Group, Family and Couples Therapy for Depression Treatment

Group TherapyAs the name suggests, group therapy (including family and couples therapy) is a form of treatment involving a small group of individuals, generally between 4 and 12 in number, who meet regularly to talk, interact, and discuss problems with each other. Therapy groups are typically run by one or more group therapists who keep the group organized and on track therapeutically. Therapy groups can be highly structured in nature (with specific goals set for each meeting) or flexible (group members discuss whatever is important). Groups are often set up to address particular therapy agendas. For instance, a therapy group might address men's...

Therapeutic Gardening against Clinical Depression

Getting dirty might help lift our spirits, according to a new study which reveals that common soil bacteria could act like antidepressant drugs.Mycobacterium vaccae, a harmless bacteria normally found in dirt, has been found to stimulate the immune system of mice and boost the production of serotonin, a mood-regulating brain chemical.The bacterium has already been successfully used in people as a vaccine against tuberculosis. It is also being tested as a treatment for cancer patients and in asthma sufferers, as a way to control the allergic reaction and help 'rebalance' the immune system. Now, studies on mice led by neuroscientist Christopher...

Indirect Suicide is still Suicide!

Suicide, perhaps the most obvious type of avoidable death at any age, is an intentional act that quickly results in death. However, there is a wide range of indirect suicidal behaviors in which death results gradually rather than immediately, and in which the degree of intentionality is less obvious than in an overt suicide attempt. Defining Indirect Suicidal BehaviorRobert Kastenbaum and Brian Mishara, in their discussion of the concept of premature death and its relationship to self-injurious behavior, suggested that behaviors that shorten life are varied in form and widespread. They recognized that in one sense all human behavior affects a...

Historical retrospectives of depressive disorder

Depressive disorders have been with mankind since the beginning of recorded history. In the Bible, King David, as well as Job, suffered from this affliction. Hippocrates referred to depression as melancholia, which literally means black bile. Black bile, along with blood, phlegm, and yellow bile were the four humors (fluids) that described the basic medical physiology theory of that time. Depression, also referred to as clinical depression, has been portrayed in literature and the arts for hundreds of years, but what do we mean today when we refer to a depressive disorder? In the 19th century, depression was seen as an inherited weakness of temperament....