Tag: anxiety

Can Psychedelics Really Help Fight Addiction And Depression?

New research explored whether psychedelics can “rewire the brain” and potentially cure a number of ailments.

New research reinforces the idea of psychedelics’ potential to treat depression, substance use disorder and more, according to Science Daily.

“People have long assumed that psychedelics are capable of altering neuronal structure, but this is the first study that clearly and unambiguously supports that hypothesis,” said lead author David Olson of the University of California, Davis.

When a person is experiencing depression, anxiety, substance use disorder or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), their neurites are affected. Neurites facilitate communication between neurons by bridging the gap between two neurons at the synapse, the point of communication. (Neurites become axons and dendrites.)

However, when a person is suffering from any of the above, their neurites are not as active. “One of the hallmarks of depression is that the neurites in the prefrontal cortex—a key brain region that regulates emotion, mood, and anxiety—those neurites tend to shrivel up,” said Olson.

But the research, published in the journal Cell Reports, observed that the psychedelics tested—LSD, DMT, MDMA, DOI (an amphetamine)— had the opposite effect.

Instead, they promoted neurite growth, increasing both the density of dendritic spines and the density of synapses. In other words, the psychedelics had a positive effect on the brain’s neural plasticity, by making neurons more likely to branch out and connect with one another, according to Science Daily.

The research observed these effects in rats and flies, but Olson and his team predict that the psychedelics will have the same effects in humans.

“These are some of the most powerful compounds known to affect brain function, it’s very obvious to me that we should understand how they work,” said Olson.

The findings offer a greater variety of potential antidepressant therapies. Previously, ketamine has shown promise in treating depression and suicidal ideation.

According to Science Daily, some of the psychedelics tested in Olson’s research, including LSD, were even more effective than ketamine in promoting neural plasticity.

“Ketamine is no longer our only option. Our work demonstrates that there are a number of distinct chemical scaffolds capable of promoting plasticity like ketamine, providing additional opportunities for medicinal chemists to develop safer and more effective alternatives,” said Olson.

View the original article at thefix.com

14 June 2018
Ariana Grande Opens Up About PTSD, Anxiety

The pop singer describes how the suicide bombing that occurred at her Manchester concert in May 2017 affected her.

In May 2017, Ariana Grande had just finished performing at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England when a suicide bomb attack occurred in the foyer of the arena, taking the lives of 22 people and injuring many more.

It was an event that she says fueled her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a subject she has a difficult time discussing today.

As the singer told Vogue, “It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss. But, yeah, it’s a real thing. I know those families and my fans, and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well. Time is the biggest thing. I feel like I shouldn’t even be talking about my own experience—like I shouldn’t even say anything.”

Grande added that looking back on the event, “I don’t think I’ll ever know how to talk about it and not cry.”

Grande told Time, “The processing part” of her grief “is going to take forever.” She was reluctant to talk about the bombing because, “I don’t want to give it that much power.

“Music is supposed to be the safest thing in the world. I think that’s why it’s still so heavy on my heart every single day. I wish there was more that I could fix. You think with time it’ll become easier to talk about. Or you’ll make peace with it. But every day I wait for that peace to come and it’s still very painful.”

Grande admits she’s also been struggling with anxiety before the release of her new album, Sweetener. “I think a lot of people have anxiety, especially right now,” she says. “My anxiety has anxiety…”

Grande then admitted, “I’ve always had anxiety. I’ve never really spoken about it because I thought everyone had it.” She told Time, “I never opened up about it, because I thought that was how life was supposed to feel,” but she added, “when I got home from tour it was the most severe I think it’s ever been.”

Like a lot of artists, Grande threw her emotions into her music, saying that after going into therapy, “I felt more inclined to tap into my feelings because I was spending more time with them. I was talking about them more. I was in therapy more… When I started to take care of myself more, then came balance, and freedom, and joy. It poured out into the music.”

View the original article at thefix.com

13 June 2018
Olivia Munn Details Depression & Anxiety Struggles, Urges People To Seek Help

Munn got candid about her past struggles with depression and anxiety on Instagram.

In just one week, the passing of designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain has reignited the conversation surrounding depression and suicide. And on Thursday, the CDC reported that from 1999 to 2016, the suicide rate in the U.S. increased in “nearly every state.” Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.

In a recent Instagram post, Olivia Munn shared her own experience with depression and anxiety, hoping to encourage people to shed the shame and seek help.

“I have lived with anxiety and sporadic bouts of depression for most of my adult life,” wrote the former Daily Show correspondent. “Ten years ago I tackled it, learned to fully understand it and haven’t felt the dark depths of depression in about a decade. But before that, thoughts of suicide crossed my mind more than a few times.”

Her caption accompanied a list of international suicide hotlines including phone numbers from Argentina, Botswana, and Japan.

“Please don’t hesitate to call for you or someone you think needs help,” she wrote. “A phone call could change everything.”

The former TV journalist, actress and model herself has struggled with managing depression and anxiety. According to a WebMD feature from 2015, Munn consulted a doctor and therapist when she began having panic attacks.

Growing up, depression wasn’t a topic of discussion in her family. Her mother would tell Munn and her siblings to “figure it out,” and they were “never allowed to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Munn also began seeing a hypnotist to help manage her anxiety and trichotillomania (the “hair-pulling disorder”). Munn began working with a trainer and focusing on exercise, which helped with her anxiety.

Munn gave insight as someone who contemplated suicide “more than a few times.”

“For those who don’t understand depression, when someone is in that place it’s not because they want to die, it’s because the ongoing, relentless darkness is too painful to endure anymore,” she wrote in her Instagram post. “You don’t have to suffer from anxiety and depression to feel that low. Something very sad or traumatic can happen to you just once to bring about that feeling of despair.

“But please listen to me,” she continued, “from someone who is telling you that she’s been where you are, when I say that SUICIDE IS NOT THE RIGHT CHOICE.”

Munn hopes to encourage more people to seek support with her message.

“With suicide, there’s no do-overs. Please try every single option you can before making a choice that cannot be undone.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 June 2018
How Online Dating Affects Mental Health

A new study revealed that online dating can impact mental health in a variety of ways and may even lead to tech addiction.

These days finding someone to date should be easier than ever. After all, dating apps can tell you who is near by, what they’re after in a partner, and even what they look like.

However, experts warn that online dating can be tied to lower self-esteem, tech addiction and depression.

A study published in 2016 polled 1,044 woman and 273 men (mostly college-aged) about their social habits. About 10% of them were using Tinder.

“We found that being actively involved with Tinder, regardless of the user’s gender, was associated with body dissatisfaction, body shame, body monitoring, internalization of societal expectations of beauty, comparing oneself physically to others, and reliance on media for information on appearance and attractiveness,” said Jessica Strübel, PhD, of the University of North Texas, who co-authored the study with Trent Petrie, PhD.

“Tinder users reported having lower levels of satisfaction with their faces and bodies and having lower levels of self-worth than the men and women who did not use Tinder,” she added.

Researchers were primarily interested in how online dating affected women, but they were surprised to see that using the dating and hookup app had a real effect on men, too.

“Although current body image interventions primarily have been directed toward women, our findings suggest that men are equally and negatively affected by their involvement in social media,” said Strübel.

The pain of being rejected in online dating scenarios can also sting. A study published in 2011 found that being socially rejected activates the same parts of the brain that physical pain does. That means that opening oneself up on dating apps—where you can be rejected faster than ever—can have a real impact on well-being.

In addition, being involved with online dating might lead to tech addiction. Last year, Match.com did a survey that found that 15% of singles felt addicted to the process of finding a date online, CNN Health reported.

Millennials were most likely to say that they felt addicted to online dating, while 54% of women using the dating service said that they felt burned out by the process.

While there is still debate over the merits of tech addiction, one study published in 2016 linked technology addiction with depression and anxiety. People who spent more time online (perhaps looking for a date) were more severely affected.

“People who self-described as having really addictive-style behaviors toward the Internet and cellphones scored much higher on depression and anxiety scales,” said Alejandro Lleras, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois who co-authored this study.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018