Depression: Finally some common sense.

[AtomicAnt]

Found this in the Charlotte Observer:

http://www.charlotte.com/162/story/72296.html

STUDY SUGGESTS SYMPTOMS CAN BE NORMAL
Definition of depression is challenged
SHANKAR VEDANTAM
Washington Post

WASHINGTON --Up to 25 percent of people whom psychiatrists would currently diagnose as depressed may only be reacting normally to stressful events like divorces or losing a job, according to a new study.

The finding could have far-reaching consequences for the diagnosis of depression, the growing use of symptom checklists in identifying people who might be depressed and the $12 billion a year U.S. market for antidepressant drugs.

Patients are currently diagnosed on the basis of a constellation of symptoms that include sadness, fatigue, insomnia and suicidal thoughts. The diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists says that anyone who suffers from at least five such symptoms for as little as two weeks may be clinically depressed. Only in the case of someone grieving over the death of a loved one is it normal for symptoms to last as long as two months, the manual says.

The new study, however, found that extended periods of depression-like symptoms are common in people who have been through other life stresses such as divorce or a natural disaster and don't necessarily constitute illness.

The study also suggested that drug treatment may often be inappropriate for people who are going through painful -- but normal -- responses to life's stresses. Supportive therapy on the other hand, might be useful.

The researchers, who included Michael First of Columbia University, the editor of the authoritative diagnostic manual, based their findings on a national survey of 8,098 people.

[Anonymous]

Scientists are close to developing a blood test that can quantify how depressed you are. Until then....

[Ursus]

...post-traumatic stress disorder.

[Deborah]

Learned helplessness is a psychological condition in which a human or animal has learned to believe that it is helpless. It thinks that it has no control over its situation and that whatever it does is futile. As a result it will stay passive when the situation is unpleasant or harmful and damaging. It is the view that depression results from the perception of a lack of control over the reinforcements in one's life that may result from exposure to uncontrollable negative events.

It is a well-established principle in psychology, a description of the effect of inescapable punishment (such as electrical shock) on animal (and by extension, human) behaviour. Learned helplessness may also occur in everyday situations where environments in which people experience events in which they feel or actually have no control over what happens to them, such as repeated failure, prison, war, disability, famine, and drought may tend to foster learned helplessness. An example involves concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust, when some prisoners, called Mussulmen, refused to care or fend for themselves. Present-day examples can be found in mental institutions, orphanages, or long-term care facilities where the patients have failed or been stripped of agency for long enough to cause their feelings of inadequacy to persist.

Not all people become depressed as a result of being in a situation where they appear not to have control; in what Seligman called "explanatory style," people in a state of learned helplessness view problems as personal, pervasive, or permanent. That is,

Personal - They may see themselves as the problem; that is, they have internalized the problem.
Pervasive - They may see the problem affecting all aspects of life.
Permanent - They may see the problem as unchangeable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

To this we could add anti-social economic policies, religious dogma, etc.

[BuzzKill]

Monday, April 16, 2007
 
Can cats make you crazy?

Parasite may be factor in mental illness

By Tamara Ikenberg


Cats: fluffy puffy friends, or instigators of mental illness?

According to a study by Stanford University researchers called "Parasite Hijacks Brain With Surgical Precision" published April 2 in New Scientist and the new book "Survival of the Sickest" (Morrow, 267 pp., $25.95), by neurogeneticist Sharon Moalem, they could be both. The scientists theorize about toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can reproduce only in cats and has the power to trigger schizophrenia and other particular behaviors in humans.

We talked to Moalem about this new insight that could make "the crazy cat lady" more than a myth.

Q: Cats have long been suspected of being in league with witches and dark powers. Could there be a connection?

A: There could be. People could've noticed that those who tended to have a lot of cats tended to be strange. There may be something to that old mythology of the crazy cat lady now that we know there's some kind of weird mind control going on.

How does the parasite get to the cat?

It changes the behavior of mice and rats. It controls the mouse or rat's behavior to such surgical precision that they just lose their fear of cats, cat urine or cat smell. The parasite literally turns them into cat food. In a weird way, it saves them for the cat. It really doesn't do anything to the cat. It's almost to the cat's benefit to have the parasite. It gets them food. That's really why you shouldn't let your cats out.

Why can T. gondii only reproduce in cats?

It's just one of those quirks of nature. It's called co-evolution; one evolved with the other. How it arose? No one has any clue. It needs the cat to do its sexual reproduction. It's just so freaky. It makes an animal lose a fear of only one other animal, and that's the animal it's trying to get to.

How does it get from a cat to a human?

The eggs that come out that can infect you are shed in cat excrement. So it's because of the litter box. It'll stick to cat litter; so if the cat drags it out and you ingest it by accident, you can get infected.

I have three cats and am already plenty strange. But I don't let them out.

That's fine. As long as they've never had access to mice.

They're all rescued.

Then most likely they could be carrying the parasites. … If you're exposed to that parasite when you're young, like in the first few years of your life, that may be the worst time to be infected by it. That's when your mind is being formed; structurally it's kind of being put down. The first few years of childhood are so crucial. I find it funny: Parents spend so much time, money and effort to make sure their kids get the best education, not realizing that the cat they have can put them at risk for schizophrenia. Parents buy a good car seat, they drive a Volvo, but the cat could be causing problems. … Pregnant women should not be emptying litter boxes. If you get an infection with this parasite when you're pregnant, it's bad news. You can lose the baby.

What other curious behaviors does T. gondii trigger?

Women infected with this parasite tend to be hypersexual; they have more partners. The men (with the parasite) tend to be more withdrawn and pick more fights. With women, there also seems to be an obsession with shopping and appearance; a change in behavior. From a host-parasite relationship, it makes total sense, especially if you think of something as accepted as rabies. It makes animals more aggressive. That's just a simple virus, and look at that behavioral control it's doing. T. gondii is much more complicated than a simple virus.

This all makes me think of Don Konkey on the F/X series "Dirt," the schizophrenic photographer who adores his cats so much he made a shrine for a recently deceased furry friend.

It fits so well. What's interesting and we should remember, too, is (that) it's not a cause of schizophrenia, it's just another risk factor that could push you (over the edge). You have some underlying things that are going on, and if a parasite is manipulating and changing your brain structure anyway, that's what happened.

I am afraid these findings will make people hate kitties.

I think there's enough anti-cat sentiment. It's just not cats. Cats do get the bad rap because that's where they (the parasites) go to reproduce. You can also get this parasite from undercooked meats. There should be a movement to try to make a vaccine or try to get cats free from this parasite completely. It's something that's preventable. Tapeworm used to be in every single pig you'd buy and eat. We've made changes to get that not to happen anymore.

Will any of these findings eventually benefit cats, mice or people?

It lends more strength to the idea that if something affects the behavior of a mammal with such surgical precision, there's likely an effect on us. There's work under way to give people with schizophrenia drugs against T. gondii and see if that treats schizophrenia.

[Ursus]

I've read some statistic somewhere once that about 75% of the population will be exposed to toxoplasma gondii at some point in their lives.  It is pretty common, but under researched, apparently...

[try another castle]

Well, that explains a lot. (Throws cats away.)

[Ursus]

Some interesting stuff here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

(excerpt):

Toxoplasma's role in schizophrenia

The possibility that toxoplasmosis is one cause of schizophrenia has been studied by scientists since at least 1953. [22] These studies had attracted little attention from U.S. researchers until they were publicized through the work of prominent psychiatrist and advocate E. Fuller Torrey. In 2003, Torrey published a review of this literature, reporting that almost all the studies had found that schizophrenics have elevated rates of toxoplasma infection. A 2006 paper has even suggested that prevalence of toxoplasmosis has large-scale effects on national culture. [23] These types of studies are suggestive but cannot confirm a causal relationship (because of the possibility, for example, that schizophrenia increases the likelihood of toxoplasma infection rather than the other way around). [24]

    * Acute Toxoplasma infection sometimes leads to psychotic symptoms not unlike schizophrenia.
    * Some anti-psychotic medications that are used to treat schizophrenia, such as Haloperidol, also stop the growth of Toxoplasma in cell cultures.
    * Several studies have found significantly higher levels of Toxoplasma antibodies in schizophrenia patients compared to the general population.[25]
    * Toxoplasma infection causes damage to astrocytes in the brain, and such damage is also seen in schizophrenia.

Human prevalence

The U.S. NHANES (2004-2005) national probability sample found that 33.1% of U.S. persons above 12 years of age had Toxoplasma-specific IgG antibodies, indicating that they had been infected with the organism. This prevalence has significantly increased from the 1999-2000 data.[26]

It is estimated that between 30% and 65% of all people worldwide are infected with Toxoplasmosis. However, there is large variation countries: in France, for example, around 88% of the population are carriers, probably due to a high consumption of raw and lightly cooked meat. [27] Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil also have high prevalences of around 80%, over 80% [28] and 67% respectively. In Britain, about 22% are carriers, and South Korea's rate is only 4.3%.[14]