KU researcher finds primitive lifestyle elements ease depression

[Celebration]

http://www.news.ku.edu:80/2009/june/4/depression.shtml

He doesn’t care for the term “caveman therapy.” But Stephen Ilardi, associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Kansas, has turned to our hunter-gatherer ancestors for clues about how to best combat major depressive disorder.
........snip.............

“A century ago, according to the best epidemiological evidence we have, the lifetime rate of depressive illness in the U.S. was about 1 percent,” said Ilardi. “The rate now stands at 23 percent. So we’ve had roughly a 20-fold increase over the course of a century. Since World War II there’s been roughly a 10-fold increase. And a recent study found the rate of depression has more than doubled in just the past decade.”

Published June 1, Ilardi’s book, “The Depression Cure” (Da Capo Lifelong Books), is based on research suggesting that depression can be treated effectively by helping people reclaim healing habits from a more primitive way of life. In fact, Ilardi thinks this may be a superior approach than modern psychotherapy or antidepressant drugs, which typically work for only about half the patients who try them.

The KU researcher heads a large treatment study, dubbed the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change project, which calls for patients to adopt six healing elements from the ancient past: consuming more omega-3 fatty acids; using engaging activity to combat rumination; getting regular sunlight exposure; increasing physical exercise; connecting more with others socially; and getting increased (and healthier) sleep.

[ananda]

1. Sounds good to me.

However, certain kinds of psychotherapy
can be helpful as well.

[Lancer]

3. Yup.

Doing all of these things can temporarily lift depression, and they're good rules for anyone to follow. But I also think the number of people with depression (and all the mood disorders) has increased partly because science has figured out how to identify these illnesses and thus how to treat them.

All the sunshine, salmon and healthy relationships in the world can't keep the synapses from firing the wrong way. I've been fighting this battle for many, many years and can speak to the power of talk therapy and medication. (Just my experience.)

[uppityperson]

23. Indeed. Increasing your health can help but is not the cure all for many

Rather like being diabetic, or having high blood pressure. You can monitor your diet, exercise, weight, but still need other treatments.

[crikkett]

2. Well, a century ago, pot was legal and women didn't have the vote.

Without seeing data I can't guess whether these statistics are worth paying attention to.

I say, the rate of depression among people I know in my lifetime has risen in step with cognitive dissonance.

This 'caveman therapy' of getting outside and mixing with neighbors is exactly what's needed to resolve both depression and cognitive dissonance, because the patient's immediate environment is changed, catalyzing change for the better in larger and larger circles of society.

\too much coffee this morning

[sarge43]

6. I wonder if the researchers factored in the wide spread use of laudanum

pre-1914, re the 1% depression.

[Warpy]

20. That certainly had a lot to do with it

People worked until they literally dropped because they had the means to combat pain.

With that means came a huge reduction in anxiety and the depression which always follows it.

[sarge43]

21. Even fed it to infants to 'quit' them.

Of course a user felt no pain; didn't feel much of anything.

[Warpy]

22. I still felt post surgical pain with morphine

but with the anxiety reduced, it wasn't nearly as troubling. I was able to exercise and do what was required to get better, even with the pain.

That's rather the point of opiates.

The good news is that after the first 48 hours, no matter how much of a buzz they got, most people really want them out of their heads and only take them when they absolutely have to. I say that after 25 years of surgical nursing experience.

The proscription of dried poppy heads and the teas and tinctures they can be used to produce is witless. They have been used safely for thousands of years and have never, IMO, contributed to the downfall of civilization, which managed to march on in spite of them.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

9. HI EVERYBODY, back from being VACANT

[Celebration]

11. ...................

[DKRC]

16. You asked for it

[Why Syzygy]

17. What kind of person

links to another DU member's photobucket account? I keep mine "private", but not everyone does.
Pretty strange...

[Celebration]

18. it's a bit creepy n/t

[JonQ]

4. City dwelling office workers are doomed!

[nashville_brook]

5. talk about depressing: getting healthy sleep is a "healing element" of the "ancient past"

[azul]

7. Revert to swatting flies for mood elevation?

Does chronic exposure to organophosphates cause depression and suicide?

*****
This review analyses studies of suicides among pesticide-exposed populations. It also examines human and animal studies of central nervous system toxicity related to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, one of the groups of pesticides associated with pesticide-related suicides. The association between suicide and exposure to pesticides, particularly OPs, is often interpreted as indicating that those working with pesticides have access to poisons in moments of acute distress so suicidal impulses are more likely to result in suicide. However, the authors evaluate the possibility that OP exposure could depress serotonin levels leading to depression, alteration in mood and psychiatric disorders. The authors conclude that OPs are not just agents for suicide but may also be the cause.

PAN UK Current Research Monitor, No. 68: April-June 2005 (http://www.pan-uk.org/pub31.htm)
London L, Flisher AJ, Wesseling C, Mergler D and Kromhout H (2005), Suicide and Exposure to Organophosphate Insecticides: Cause or Effect? American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 47: 308-321.

[azul]

8. Or could reversion to smaller brains be a real bummer?

Chemically epigenetically induced? And it's apparently inheritable too.



ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2009) — Findings from one of the largest-ever imaging studies of depression indicate that a structural difference in the brain – a thinning of the right hemisphere – appears to be linked to a higher risk for depression, according to new research at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090324081437.htm

[Donnachaidh]

10. so basically all those out of work homeless people shouldn't be depressed?

After all, sleeping in a tent, having to keep moving to keep the police from picking you up on vagrancy charges falls into this category, yes? We should be seeing virtual armies of Xena's and Krull the Invincible smiling at everyone they see out in the park, yes? :sarcasm:

[Celebration]

12. well, maybe they just don't need to take Paxil n/t

[tinrobot]

13. All things your Mom probably told you to do.

Here's his advice rephrased in quotes from my Mom:

Eat more Omega 3's/fish - Mom : "EAT IT -- Fish is brain food".

Get exercise/sunlight - Mom: "Go outside, the TV is rotting your brain."

Connecting with others - Mom: "Get outta here and go play with your friends!"

Getting more sleep - Mom: "GET TO BED - OR ELSE!"

[Celebration]

14. Yup

:rofl:

Just like my mom, except we didn't eat fish much. But I'm old enough that cod liver oil was in style at the time and I had to take that.

[flamingdem]

19. good one! nt

[Quantess]

15. People a century ago had 1% rate of depression? That's hard to believe.

I wonder how they derived those figures? People a century ago lived hard, grim, lives.

[uppityperson]

24. More diagnoses does not = greater rate of disease

And aside from the diagnosis issue, while getting more healthy overall will help, still it is not a cure all for everyone.

[hedgehog]

25. I agree, I thik he is looking at reported rates of depression among the Amish and

the Kaluli people. I'd believe these statistics if someone sat down with a large group and interviewed them to confirm the lack of depression.