associated with losses other than death of loved one. ⋯ Nonbereavement losses accounted for the vast majority of hurricane-related possible CG despite risk of CG being much higher in response to bereavement than to other losses. This result argues for expansion of research on CG beyond bereavement and alerts clinicians to the need to address postdisaster grief associated with a wide range of losses.
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Depression and anxiety · Jun 2011
Feeling bad on Facebook: depression disclosures by college students on a social networking site.
Depression is common and frequently undiagnosed among college students. Social networking sites are popular among college students and can include displayed depression references. The purpose of this study was to evaluate college students' Facebook disclosures that met DSM criteria for a depression symptom or a major depressive episode (MDE). ⋯ College students commonly display symptoms consistent with depression on Facebook. Our findings suggest that those who receive online reinforcement from their friends are more likely to discuss their depressive symptoms publicly on Facebook. Given the frequency of depression symptom displays on public profiles, social networking sites could be an innovative avenue for combating stigma surrounding mental health conditions or for identifying students at risk for depression.
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Depression and anxiety · Apr 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyDouble-blind randomized parallel-group clinical trial of efficacy of the combination fluoxetine plus modafinil versus fluoxetine plus placebo in the treatment of major depression.
There is growing interest in the identification of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of affective disorders, with modafinil being one promising substance. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the efficacy of a combination of fluoxetine plus modafinil with that of fluoxetine plus placebo in the treatment of major depression in a 6-week double blind and placebo-controlled trial. ⋯ These findings suggest modafinil as a well-tolerated and potentially effective agent in combination with fluoxetine in the management of patients with major depression.
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Depression and anxiety · Mar 2011
Trait anxiety modulates anterior cingulate activation to threat interference.
Individuals vary in the degree to which salient threatening stimuli disrupt or distract from goal-directed cognitive processes. Excessive attention to threat or difficulty resolving the interference created by threat cues could contribute to anxious psychopathology; disruptions in frontal brain regions implicated in attentional control or resolution of emotional interference (e.g. anterior cingulate cortex, "ACC") might play a role. In this study, we explored the hypothesis that trait anxiety would be associated with ACC activity in an attentional control task with varying levels of threat interference. ⋯ The rostral ACC is implicated in assessing the salience of emotional information and controlling attention to resolve emotional interference. The link between higher trait anxiety and decreased ACC activation for angry faces suggests reduced attentional control for signals of interpersonal threat in healthy anxiety-prone individuals.