Elderly people in a long-term care facility are more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant and to report feeling depressed than their counterparts living in a home health care setting, according to a study done by social work students at Indiana State University.

The study, which involved 272 seniors with an average age of 81, examined how often they reported feeling depressed and were prescribed antidepressants, either through a long-term care facility or a home-care agency.

At the long-term care facility, 30% of the elderly patients reported feeling depressed and half of them had been prescribed an antidepressant at some point after admission.

Of the elderly patients who received home-care, 11% reported feeling depressed and only a quarter of them had been prescribed an antidepressant.

Jodi Shapuras and Lindsay Egan, the students at ISU who conducted the study, were not surprised by their results. "We actually hypothesized that the long-term care patients would utilize antidepressants more and would self-report depression more," said Egan. "When an individual moves to a long-term care facility, they undergo a tremendous amount of changes. They are no longer able to live independently and are relying on others for care, and this greatly affects how they feel about themselves and the world around them."

According to a press release, Shapuras and Egan presented the findings of their study at ISU's 12th annual Undergraduate and Graduate Research Showcase, and received first place in the undergraduate oral presentation division.

Women aren't the only ones affected by postpartum depression, says a new study. Dads get the baby blues too.

James F. Paulson and colleagues at the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA reviewed data on more than 5,000 two-parent families with children aged nine months.

Paulson's group found that 1 in 10 new dads met the criteria for moderate to severe postpartum depression. In an interview with WebMD, Paulson said this was a "striking increase" from the usual 3-5% of men in the general population suffering from depression.

The research presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association also showed that 14% of new mothers suffer from postpartum depression, compared to 7-10% of women in the general population.

Paulson's team also found that depressed moms and dads were less likely to interact with their babies by reading, telling stories or singing songs to them. However, only the dad's behavior had a significant effect on the child's development at 24 months. When the depressed fathers didn't read to their children they had a much smaller vocabulary.

According to Paulson, men tend to exhibit different symptoms than women with postpartum depression. While women tend to be sad and withdrawn, men with postpartum depression are more likely to be irritable, aggressive or hostile.

If you're a new dad who's feeling stressed and overwhelmed, please don't hesitate to talk with your doctor. Depression can affect not only you, but also your child.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Depression Center say that depressed people have fewer receptors for the brain's "feel good" chemicals than non-depressed people.

The researchers also say that, even among depressed people, the number of receptors varies and can be correlated to the severity of their depression and the chances that they'll feel better after taking medication.

Their preliminary findings were presented last week at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

At the meeting, lead researcher, Jon-Kar Zubieta, presented data from positron emission tomography (PET) scans of patients with major depression who had not yet been treated. These scans were compared with scans from non-depressed volunteers.

One group of depressed and non-depressed volunteers were scanned using a tracer that can show the location and concentration of a type of receptor called the 5HT1a receptor. This receptor allows the brain to receive signals from the neurotransmitter serotonin. Low levels of serotonin have been associated with depression so a shortage of receptor sites could theoretically lead to depression.

Among those given the tracer for the 5HT1a receptor, it was found that the concentrations of receptor sites was markedly lower in depressed patients. Among depressed volunteers, the number of receptors sites varied and lower concentrations of receptor sites were associated with lower scores on assessments of daily function. Volunteers with lower numbers of receptors were also less likely to respond when prescribed an antidepressant.

Another group of depressed and non-depressed volunteers were scanned using a tracer which allowed the researchers to see the mu-opioid receptors in the brain. These receptors receive signals sent by the brain's natural painkillers, called endogenous opioids or endorphins. These chemicals are involved in the stress response and are responsible for the so-called "runner's high" that athletes get. These same "feel good" receptor sites are also involved in drug addiction.

The researchers looked at both the distribution of these receptors and how active they were when volunteers were asked to summon up a sad memory.

Depressed volunteers had lower concentrations of mu-opioid receptors, however, their receptors were more active than in non-depressed volunteers. Also, the fewer the receptors they had, the worse they responded to medication.

This results of this study have not yet been published, but you can learn more about the work being done by Zubieta and colleagues at http://www.depressioncenter.org/.

American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken says he has lost a "ton" of weight since he stopped taking the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine), according to celebrity gossip magazine US Weekly.

After Aiken shot to fame as a contestant on American Idol in 2003, his life reportedly became quite stressful due to being in the public eye and constant speculation about his sexuality. When his sister committed suicide in 2006, Aiken began to suffer panic attacks.

When the panic attacks became severe enough to send him to the hospital, Aiken said he began taking the antidepressant Paxil, which is prescribed for both anxiety and depression. "It was extremely helpful, but I gained weight!"

Since stopping the medication, Aiken says he has lost weight, some sources speculate as much as thirty pounds.

Aiken just wrapped up a five-month stint in the Broadway musical Spamalot and his fourth album, On My Way Here, will drop May 6. It is the first album of original material Aiken has released since Measure of a Man, his 2003 double-platinum debut. "Some of the songs on the album are personal; some are not. I like to...allow people to interpret it," he said.

What the US Weekly article doesn't mention, which is quite important, is that you should never go off your medication without consulting your doctor. In addition to the fact that your depression symptoms may return, there is also the risk that you will develop discontinuation syndrome if you stop taking your medication too abruptly. If you are concerned about weight gain or other medication side effects, please ask your doctor about your options rather than quitting treatment altogether.

Related Articles:

• Tips for Coping With Antidepressant Weight Gain
• What Is Discontinuation Syndrome?
• It Might Not Be the Flu!
• Are Antidepressants Addictive?

Deep brain stimulation - which involves implanting tiny electrodes in areas of the brain with abnormal function in order to stimulate these areas and block the abnormal activity - has been explored in recent years as a promising new treatment for depression.

During the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Helen Mayberg, a pioneer in deep brain stimulation research was interviewed by MedPage Today about her work in this area. Video of the interview can be viewed below.

Older adults with low blood levels of vitamin D and high levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands may have a higher risk of depression, says a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

Witte J. G. Hoogendijk and colleagues at VU University Medical Center, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, measured blood levels of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone and assessed the depression symptoms of 1, 282 community resident between the ages of 65 to 95. Of those assessed, 26 had major depression, 169 had minor depression and the rest were not depressed.

Blood vitamin D levels were found to be 14% lower in those persons with major or minor depression. In addition, parathyroid levels were found to be 5% higher in those individuals with minor depression and 33% higher in those with major depression. According to the authors, "poor vitamin D status causes an increase in serum parathyroid hormone levels."

It is unclear, say the authors, whether poor vitamin D status is a cause of depression or simply the result of it, but their findings could be important given that poor vitamin D status is so easily corrected with supplemental vitamin D or calcium and increased exposure to sunlight.

Childhood depression is a topic very close to my heart, and, given that Childhood Depression Awareness Day is coming up on May 5 this year, I thought I would speak a bit about my experiences.

My first episode of depression that I can remember occurred when I was about seven. I can remember waking up day after day thinking, "I hope today is a good day." It never was a "good day", however.

The depression and anxiety followed me until I was thirty-years-old and decided to see a psychiatrist about how I was feeling. The first time I visited him, I was filled with dread. I wanted to believe that I could feel better, but I knew deep inside that I was just weak and lazy and the doctor was going to tell me that there was nothing medically wrong. Instead, he told me that I had clinical depression and that there was hope for me to get better. Learning that my depression was biologically-based and not a character flaw changed my life completely.

Today, as I look back on my childhood I regret that none of the adults in my life recognized that I was depressed. In fact, there was still quite a bit of stigma surrounding mental disorders back then. I believe that things could have been much different for me if only people were more knowledgeable about depression and I had gotten help with it early on. Luckily, we are much more open and educated about depression today and our children do not have to suffer with depression or carry the burden well into adulthood before getting help. Please, help educate yourself and others so no child has to endure years of depression and self-doubt like I did.

Related Articles:

• What You Need to Know About Childhood Depression
• Learn More about Childhood Depression Awareness Day
• Download Green Ribbon Graphic to Display on Your Website

Have you been through numerous drug trials without getting relief from your depression? Do antidepressants only work for a short while before "pooping out"? Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) can be very discouraging for those who have it, but there are options that may be able to help you.

One option is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). While ECT doesn't come without side-effects, it does bring rapid relief for about 80 percent of patients and it can work where other treatments have failed.

A newer option is vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which involves the implantation of a pacemaker-like device to periodically send a pulse to the vagus nerve, which communicates with brain cells involved in mood control.

If medications have failed you, please don't give up hope. Speak with your doctor about other treatment options available to you, such as ECT and VNS.

• More about ECT
• More about VNS

Have you ever felt like your antidepressant has killed more than just your ability to orgasm? Like it's killed all your feelings of love for your partner as well? Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University, believes that SSRIs may block your ability to feel love.

SSRIs work by raising your levels of serotonin, but they also lower levels of dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for all those feel-good emotions you get when you fall in love. When dopamine levels drop and those feelings disappear you may mistakenly believe that your love has also disappeared.

If you are curious to learn more about this effect, Psychology Today has an excellent article about this topic entitled Sex, Love and SSRIs on its Web site.

If you've ever experienced this phenomenon yourself, please join the discussion by adding your comments below.

Almost 1 in 5 of U. S. troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan now suffer from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reports a new independent study released on April 17. The report is the first major study outside of the government.

The researchers said that 18.5% of current and former service members surveyed reported symptoms of depression and PTSD. Using Pentagon data about the number of service members deployed, the researchers estimated that 300,000 troops were currently affected. Only about half of those with mental health problems had sought treatment, however.

The survey included 1,965 service members across the country, from all branches of the armed forces, both active duty and those who had completed their service.

The results of the study appear to be consistent with government reports. Although the Department of Defense, which covers the medical needs of active duty and reservists, has not released data, the Department of Veterans Affairs, which cares for those who are no longer in the military, reports that 120,000 persons have mental health problems. Around 60,000 of these suffer from PTSD with a slightly smaller number suffering from depression.

Col. Loree Sutton, who heads a new Pentagon center on brain injury, said officials have been working to add thousands more mental health professionals to help meet the demand for care.

The report, titled "Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery", was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and prepared by researchers from Rand Health and the Rand National Security Research Division.

On the Net

• Rand Corporation
• Army Studies