WORTH TRYING! IF PROBIOTICS CAN POSSIBLY HELP DEPRESSION

Anything that might help this debilitating problem is definitely worth trying and I can see how possibly this might work. In holistic terms the body works as a whole, for too long orthodox medicine has pigeon holed ailments and for certain complaints, particularly  chronic ones this has not effected a cure. Interesting study and I would like to see further research on this.

Could eating yoghurt help treat depression? Study finds probiotics affect areas of the brain related to emotions and reasoning

• U.S. researchers found that eating yoghurt twice daily reduced activity in areas of the brain associated with emotion and pain
• But there was increased activity in areas associated with decision-making
• Mechanisms behind changes are unclear but it is clear that gut bacteria send signals to the brain that can change over time depending on diet
• Scientists hope that a probiotic therapy may one day be available for  conditions including anxiety, depression and even autism and Alzheimer's
• 
  

Probiotics found in natural yogurt could help boost a person’s mood because they affect brain function, according to new research.

Previous studies had shown that beneficial bacteria affected the brains of rats but no research has confirmed that the same occurred in human brains.

The study found that those who ate probiotic yoghurt twice daily for a month showed altered brain function, both in resting brain activity and in response to an 'emotional attention task', which was designed to monitor how the brain responded to certain emotions.

Dairy goodness: Scientists discovered that eating probiotic yogurt twice a day for a month reduced activity in areas of the brain associated with emotion and pain

It has been known for some time that symbiotic gut bacteria, the complex ecosystem of microorganisms that live in the human digestive system, promote health by boosting immunity, aiding digestion, as well as maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure.

It has also been known that the brain sends signals to the gut, which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms. This study shows that signals travel the opposite way as well.

‘Our findings indicate that some of the contents of yogurt may actually change the way our brain responds to the environment. 

‘When we consider the implications of this work, the old sayings "you are what you eat" and "gut feelings'" take on new meaning,’ said Dr. Kirsten Tillisch of UCLA's School of Medicine, who led the study.

Beneficial bacteria found in fermented products such a yoghurt have long been known to boost immunity

‘Time and time again we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut. 

‘Our study shows that the gut-brain connection is a two-way street,’ she added.

Tillisch's team recruited 36 women of a healthy weight aged between 18 and 53.

They were assigned to one of three groups. One group ate a yogurt with live bacterial cultures  containing probiotic strains such as Bifidobacterium animalis, Streptococcus thermophiles, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus twice a day for one month.

Another ate a dairy product which contained no living bacteria, and another was given no dairy products at all.

Before and after the one-month study period, the researchers conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans on the women. 

In each session, they started with a five-minute scan of the brain at rest, while the women lay still with their eyes closed.

Afterwards, the participants were asked to perform an ‘emotional faces attention task’, in which their brains were scanned while they matched a series of angry or fearful faces on a computer screen to other faces that appeared.

The results showed that during the emotional task, women who ate the probiotic yogurt had reduced activity in a brain network that included the somatosensory cortex - which receives sensory information - and the insula, a brain region that integrates sensory feedback from internal parts of the body including the gut. 

You are what you eat?: Probiotic yoghurts are already very popular in the UK. The findings show that nutritional therapy could one day play a vital role in treating patients with disorders that cause pain and emotional upset

They also had reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and basal ganglia, which handle aspects of cognition and emotion.

The women who ate non-probiotic yogurt or no dairy showed either no change, or an increase of activity in this network over time.

In the resting state, the brain scans of the women who ate probiotic yogurt showed stronger connectivity in a neural network which connects the periaqueductal grey (PAG) &mdash a region of the brainstem involved in responding to pain and emotional stimuli — to areas of the prefrontal cortex related to aspects of cognition like decision-making.

Experts hope that one day probiotics may provide a therapy for neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's

The women who ate no dairy, however, had stronger connectivity of the PAG to sensory and emotion-related parts of the brain, like the insula, somatosensory cortex, and amygdala.

The mechanisms behind these changes are unclear, wrote the researchers, but it's clear that gut bacteria send molecular signals to the brain that can change over time.

Dr. Emeran Mayer, who also worked on the study, said that what we eat alters the way our gut bacteria breaks down food. 

While diets high in vegetables and fibre promote healthy gut bacteria, the typical Western diet full of fats, sugars, and carbohydrates, can do the opposite.

The research team hopes to identify which signals from the gut bacteria lead to a shift in brain activity. 

People with digestive conditions linked to gut dysbiosis (an imbalances in gut bacteria) such as irritable bowel syndrome, might show such shifts in brain response if they are treated with probiotics.

Dr Mayer also suggested that specific probiotic strains in yogurt could have health benefits such as relieving anxiety, stress, and other mood symptoms over time.

As tests to analyse bacteria growth in individuals become more readily available, it will become easier to see how someone's gut bacteria makeup influences factors like brain development, stress, and pain sensitivity.

It is possible that changing the composition of gut bacteria could lead to treatments for chronic pain disorders, he said, as well as symptoms of brain conditions like autism, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's disease.

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DO PEOPLE WHO SUFFER DEPRESSION HAVE BROKEN BODY CLOCKS?

I'm always looking for suggestions to help people with depression as I feel so many people are ignorant and unsympathetic to sufferers of this ailment as like all mental illnesses there is a general lack of knowledge and understanding and it has a stigma it doesn't deserve. It's a hidden illness, in that it doesn't show physically but sufferers are ill and deserve as much sympathy and understanding as someone with say a broken leg. Often the causes of depression have a physical cause such as someone who has suffered a long term condition such as arthritis and the resulting chronic physical pain. Chemical imbalances in neurotransmitters can result in depression as do certain hormones Melatonin springs to mind as this is produced by the pineal gland deep within the brain and this hormone maintains circadian rhythms and interacts with serotonin a neurotransmitter which a lack of leads to depression. So the article below from the 'Daily Mail' does make sense.

Article from the Daily Mail below

Out of sync with the world: Depressed people suffer with 'broken body clocks'

• There is a link between depression and changes in the body's circadian rhythm, or body clock
• There is a daily rhythm to the activity of many genes across many different areas of the brain
• The pattern of gene activity is so distinctive that it can be used to estimate the hour of someone's death
• In people with depression clock is so disrupted that day pattern of gene activity can look like night pattern

Depressed people are out of synch with the rest of the world because their body clocks are broken

Depressed people are out of sync with the rest of the world because their body clocks are broken, according to a new study.
The discovery of disrupted body clocks in the brains of people with depression is the first link to be found between the condition and changes in the circadian rhythm.
It is hoped that the finding will allow for the development of better treatments.
Every cell in the human body runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles in nature.
The brain acts as a timekeeper, keeping this cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetite, sleep and moods.
However, new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression - even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.
The discovery, published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was made by studying differences in the donated brains of people who had been depressed and those who had not.
The research also revealed a previously unknown daily rhythm to the activity of many genes across many areas of the brain - expanding the sense of how crucial the body’s clock is.
In a normal brain, the pattern of gene activity at a given time of the day is so distinctive that the authors could use it to accurately estimate the hour of death of the brain donor.
However, in severely depressed patients, the circadian clock was so disrupted that a patient’s ‘day’ pattern of gene activity could look like a ‘night’ pattern, and vice versa.
Lead author Dr Jun Li, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Genetics at University of Michigan Medical School, in the U.S., described how the approach allowed the researchers to accurately back-predict the hour of the day when each non-depressed individual died - literally plotting them out on a 24-hour clock by noting which genes were active at the time they died.
They looked at 12,000 gene transcripts isolated from six regions of 55 brains from people who did not have depression. This provided a detailed understanding of how gene activity varied throughout the day in the brain regions studied.

In severely depressed patients, the circadian clock is so disrupted that a patient's 'day' pattern of gene activity could look like a 'night' pattern

However, when the team tried to do the same in the brains of 34 depressed people, the gene activity was off by hours. The cells looked as if it were an entirely different time of day.
Dr Li said: ‘There really was a moment of discovery.
‘It was when we realised that many of the genes that show 24-hour cycles in the normal individuals were well-known circadian rhythm genes - and when we saw that the people with depression were not synchronised to the usual solar day in terms of this gene activity.
‘It’s as if they were living in a different time zone than the one they died in.’
Depression affects one in ten adults in the UK at any one time but it is slightly more common in women.
At any one time one in 20 people in the UK will be experiencing severe depression.
The main symptoms are lasting feelings of sadness and hopelessness, losing interest in things you used to enjoy and feeling tearful.
There can also be physical symptoms such as fatigue, sleeping badly, having no appetite and aches and pains.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE OPTIMISTIC AND POSITIVE ABOUT LIFE

I came across this article today about research suggests being optimistic and having a sense of purpose helps you live longer, made me laugh really for us in holistic medicine and mediums have known this for decades.

THESE ARTICLES BELOW ARE EXCERPTS OF WHAT I'VE WRITTEN PREVIOUSLY

Hopefully these will give you some insight as to why being optimistic and positive about life will benefit your health

_____________________________________

Let's  start at the beginning. What is Stress?  a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances : he's obviously under a lot of stress | [in combination ] stress-related illnesses.
• something that causes such a state : the stresses and strains of public life. The trouble with stress is that it's not a universal level, everyone has their own threshold i.e. what is stressful to one is positively fine and stimulating to another.
We need stress for without it we'd have no motivation to do anything. Imagine this scenario: you've suddenly acquired a vast amount of money on the lottery, riches beyond your wildest dreams. So what's the first thing you do? likelihood you give up your job, people often find their jobs as stressful. You've got enough money so you don't need to work. That makes you feel less stressed, or so you think. Of course you buy the big house, the cars, the boat, designer wardrobe and you party. You really think you have it made. There comes a point though when you can have anything you want, you don't have to work for it, there's no sense of achievement, no goal in sight. You don't have to cook or clean what do you do all day? eventually you will run out of ideas and you will become bored, you will have no motivation to do or achieve anything. Stress is a catch 22 situation if you have no motivation, you become depressed and bored, the days are long that equals stress. So a certain amount of stress is necessary to motivate us and stimulate us and give us a reason to be here and a sense of accomplishment this can be seen simply as this:
Stress = Motivation > Stimulation > Accomplishment = Satisfaction

CORTISOL OFTEN KNOWN AS THE 'STRESS HORMONE'

Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced within the adrenal cortex in the adrenal glands, these are cone shaped organs sitting on top of the kidneys. It's a very important hormone and responsible for proper glucose metabolism, helping regulate blood pressure, has a part to play in insulin and blood sugar levels and is part of the inflammatory response. It's often known as the stress hormone but as you can see that's only part of its functions, and this is because it's secreted in higher levels as part of the 'Fight or Flight response'. When secreted in short bursts its beneficial to the body as due to it's actions, it helps mobilise energy reserves, heightens memory and lowers response to pain. This is how and why it's beneficial in the 'Fight and Flight response', it acts quickly and helps survival, however today's stresses are not the same as yesteryear and therein lies the problem.
When there is prolonged secretion of this hormone, when stress is on going, it causes blood sugar imbalances, affects bone density, causing it to decrease and also causes a decrease in muscle tissue. It raises blood pressure affects the body's immune system making us more susceptible to infection and leads to poor healing. It also causes shifts in body fat by increasing more fat around the abdominal areas and leads to higher levels of cholesterol.

POSITIVE THINKING AND AFFIRMINATIONS

POSITIVE THINKING AND AFFIRMATIONS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

The benefit of positive thinking has been proven through much research. What Affirmations do are to consciously harness the power of positive thinking and direct it to specific areas of your life that need attention or where you want to bring about change. 

Affirmations work and can really transform your life!

Affirmations and positive thinking are very powerful tools that can bring about healing and change. However negative thoughts are just as powerful and can be very self-destructive. Although we have no control over all what goes on in the world and certain aspects of our lives, we do have control over the way we interpret and how we deal to it.

"The thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experiences"
You experience your interpretation as an internal dialogue. Thoughts, judgements and feelings are ceaselessly swirling through your mind. Thoughts like: I like this; I don't like that; I am afraid of this; I am unsure about him/her. This internal dialogue is not random, it is generated from a deep level by your beliefs and assumptions which have been formed and accumulated from the time you were born. It is worth remembering that a lot of these assumptions and beliefs were formulated as a child and have never been re-examined and therefore may be highly inappropriate to you as an adult or just simply wrong. When someone's interpretation changes, a change subsequently takes place in their reality. Thus we can make big changes in our lives by changing our thinking. We can start simply with positive thinking and Affirmations and then go further with Neuro Linguistic Programming.

The first step is being aware, being aware of how we are thinking, it is then we can change old patterns and mind set.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is  therapy  which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behaviour".

The co-founders, Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder, believed that NLP would be useful in "finding ways to help people have better, fuller and richer lives".They coined the term "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" to emphasize their belief in a connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic") and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience ("programming") and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life.

It is often noted as a "science of excellence", derived from the study or "modeling" of how successful or outstanding people in different fields obtain their results. Bandler and Grinder claimed that if the effective patterns of behaviour of outstanding therapists (and other exceptional communicators) could be modeled then these patterns could be acquired by others.

_________________________________________ 

ARTICLE BELOW FROM THE DAILY MAIL

Thumbs up: Why optimism may help you live longer

• Optimistic people less likely to suffer a stroke

We all like to feel needed. But new research suggests having a sense of purpose is good for our health, too.


In a study of 7,000 people, those with the strongest sense of direction in life were over 70 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke.

The researchers accounted for other aggravating factors such as blood pressure and alcohol use and believe the effect comes through regulating the immune system.



Happy days: Those with a strong sense of purpose in their lives are less likely to suffer a stroke 


‘Maintaining a purpose in life not only increases quality of life but may improve physical health and increase longevity,’ says clinical psychologist Eric Kim, who led the study at the University of Michigan.

More than 150,000 people have a stroke each year in the UK.


It has long been thought that pursuing meaningful activity after retirement is important for physical and mental health – which often declines dramatically soon after retirement.



Thumbs up: A positive outlook on life can improve your health 


But while past research focused on the detrimental effects of negative psychological traits, such as depression and anxiety, new research is investigating how positive traits, such as optimism, protect against illness.

In the recent study, men and women aged 50 and over were tracked for four to five years and completed psychological tests while researchers recorded strokes.


The results show that the higher someone’s sense of purpose, the lower their risk of a stroke.

Those with the greatest sense of purpose were 73 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke compared to those with the lowest.


Other research has shown that positive mood can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, also implicated in stroke.

‘This is significant as we have an ageing population and it helps show what behaviours inoculate people from getting ill,’ says Cary Cooper, professor of health psychology at Lancaster University.


‘Maybe retirement is not good for some.’

NEW ANTI-DEPRESSANT EASES SYMPTOMS IN JUST OVER AN HOUR

The reason I have posted this article, for as well as new and interesting research, it serves to prove yet again mental illness such as depression is as much a physical ailment, as other conditions where there is an imbalance such as thyroid disease  or any other imbalance leading to illness. It's not so long ago incidentally women were often sent to mental asylums for thyroidtoxicosis, as this condition causes severe anxiety. It's now routine blood tests will be conducted for severe anxiety to rule out an over active thyroid, an under active thyroid often produces, amongst its symptoms depression. Important note however this new drug is NOT ketamine.

Ground-breaking anti-depressant eases symptoms in just over an HOUR

• Drug worked within an hour and 20 minutes - current anti-depressants take weeks to have an impact
• It works in a similar way to the Class C drug ketamine but without causing serious side-effects
• However, the effects may be short-lived

An experimental drug has been found to lift depression in just over an hour in people who haven't responded to other treatments.
The findings open up the prospect of developing a new fast-working type of anti-depressant.
In a new study, a third of participants responded to the treatment within one hour and 20 minutes, seeing at least a 50 per cent reduction in their symptoms compared to a 15 per cent reduction in those who took a placebo.

Living in a fog: Sufferers of depression report feeling emotionally numb

This was significant as these patients had failed to improve in seven past antidepressant trials.
However, while their were minimal side-effects the dramatic improvements were short-lived with patients finding relief for an average of just half an hour.
The current range of treatments work through the brain's serotonin system, building up levels of this 'happy' hormone over a period of weeks. This can cause great distress to severely depressed patients as many are at high risk of suicide.

However, the latest drug called AZD6765, acts by preventing the binding of a brain chemical called glutamate to nerve cells.
It acts in a similar way to the Class C drug ketamine, but without the serious side-effects such as hallucinations.

Drug pioneer: Dr Carlos Zarate, who has also studied anti-depressive effects of ketamine

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, who conducted the study, said this could be because the new drug doesn't block glutamate binding as completely as ketamine.
In the trial half of the 22 patients received the drug through an IV drip, while the other half took a placebo. All of them completed a survey assessing their depressive state immediately after taking the drug and a few days after treatment. The two groups then switched the agent they took and went through the same assessment.
The patients reported only minor side effects, such as dizziness and nausea, when taking AZD6765, which were not significantly different from those experienced with the placebo.
Research leader Dr Carlos Zarate, said: 'Our findings serve as a proof of concept that we can tap into an important component of the glutamate pathway to develop a new generation of safe, rapid-acting practical treatments for depression.'
The team reported their results online in the journal Biological Psychiatry. They now want to do further trials, testing whether repeated infusions a few times per week or higher doses might produce longer-lasting results.

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SHOULD SCHOOL CHILDREN BE TESTED FOR MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESSES

I was horrified to read this in today's Daily Mail, by all means people who are suffering from mental illness should receive care. However young people are very vulnerable and the last thing that should be done to them is being labelled. As labels, especially given at school can stick with the child although their education years. If there wasn't a stigma attached to mental illness, I could perhaps understand but there are far too many ignorant people in the world who do not understand mental illness and see it as something trivial, that sufferer can snap out of it or that they are labelled as crazy and should be put into an institution. The correct person to diagnose a child or anyone for that matter should be their medical practitioner and not some computer test, especially if conducted by a teacher etc. Yes I agree its important help should be given early and I'm all for a teacher say suggesting to the child's parents that it might be an idea for the child to see their doctor. Adolescence is fraught enough for children and many go though a very self conscious process through puberty but then to be labelled as being mentally ill is just not on. For the record depression is caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain) and simply not all in the mind and mental illness can affect anyone of us at anytime and sufferers should be treated with compassion, empathy and respect and not vilified and labelled.

All school children in Britain should be tested for mental health illnesses, say experts

• Screening all 11-year-olds could reveal those at greater risk of conditions such as depression, claim researchers
• This could help health authorities treat youngsters early and stop them descending into more hard to treat conditions
• However, other experts warn that labeling people as 'vulnerable' at such a young age could do more harm than good

All school children should be screened for risk of mental illnesses such as depression, say leading mental health experts.

Scientists at Cambridge University said they had devised a computer test that could reliably identify those at high risk as early as 11-years-old. 

A study led by Professor Barbara Sahakian suggested the test could be used to alert doctors and psychologists to intervene early.

At risk? Scientists claim finding those at risk from mental illness could stop them from developing harder to treat conditions

Ian Goodyer, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who worked with Prof Sahakian on the study, said screening 11 to 12-year-old children could reveal those who have 'low resilience' - putting them at higher risk of developing mental illnesses such as depression.

However, other experts have warned that labeling someone as 'high risk' at such a young age could itself have negative consequences.

Mental health problems are common in young people. Some 10 per cent of children aged between five and 16 in Britain are assessed as having a mental disorder of some kind.

Adolescence is also a critical period for the development of major depression - an illness that exacts a heavy toll on people and economies worldwide with patients unable to hold down jobs or needing repeated long stretches of time off work.

The World Health Organization says more than 350 million people worldwide have depression and predicts that by 2020, the disorder will rival heart disease as the illness with the highest global disease burden.

Prof Sahakian said testing children at school age could help health authorities get in early and offer therapy to prevent people descending into more serious, hard to treat conditions.

'When you think that the burden of mental illness is more than cancer, more than heart disease - so why on earth don't we try to do something more proactive,' she said, after presenting her results at a briefing in London.

'Why are we not doing anything to pick it up early? To me it's a no-brainer.'

A no-brainer: Professor Barbara Sahakian says she can't understand why school children aren't screened for mental health illnesses

Goodyer's and Sahakian's test involves a computer assessment designed to gauge how teenagers process emotional information. It includes asking whether certain words, such as 'joyful', 'failure' or "range", are positive, negative or neutral.

For their initial study, 15- to 18-year-olds also underwent genetic testing - an exercise that would be too expensive for routine use but which validated a connection between genes and upbringing in determining mental health risks.

The researchers found that adolescents who had a variation of a certain gene linked to the brain chemical serotonin and who had also experienced regular family arguments and parental rows for longer than six months before the age of six, had significant difficulty evaluating the emotion in the words.

This, said Goodyer, suggested those children suffered from an inability to process emotional information - a factor which previous studies have established is linked to a significantly increased risk of depression and anxiety.

'The evidence is that both our genes and our early childhood experiences contribute,' said Goodyer. 

'Before there are any clinical symptoms of depression or anxiety, this test reveals a deficient ability to... perceive emotion processes... which may lead to mental illnesses.'

Experts are concerned about the early onset of mental disorders - a factor they say many policy makers and members of the public have not yet grasped.

Hans Ulrich Wittchen, a psychologist at Germany's University of Dresden, said in a major European study of mental illness last year that he too thought governments should consider screening adolescents to try to reduce the number who go on to suffer major and recurring bouts of depression.

But other mental health experts advised caution.

'Early screening in the service of early intervention to try to prevent later mental health problems undoubtedly has allure,' said Felicity Callard of London's Institute of Psychiatry.

'But to grow up with the knowledge that you are 'at high risk' of future mental health problems can affect the very way in which you grow up - and thereby... embed a sense that you are mentally vulnerable, with potentially untoward consequences.'

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DEPRESSION IN THE WORKPLACE

It really annoys me there is still a stigma to mental illness. Anyone of us could develop this at anytime and it is not all in the mind nor can sufferers pull themselves together. It is no different from Diabetes or Thyrotoxicosis people who suffer Depression are suffering from either an imbalance of neurotransmitters or an inability for their nervous system to uptake them, there is actually a physical cause. Others are more sympathetic to a broken leg etc. because this can be seen, therein lies the problem, mental illness cannot. 

Another cause could possibly be attributed to the weather and lack of sunshine in the long winter months and often referred to as 'Seasonal Affective Disorder' SAD. The sad thing is if workers or anyone could receive support and understanding they would recover quicker. Time the Stigma ended.

British workers 'are the most depressed in Europe' as one in four is diagnosed with the illness

• European survey found 26% of British workers diagnosed with depression
• Britons and Germans took the most time off as a result - 41 days on average

British workers are the most likely to be diagnosed with depression in Europe, a survey has found.

The worrying extent of the illness in the UK was laid bare by the poll that revealed 26 per cent of Britons had received the diagnosis from their GP, compared with 12 per cent of Italians.

Those in the UK also took the most time off as a result of the illness, recording 41 days on average compared with the European mean of 36.

Stigma? One in four of depressed workers surveyed said they didn't tell their employers about their condition for fear of losing their jobs

The study from the European Depression Association, also revealed than one in 10 working people in Europe have taken time off because of the debilitating psychological condition, which is equivalent to 21,000 lost working days. In 2010, depression was estimated to cost the EU £73billion.

Despite the size of the problem, nearly one in three managers reported they had no formal support or resources to deal with employees who have depression, and 43 per cent called for better policies and legislation to protect employees.

THINK YOU MIGHT BE DEPRESSED? 

Below are the more common symptoms associated with depression:

Persistent sadness or low mood. This may be with or without weepiness.

Marked loss of interest or pleasure in activities you normally enjoy.

Disturbed sleep compared with your usual pattern. 

Change in appetite. 

Fatigue (tiredness) or loss of energy.

Agitation or slowing of movements.

Poor concentration or indecisiveness. Even simple tasks can seem difficult.

Feelings of worthlessness, or excessive or inappropriate guilt.

Preoccupation with death and dying.

Visit your GP if you think you might be affected. For more information visit:http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Depression.htm

A quarter of employees with depression said they did not inform their work with many saying they feared it would put their job at risk.

The IDEA survey (Impact of Depression in the Workplace in Europe Audit) polled more than 7,000 people in Europe.

MEP Stephen Hughes said: 'Depression in the workplace is an employment and societal challenge that is causing serious damage and which requires attention and action from the European Union.'

Depression is the biggest mental health challenge among working-age people, affecting one in five people at some point in their lives.

However, the poll revealed there is still poor awareness of common symptoms. While 88 per cent identified low mood or sadness as a sign, just a third knew that forgetfulness could point to depression and around half knew it could affect concentration.

When asked what is needed to support employees with depression in the workplace, managers most often cited more counselling services and better government legislation and policies. 

Dr Vincenzo Costigliola, President of the European Depression Association said 'The results of the IDEA survey show that much needs to be done in raising awareness and supporting employees and employers in recognising and managing depression in the workplace.

'We ask policymakers to consider the impact of depression on the workforce and charge them with addressing depression and workers and workplace safety.'

Full results of the IDEA survey will be published in 2013.

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THE LINK BETWEEN A CHILDHOOD BUMP ON THE HEAD AND DEPRESSION

I saw this in the Daily Mail today and I wanted to draw attention to this. It's something that has been observed for sometime, the link with head injury and changes in behaviour and mood and finally research has found a link. "Experts are warning that hundreds of thousands of people may be living with the effects of post-traumatic hypopituitarism (PTHP) — damage to the pituitary gland — as a result of a head injury."

It would be wonderful if more research could be done into this as I am tired of the stigma of 'depression is all in the mind and sufferers told to pull their socks up'. As I have been saying for years depression and any mental illness has an organic cause and it is only the ignorant who shun sufferers.

Depressed? Always tired? It could all be down to a childhood bump on your head

When Christopher Lane killed himself four years ago, his family’s grief and shock was suffused with utter bewilderment.

The good-looking and bright 31-year-old seemed to have everything to live for.

The break-up of Chris’s relationship with his girlfriend five years before had hit him hard, but he had a loving family, a good job as a computer program writer and there had been no obvious signs that something was wrong.

Christopher Lane hurt his head in 1984. Paramedics took him to A&E and then a specialist head injury unit where he lay in a coma for five days

Two days after his death, his devastated mother Joanna Lane found letters her son had written to his ex-girlfriend. 

In one he said he was worried his ‘little man’ wasn’t working properly. 

Joanna began to wonder if his suicide was linked to impotence, a common cause of depression in men.

His parents didn’t know then, but Christopher had suffered bouts of mild depression from his teens onwards. 

Joanna, a retired English language teacher, had wondered if the head injury her son suffered after falling out of a tree aged seven had affected him mentally, as he sometimes seemed out of sorts.

The week after his death, Joanna’s sister Caroline looked on the internet for possible links. 

She came across research suggesting a third of traumatic brain injury survivors suffer damage to the pituitary gland, which can cause hormonal problems including impotence, depression, low libido, infertility and fatigue.

Even more distressing was the discovery that this damage can be effectively treated with hormone replacement.

‘I now know Chris had counselling in the years before his death where he talked about his sexual problems and his depression,’ says Joanna. 

‘I only wish he had discussed it with a doctor. It may have saved his life.’

Chris’s tragic story is by no means an isolated case.

Experts are warning that hundreds of thousands of people may be living with the effects of post-traumatic hypopituitarism (PTHP) — damage to the pituitary gland — as a result of a head injury.

The pea-sized pituitary gland is attached to the brain by a slender stalk.

It is known as the ‘master gland’ as it controls the thyroid and the adrenal glands, and is responsible for our metabolism, stress and growth hormones, and the male sex hormone testosterone. 

Damage to the gland can occur if the blood vessels which run through the stalk are broken or squeezed by swelling of the brain, or when the brain is starved of oxygen. 

Following Christopher's death, his former girlfriend confirmed to that he had been very depressed and that they had never had full sex as he was impotent

A million people suffer head injuries every year in the UK and 10 per cent of these are serious.

The Pituitary Foundation charity estimates 25 to 30 per cent of people with serious head injuries sustain pituitary damage. 

However some experts warn many more might be affected — up to 100,000 because they say pituitary damage can be sustained from a bang to the forehead or back of the head, or even whiplash.

And it can be years after the initial injury before a person starts to show symptoms. 

‘Too many people are falling under the radar and their PTHP is not being diagnosed,’ says Tony Belli, a trauma neurosurgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

‘The signs of PTHP aren’t widely recognised, but sexual dysfunction is common, with around 16 per cent suffering from impotence.’

Knowing this now, Joanna is haunted by memories of the Sunday in 1984 when Chris hurt his head. 

She, her husband John, an IT consultant, and their three children (Chris and his two sisters) had visited a children’s farm and Chris ran off to the playground.

‘A stranger came to tell us he had fallen out of a tree, and when we found Chris he was lying motionless with blood coming out of his ear. 

‘If the nurse who happened to be around hadn’t cleared the blood from his throat, he would have choked to death. 

'In retrospect, I sometimes think that might have been preferable to what he went through.’ 

Paramedics took Chris to A&E and then a specialist head injury unit in London where he lay in a coma for five days, with a fractured skull. 

‘The fracture was actually good because it released the pressure on his brain which swelled during the trauma,’ says Joanna. 

‘We talked and sang to him, as recommended, and eventually we heard the words: “Can you all stop singing those stupid songs?” — and Chris had come back to us.

'He seemed the same as always, although one of his sisters said he had become “meaner” after the accident. I didn’t agree. 

It can be years after the initial injury before a person starts to show symptoms

'Half of his face was partially paralysed, but this disappeared after six months.

'No one ever warned us there might be long-term damage.’

But during his teens, Chris struggled. Having been top of his class at primary school, at secondary school he slipped to average. 

‘He often remarked as he got older that inside he felt differently from the jokey exterior he sometimes managed to pull off.’

During his A-levels he disappeared for two days. 

‘He went to a youth hostel on the South Coast. He told us later he felt under so much pressure he needed to escape.’ 

Coping poorly with stress can be a sign of pituitary gland damage.

‘He was always one of those young men who went out in a T-shirt and could take a lot of cold. 

'I thought he was being macho, but we now know that not feeling cold is also typical among people with PTHP.’ 

Chris went to university to study structural engineering and German, but never completed his degree — something Joanna now puts down to depression.

She says: ‘He had a full life — he had a lovely girlfriend — and seemed to be OK, we thought then. 

'I wish I had been a more observant mother, I might then have picked up that something really wasn’t right.’ 

Following Chris’s death, his former girlfriend confirmed to Joanna that Chris had been very depressed and that they had never had full sex as he was impotent.

It is ‘very likely’ Chris had pituitary gland damage, says neurosurgeon Tony Belli.

In recognition of the dangers of the condition, in 2009 the Army began screening soldiers who’d sustained serious head injuries. 

Meanwhile, the Football Association is re-considering its screening policy on head injuries to include pituitary damage. 

But experts believe this screening should be extended to everyone. 

In a 2005 study published in Brain Injury, the journal of the International Brain Injury Association, 11 specialists recommended screening for PTHP after moderate-to-severe brain injury. 

In 2009, a group of leading Spanish endocrinologists made a similar appeal.

‘I would like to see head injury patients who aren’t feeling 100 per cent to be screened three months after the trauma,’ says Mr Belli. 

Certainly if a head injury patient suffers from lethargy and tiredness as a result of depression, they should be checked for pituitary gland damage, adds Dr John Newell-Price, a reader in endocrinology at Sheffield University.

A one-off screening might not be enough, says Dr Joanne Blair, an endocrinologist at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. 

‘Loss of function can occur over time, sometimes decades later,’ she says, suggesting regular monitoring instead.

The test takes a few days. 

Blood and urine tests are taken to determine pituitary gland damage by measuring hormone levels, and then an assessment made of the patient, with questions about depression and sexual dysfunction.

Alarmingly, it might not take much to trigger PTHP.

Dr Blair says to damage the pituitary gland a head injury would have to be serious enough to make a person lose consciousness — even just for a moment. 

‘People are surprised to know it can happen from a simple bang on the head during rugby or football, or falling out of a tree,’ she adds. 

Dr Newell-Price says: ‘It is my belief the more severe the head injury, the greater the chance of damage to the gland. 

'However, we know whiplash can severely damage the pituitary gland, as the sudden movement can sever the stalk so the gland is disconnected from the brain.’

Indeed, a 2009 study found that pituitary gland damage can be sustained by a minor cranial trauma without even having lost consciousness. 

As Mr Belli suggests: ‘Mild head injury is ten times more common than severe, and we could, therefore, be looking at as many as 100,000 people a year having PTHP, most of whom will be undiagnosed. 

‘The costs to society are vast for those with PTHP: they often stop going to work and their relationships break down — divorce among all head injury cases is 60 per cent.’ 

The brain injury charity Headway has recently applied to the Government health watchdog NICE to recognise the condition. It has yet to hear back. 

The good news is once the condition is spotted, treatment is straightforward — a patient can have hormone replacement medication. 

However, the more time that has elapsed between the head injury and PTHP, the more likely it is the patient will be on medication for life. 

One of those who has benefited from prompt treatment is James, a 38-year-old former television company manager from Surrey. 

James (not his real name) suffered pituitary gland damage after he was set upon by a gang of men who robbed and seriously assaulted him in October 2007. 

As well as broken ribs and almost losing an eye, he suffered several blows to the head and lost consciousness for four days. He was in hospital for two weeks.

‘The first six months passed in a bit of a blur,’ he says.

‘After that, I began to feel really awful. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t sleep and I had trouble communicating. 

‘I stopped going into work because I couldn’t face it. I became fearful of pretty much everyone and everything. I had no idea what was wrong.’

James cut contact with friends and his partner (they have since reunited and have a one-year-old baby). 

And after two months of continual negative thoughts James made an attempt on his own life, trying again twice more over the next three and a half years. 

He had been attending monthly hospital appointments after the attack for psychiatric support and blood tests, and it was during one of these tests that a doctor picked up that James’s testosterone levels were very low. 

An endocrinologist discovered his pituitary gland was ‘virtually dead’ as a result of PTHP. 

‘That’s why I’d felt so tired and depressed,’ says James. 

‘I began taking hormone replacement and felt better almost immediately. 

‘Life is a lot better, but I still haven’t returned to work. I’ve gone from someone who presented a 40-page document to shareholders, to a guy who can’t remember to shut the fridge door.

‘I’ll probably be on the hormones for life. But if I hadn’t received help, I’d be no further forward and probably — I hate to say it — dead.’ 

For more information, visit pituitary.org.uk and headway.org.uk.

You can also get information at www.childbraininjurytrust.org.uk or ring 0303 303 2248

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