Teen girls who have a good attitude about their bodies have higher self-esteem and are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors, says a new study to be published in June 2012.

For the study, 103 overweight teens were surveyed between 2004 and 2006, and factors such as body satisfaction, weight-control behavior, importance placed on thinness, self-esteem, anxiety and depression were assessed.

"We found that girls with high body satisfaction had a lower likelihood of unhealthy weight-control behaviors like fasting, skipping meals or vomiting," said study author Kerri Boutelle.

Based upon these results, Boutelle suggests that improving body satisfaction would probably be a key part in any interventions aimed at helping overweight teen girls.

The study will appear in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

While the disease Hepatitis C can cause patients to become depressed, a standard treatment for it, interferon, can also cause varying degrees of depression, including thoughts of suicide, say researchers at Loyola University.

In fact, anywhere from 10-40% of hepatitis C patients will become depressed during the course of their illness.

Interferon can cause depression because it affects the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter which helps in mood-regulation.

In a review article, Dr. Murali S. Rao and his team examined the complexities of sorting out the causes of depression in hepatitis C patients and effectively treating it.

Rao suggests that patients with a history of depression and suicide should be carefully screened and evaluated prior to treatment with interferon.

In addition, treatment with a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - which includes such medications as Zoloft, Celexa and Prozac - has been shown to be effective in patients receiving interferon therapy.

The study was published in the International Journal of Interferon, Cytokine and Mediator Research.

Antidepressant use may be doing more harm to patients than good, according to Paul Andrews, a evolutionary biologist at McMaster University.

"We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs," he said in an article published in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology.  "It's important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they're safe and effective."

Andrews and his research team came to this conclusion after examining previous studies comparing the risks versus the benefits of various antidepressants.

Antidepressants can cause unwanted side effects because their action is not limited to the brain, where they work to increase serotonin and relieve depression.   Serotonin also has effects all throughout the body, where it is involved in such diverse processes as digestion, blood clot formation, reproduction and development.

Some of the areas of risk identified by the researchers include:

• Developmental problems in babies
• Problems with sexual function and sperm development
• Digestive problems
• Abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly

In the elderly in particular, the researchers noted that there was an increased risk of death among antidepressant users.

Andrews suggests that with all of these negative effects to consider, it may be wise to reevaluate the routine usage of these drugs.

The journal is available online at http://www.frontiersin.org/.

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