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As it turns out, all this expression of gratitud e is a good thing for our minds and bodies. In a new article in the National Communication Association's  Review of Communication , authors Stephen M. Yoshimura and Kassandra Berzins explore the connection between gratitude expression and psychological and physical well-being. As one might expect, positivity begets positive results for our well-being. What the authors write may seem obvious: "Gratitude consistently associates with many positive social, psychological, and health states, such as an increased likelihood of helping others, optimism, exercise, and reduced reports of physical symptoms." However, the authors argue that not enough research has been done on the communication of gratitude and its effect on well-being, and they propose further avenues for analysis of gratitude messages and their impact. Expressions o f gratitude are often a response to others' acts of generosity -- if you receive a gift fro...

Duke researchers have linked particular variations within the mind's cerebellum (pink) and pons to elevated danger for a number of types of psychological dysfunction. Credit score: Picture credit score: Annchen Knodt A Duke College examine is the primary to hyperlink particular variations in mind construction to what's widespread throughout many varieties of psychological sickness. Having a single psychological sickness like nervousness, melancholy or schizophrenia is difficult sufficient by itself. However research constantly present that as much as half of individuals with one psychological sickness additionally expertise a number of further types of psychological sickness on the similar time. The excessive numbers of sufferers that suffer from a number of types of psychological sickness has many researchers shifting focus away from finding out particular person issues and as a substitute attempting to find widespread mechanisms or danger c...

"Our smartphones have turned into a tool that provides short, quick, immediate satisfaction, which is very triggering," said Isaac Vaghefi, assistant professor of management information systems at Binghamton University-State University of New York. "Our neurons get fired and dopamine is being released, and over time this makes us acquire a desire for quick feedback and immediate satisfaction. This process also has contributed to developing shorter attention spans and being more and more prone to boredom." Vaghefi and his colleagues recently surveyed 182 college students and asked them to report their daily routine of smartphone usage. Based on the analysis of the responses, they classified the user as one of the following types: Thoughtful, Regular, Highly Engaged , Fanatic and Addict. Seven percent identified as "addicts" and 12 percent identified as "fanatics." Both groups experience personal, social and workplace problems due to a compuls...

Dairy consumption has long been linked to a wide range of physical health benefits, but its effect on emotional health has remained unclear. Now, a new study published in the journal  Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology  reveals that people who consume low-fat dairy products may be less prone to depression Professor Ryoichi Nagatomi of Tohoku University and colleagues in Japan and China investigated the association between whole and low-fat dairy consumption and depressive symptoms such as exhaustion, sadness, anxiety, helplessness and hopelessness. This is the first study to consider different components of dairy products (whole fat and low fat) and the occurrence of depression. The study involved 1,159 Japanese adults between t he ages of 19 and 83. There were 897 men and 262 women, of which 31.2% and 31.7% respectively, were depressed. The researchers asked the participants in a questionnaire how often they consumed whole- or low-fat milk or yogurt. Depr...

The need for psychotherapy in primary healthcare is on the increase for patients who are suffering with a variety of mental health problems. However, individual therapy is costly and the supply does not meet the demand. Group therapy with mindfulness can be a viable alternative treatment, which at the same will free up resources in healthcare to be used more efficiently. "Our new research shows that mindfulness group therapy has the equivalent effect as individual CBT for a wide range of psychiatric symptoms that are common among this patient group," says Professor Jan Sundquist, who led the research group in the study which has been published in  European Psychiatry . He adds, "We have shown in a previous study that mindfulness group therapy is just as effective as individual CBT for the treatment of typical depression and anxiety symptoms; something we also observed in the new study." The study group included 215 patients with depression, anxiety and st...

People with anxiety and depression often have sleep problems. But little has been known about whether or how their poor sleep affects a specific region of the brain known to be involved in regulating negative emotional responses. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that this area of the brain, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, may have to work harder to modify negative emotional responses in people with poor sleep who have depression or anxiety. The finding is reported in the journal  Depression and Anxiety . The research team, led by Heide Klumpp, assistant professor of psychiatry at UIC , used functional MRI to measure the activity in different regions of the brain as subjects were challenged with an emotion-regulation task. Participants were shown disturbing images of violence -- from war or accidents -- and were asked to simply look at the images and not to try to control their reaction or to "reappraise" what they...

This systematic review adds to the growing literature on integrative therapies for patients with breast cancer and other cancer populations. The latest results are published online and in print in  CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians , a publication of the American Cancer Society. The researchers evaluated more than 80 different therapies and developed grades of evidence. Based on those findings, the Society for Integrative Oncology makes the following recommendations: Use of music therapy, meditation, stress management and yoga for anxiety and stress reduction Use of meditation, relaxation, yoga, massage and music therapy for depression and mood disorders Use of meditation and yoga to improve quality of life Use of acupressure and acupuncture for reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting A lack of strong evidence supporting the use of ingested dietary supplements or botanical natural products as part of supportive care and/or to manage breast cancer treatment-r...

Our histological evaluation reveals that serotonin sort three receptor (5HT3R ) and insulin-like development issue 1 (IGF1) are expressed in the identical neurons within the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Moreover, we present that 5HT3R agonist remedy will increase hippocampal extracellular IGF1 ranges, and that 5HT3R-dependent hippocampal neurogenesis is mediated by IGF1 signaling. As well as, we additionally present that 5HT3R agonist induces antidepressant results in addition to hippocampal neurogenesis impartial of SSRIs. Altogether, our findings recommend a novel 5HT3R-IGF1 mechanism that's distinct from SSRI-induced responses and that gives a brand new therapeutic goal for despair, particularly bringing important advantages for SSRI-resistant depressed sufferers. Credit score: Makoto Kondo Antidepressants deal with signs of despair by rising ranges of mind signaling molecules (neurotransmitters) comparable to serotonin, as ...

"Many clinicians are hesitant to consider bariatric surgery in the mentally ill population due to the assumption that they will not fare well. This research counters those assumptions, showing no difference, on average, in weight loss in the mentally ill versus non-mentally ill population," said TOS spokesperson Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, FTOS, Director of National Center for Weight and Wellness. "No prior research has evaluated this research question in a large and detailed study group. While all potential surgical patients should receive a thorough evaluation prior to considering surgery, this research suggests that there appears to be no outright reason to deny consideration of bariatric surgery in patients with mental illness who otherwise are good surgical candidates." Researchers reviewed electronic health record (EHR) data from over 8,000 adults with and without mental illness, from several health care systems across the United States in 2012-2013, to study we...

Depression is thought to be the least recognised symptom in people with cancer. It has previously been difficult to determine if some people with cancer develop depression as a result of chemotherapy or the stress of having cancer itself. Although an early animal study, these findings are the first to suggest that chemotherapy causes behavioural and biological brain changes related to depression that are separate from the psychological distress resulting from a cancer diagnosis. Recent research has shown that depression is most common in cancer patients who have brain cancer. Studies show that around 30 per cent of patients with brain cancer experience depression and the disorder is thought to be highly under-diagnosed. For example, one recent study pointed out that 90 per cent of patients self-reported symptoms of depression, whereas only 20 per cent were classified as having clinical depression. Most cancer patients are treated with chemotherapy as a lifesaving intervention t...