Study Finds Happiness Is Infectious

Forget six degrees of separation. How about three degrees of happiness? Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego have mapped the relationships of happy people and found that happiness is a collective phenomenon that spreads like a virus through social networks - affecting even strangers three times removed from each other. The theory builds on the notion of emotional contagion, the process at work when a person smiles back at someone who smiles at him. Human emotions appear in clusters, behaving like stampeding animals, says study co-author Nicholas Christakis.

"You would never think to ask a particular buffalo in a herd, ‘Why are you running to the left?'" says the Harvard Medical School sociology professor. "The whole herd is running to the left."

Misery, on the other hand, does not love company as much as happiness does. "Unhappiness doesn't spread as intensely or as consistently as happiness," he says.

The research, being published today in the British Medical Journal, is the latest analysis of data gleaned from the Framingham Heart Study, a longitudinal U.S. survey begun in 1948. The researchers, who have previously published similar findings on the spread of obesity and smoking from the data, focused on 4,739 individuals over 20 years, accounting for 50,000 social and family ties. As the mantra goes in real estate, the top factor in happiness is location, location, location.

Using a standard measure of well-being, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, they found that when an individual becomes happy, a friend who lives nearby experiences a 25-per-cent increased chance of becoming happy. And the more centrally located you are in your social cluster of happy people, the more likely you are to become happy.

Read the rest of the article by Tralee Pearce here.

Feeling SAD?

Darker days making you feel blue? Suffering from unrelenting cabin fever? Are you sleeping more, lacking energy, craving sweets? You may be feeling SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that can seriously impact your daily life. As many as half a million people in the United States may have winter-onset depression and another 10% to 20% may experience mild SAD according to the American Association of Family Physicians.

Research at Loyola University seems to indicate that SAD is first and foremost a physical disorder where reduced exposure to natural light leads to biochemical imbalances in the brain. This may be a sort of genetic leftover; the human equivalent of hibernation. But rather than retreat to the nearest cave (with a bag of Oreos,) try some of these mood lifters:

• Get outside for at least 30 minutes a day, preferably at mid-day. Lunch walk anyone?
• Take a multivitamin that includes magnesium, B-complex and minerals.
• Aerobic exercise. (My favorite.)
• Avoid caffeine. (You've got to be kidding me.)

If you're less than thrilled with these suggestions, you might try light therapy. Light therapy mimics outdoor light and causes a biochemical change in your brain that lifts your mood and relieves symptoms. In light therapy, you sit a few feet from a specialized light therapy box so that you're exposed to very bright light. Light therapy is generally easy to use and has relatively few side effects. However, light therapy hasn't been officially approved as a treatment by the Food and Drug Administration because of a lack of definitive evidence about its effectiveness in clinical trials. Before you purchase a light therapy box or consider light therapy, consult your doctor or mental health provider to make sure it's right for you. (Got my light from Costco...)

Most people experience some days when they feel down. But if you feel down for days at a time and you can't seem to get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy, see your doctor. This is particularly important if you notice that your sleep patterns and appetite have changed — and certainly if you feel hopeless, think about suicide, or find yourself turning to alcohol for comfort or relaxation. More than usual. (Frankly, just thinking about the impending holidays makes me feel hopeless, think about suicide, and turn to alcohol for comfort.) Find more info here.

Talk it out...

For decades, lithium was the front-line treatment for bipolar disorder. The mysterious salt—doctors still don’t know exactly how it works—stabilizes the intense high and low moods that are hallmarks of the illness.

But after its use for nearly 40 years (the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved lithium for control of manic episodes in 1970), doctors and consumers have come to the realization that lithium—as well as other mood stabilizing medications—are not the cure-alls initially hoped for.

“It took the field about 25 years to notice that outcomes were not always so good,” says Ellen Frank, PhD, a psychologist and a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

“We don’t know why [people] relapsed—whether there was a non-adherence to medication, or if the early results for lithium were overly optimistic or there was a co-morbid use of illicit drugs, or a combination of those things,” Frank says.

Indeed, lithium’s limitations led researchers to reexamine psychotherapy’s role and potential. In the 1950s and 1960s, therapy for bipolar consisted chiefly of psychoanalysis, founded by Freud; and psycho dynamic therapy, which focuses on a patient’s previous experiences to understand current conflicts, according to Gregory Simon, MD, a psychiatrist and researcher at Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health-care system based in Seattle, Washington.

“Then more came out about the inheritability of the illness, which led people to look for [other] treatments,” says Simon, who is also chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).

Over the past decade or so, researchers have developed several psychotherapies that are specifically designed for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Most of these therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal social rhythm therapy (IPSRT), were retooled from existing therapies for other mental illnesses, such as those for anxiety and depression, according to researchers.

Early results have been promising: Clinical studies indicate that therapies targeted for bipolar—when combined with appropriate medication—result in greater mood stability and medication compliance, reduction or elimination of hospitalizations, a faster recovery from a bipolar depression, and better overall quality of life.

According to Joseph R. Calabrese, MD, bipolar disorders research chair and professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University, “The best treatment for bipolar disorder includes both a mood stabilizer, which is used to prevent future mood episodes; and psychotherapy/counseling, which is used to help people learn how to manage the symptoms of their illness. Either alone does not work as well.”

Excerpt from Psychotherapy retooled from the Fall 2008 issue of bp Magazine

Veteran's Day 2008

Consider these statistics:

• Nearly 33 percent of those who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan will experience mental health issues.

• In 2007, the suicide rate among veterans who served in the US Army was at an all-time high.

• Approximately 40 percent of all homeless veterans live with mental illnesses.

• Nearly 57 percent of this aforementioned group are African American or Hispanic veterans.

•  Approximately 30 percent of veterans treated in the Veterans health system experienced depressive symptoms, two to three times the rate of the general population.

With an historic Election now behind us, Americans turn to Veterans Day on November 11 to honor all those who once served in our Armed Forces. Michelle Obama has said that, " The struggles of America's families aren't new to Barack... He also knows that when our military goes to war, their families go with them. He's a strong advocate for predictable deployments and better healthcare - including mental health - for returning service people." It is with renewed hope that we hear these words. (Read the rest here.)

Stand with NAMI and make a donation in support of better mental health care resources for veterans, active duty service members, and their families. You may even make your gift in tribute to a veteran, active duty service member, or other loved one, and include a message of support for display on the NAMI's Veterans Tribute Honor Roll.

So today let us say thank you to our veterans - including my son, whose bravery in facing the struggles of his daily life is my constant source of inspiration.

Not at my best...

It's been awhile since I've been on medication. I'm pretty par with the average consumer that I loathe the side effects of anti-depressants and I'm probably better than average at finding other ways to cope. Notice I didn't say healthier ways, just other - although as I've grown older I've tried to avoid self medicating with substances or food. sigh... key word - TRIED. Sometimes I'm pretty good at avoidance.... sometimes what I'm avoiding isn't necessarily what I should be avoiding.

I'm pretty much free falling at present - enough that I think I may have no other choice but to go to my doc and ask for meds. Again. This in and of itself, is not making me feel better.

I know that my current depression is mostly due to my reactions to some very specific current events, some of them personal and some of them the world at large. I tend to soak up the free floating anxiety that our current economy and pre-election hysteria send out to the ether; like many with depression, I feel everything personally and intensely. I just spent a full week in a training to become a WA State Certified Peer Counselor and came home pretty shook up. (Imagine a week of intensive group therapy.) Then I had someone I thought of as a friend tell me she is "done," (with me? I assume) - leading me to ruminate on how she got to "done" without me even guessing that there was a problem. ( I will think this to death. It will be my fault. Can't maintain even the most rudimentary adult relationships - just like your mother - bladdda, bladda, blah.)

The level at which I am NOT coping right now is pretty clear. Binge eating is being narrowly avoided, or not avoided depending on your point of view... I'm bingeing but on pretty low calorie fare so it hasn't left me feeling a complete failure... only a minor one. I'm avoiding social contact. I'm a complete bitch to my poor husband, because he's around me enough to catch the brunt of my misery. I haven't started drinking for relief. I cry myself to sleep after an hour or two of mindless mental activity to wear me out... or I have to take something to sleep - tylenol PM or Xanax (down to my last 6 pills and hoarding them. Don't really want to go the doc.)

Is it enough for me to say that I need help, even while I'm avoiding getting it?

Older. with Bipolar.

No sour grapes for David Zagorsky—the acronym GRAPES means something quite the opposite for this vibrant 63-year-old living in seaside Del Mar, California.

Zagorsky participated several times in a cognitive program that taught him to incorporate these words into his daily life: 'Gentle, Relaxation, Accomplishment, Pleasure, Exercise, and Social.' GRAPES, he says, are great motivation. "Just do a little of each. For example, walking to the local convenience store accomplishes both the exercise and social components."

Sometimes you'll need to dig deeper, Zagorsky admits. "When you're really down, challenge yourself, and say, 'I'm going to get up at a certain time and move on with my day. I've just got to do it.' You give in to this illness, and you're done." He knows that maturity means being able to handle what is often a full plate. "Go to work on behalf of other people to escape your own misery."

The determined and reflective Zagorsky, diagnosed with bipolar I at age 24, is a dedicated facilitator at the peer-to-peer Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), San Diego chapter. He relies upon his "three-legged stool"—medical management, a skilled therapist whom he trusts, and his family and friends. These friends include his DBSA group, which meets each Monday "because illness does not know vacation and it's not a walk-in-the-park illness, but one that is chronic and cyclical," he says. "You never know when it's going to sneak up on you again, so be aware of 'gradations,' those subtle changes."

Read the rest of the article by Stephanie Stevens here.

Anger Management

Mood specialists are careful to distinguish between occasional hot flashes of anger and the long-simmering irritability and rage—angry outbursts lasting over several days, during both manic episodes and agitated states of depression—that is symptomatic of bipolar disorder. During a manic episode, experts say, mood changes can swing from irritability to euphoria to depression—all within a 25-minute period of time.

“Instantaneous anger that lasts a few minutes and occurs twice a week is not bipolar, it’s being angry,” says David L. Dunner, MD, FACPsych, director of the Center for Anxiety and Depression in Mercer Island, Washington. “Irritability can be present during highs and lows, but irritability without elated mood makes me suspect the illness may not be bipolar.”

In other words, everybody gets angry. Just because you have a head-turning temper tantrum doesn’t mean you have bipolar disorder. Anger is a common response to both physiological illnesses like cancer and heart disease and mental illnesses such as intermittent explosive disorder, major depressive disorder and substance-induced mood disorder.

“As bipolar disorder receives more media attention, it’s easy for any type of abhorrent behavior to be attributed to it when in fact, this has to do with one’s temperament,” says Ronald A. Remick, MD, a consultant psychiatrist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Bipolar patients are not angry, hostile, irritable people with short fuses,” he emphasizes. “If people with bipolar illness have anger issues, they have anger issues.”

It is, however, a side of bipolar disorder that has long passed under the radar screen. Many people with bipolar say that uncontrolled anger has destroyed their marriages, families and personal relationships, ruined their careers and left them emotionally isolated...

ANGER MANAGEMENT 101

Here are some suggestions from both doctors and patients to help you get a handle on your anger.

• Ask yourself these questions when you feel yourself on the verge of anger: Is this really what I want to do? Do I want to have this conversation or explosion now? Maybe I should wait until I feel better. Answering “no” could buy you a few precious seconds to consider your next move,” says Roy Perlis, MD, MSc, medical director of the Bipolar Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
• The same goes for email. Don’t let loose too soon. Print is forever.
• If you’re prone to anger outbursts you know it by now. “For some people, this feels like a panic attack, a rush of adrenalin, heart pounding, skin flushed,” says Perlis. Have a plan in place about how you intend to RRespond—and keep to it.
• Remove yourself immediately from the situation. That’s appropriate especially if you’re a parent with a child or even a pet owner. At work, excuse yourself and go to the restroom.
• Explore relaxation techniques for managing anxiety, like visualization, listening to music, or maybe doing a task that distracts you.
• Exercise daily.
  
• Communicate with your doctor, advises Sharon Lyons. And be creative, like Jeff McDonald, who shouts the odd-sounding name of Providence Bruins hockey goalie, Finnish player, “Tuukka Rask!” Why? “It makes me laugh,” he says.

Excerpt from Stuck on the rage road in the Fall 2008 issue of bp Magazine

(I'm out of town until Oct. 18th... am attending WA State Peer Counseling Training... sort of mental health camp:)