September 2008

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Upcoming talk: Holistic Treatment of Depression

September 6, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

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I will be offering a FREE talk on the holistic treatment of depression on September 24th, from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at the Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, CA.

The World Health Organization states that depression is the leading cause of disability, affecting more than 120 million people worldwide. Antidepressants are now the most popular class of drugs in the U.S., and their use has been growing rapidly over the past two decades. From 1990 to 2000, prescriptions for SSRIs (the leading class of antidepressant drugs) rose by a staggering 1300%. In the last year alone, 30 million patients in the U.S. spent over $12 billion on antidepressants.

However, despite their aggressive promotion and widespread use, recent evidence suggests that antidepressants are not as effective as we have been led to believe. Other studies have raised concerns about the long-term safety of antidepressant drugs, including a potential increase in suicidal behavior in both children and adults.

In this two-hour presentation, you’ll learn about several non-drug treatments that are clinically proven to be at least as effective as antidepressants for relieving depression in all but the most severe cases. We will also review various theories on the nature and causes of depression, drawing upon both modern science and traditional wisdom.

WARNING: Withdrawal from antidepressant drugs must be very gradual, and should always be done under the supervision of a licensed medical professional. Do not, under any circumstances, stop taking your medication without such supervision.

Date: Wednesday, September 24th

Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Location:
Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College (AIMC)

2550 Shattuck Ave (at Blake)
Berkeley, CA 94704
MAP

AIMC is an easy, 10-minute walk south on Shattuck from downtown Berkeley BART.

Cost: Free

Click here to download a PDF flyer for the event.

Researchers create animal stress model

September 4, 2008 in Mind Over Medicine | Leave a comment

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Excerpted from Sciencedaily.com, 9/4/08

In an effort to better understand how chronic stress affects the human body, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, have created an animal model that shows how chronic stress affects behavior, physiology and reproduction.

According to lead researcher Mark Wilson, PhD, chief of the Division of Psychobiology at Yerkes, “Chronic stress can lead to a number of behavioral changes and physical health problems, including anxiety, depression and infertility.”

Via the animal model, the researchers found corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is a key neurohormone involved in stress response. Wilson explains, “CRF is located in several different brain regions, serving different functions. Its release is important for our ability to adapt to every day stressors and to maintain our physical and emotional health.”

In response to stress, CRF levels rise; CRF levels decrease when the stressor no longer is present. Chronic stress, however, increases the length and volume of expression of CRF in areas of the brain associated with fear and emotion, including the amygdala. Such chronic stress changes the body’s response, and the resulting increased expression of CRF is thought to be the cause of such health-related stress problems including anxiety, depression and infertility.

Intuitively most people know that chronic stress wreaks havoc on their health. But until quite recently, most physicians and researchers denied such a connection between stress and disease existed at all. Thankfully, that time has passed. The new scientific discipline of “psychoneuroimmunology”, or PNI, is illuminating the mechanisms behind the stress-disease connection and revealing just how damaging chronic stress is to our health.

Stress has been shown to be a risk factor in almost every serious disease that plagues human beings, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and depression. Stress management techniques should be a consistent, regular aspect of your preventative medicine program.

Stay tuned for some of the techniques and practices I’ve found to be most helpful.

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