John Kirwan talks about Depression

In this video ex All Black John Kirwan talks about his personal battle with depression and his role fronting a New Zealand depression awareness campaign. His openness has directly contributed to a higher awareness of depression, breaking down stereotypes about depression, particularly among men.

John Kirwan’s contribution to the depression campaign has been significant, and initial feedback from pre-testing results are confirmed by a national survey showing 78% of those surveyed recalled the advertisements, and of these 98% were positive about them. Both the survey and 0800 helpline callers have identified his personal honesty and openness as a key factor in the success of the campaign.



John Kirwan has since been appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to mental health awareness.

Book review: Living Well with Depression & Bipolar Disorder

John McNanamy is one of the growing number of expert patients who have written about their own health experiences and researched options for treatment.

In his book, Living Well with Depression and Bipolar Disorder, McNanamy details the different types of depression and mania and methods of diagnosis. This book combines his own personal experiences, his interactions with other patients with depression or bipolar, and summarises other literature on the subject of mental health diagnosis and treatment. He takes the time to explain the mechanisms underlying depression and mania, and comorbidity with anxiety, alcoholism and the like.

In Living Well, McManamy draws links between depression and other personality and lifestyle traits. For example, his own small website poll determined that a little over 80% of respondents with depression are introverted. He also discusses the different impact of depression and bipolar on young and old people, men and women.

He then moves on to different treatment options and discusses the pros and cons of medications, talk therapy, complementary treatments (e.g. light boxes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other supplements) and lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise.

This is a great book if you want to understand the causes of depression and bipolar illness, or if you have questions about treatment options. Some people will find the information on antidepressants, antipsychotics and other medications an eye opener. In Living Well, McManamy explains how drug trials work and what the results mean. In short, he debunks the statistics commonly quoted by pharmaceutical companies when describing the effectiveness of medications.

This isn’t to say that meds don’t work, but the number of people that are helped by medications is overstated, and side-effects are minimised. This occurs because the results don’t include patients who don’t complete the trial period, due to unacceptable side-effects. According to McManamy antidepressants reduce depression by half in approximately half the patients. And some of those patients may have naturally improved over this time frame. It’s not entirely encouraging.

However, there are lots of helpful recommendations, including the need to keep taking your meds if they are helpful as this can reduce the risk of relapse. McManamy makes a compelling case for lifestyle changes, such as incorporating more omega 3 fatty acid rich fish, reducing sugar intake, managing sleep and incorporating regular exercise. He also overviews cognitive therapy and the importance of an holistic approach that incorporates changes to lifestyle and mindset to supplement medications.

The book doesn’t give you a prescription for recovery. If you’re looking for a step-by-step solution you may prefer The Chemistry of Joy. However, if you want to understand your illness and all the available options for recovery, then this book lets you choose from the menu of possible solutions.

Is it Sadness or Clinical Depression?

Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg enrolled himself in a study for a new form of treatment for depression thinking that he was a bit down in the dumps, but not clinically depressed. After being diagnosed with depression he suggested that pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in classifying people as depressed when they are going through normal life adjustments or periods of melancholy. He espouses his views in the May 2007 issue of Harper Magazine in the cover article “Manufacturing Depression: A Journey into the Economy of Melancholy”

Pharmaceutical companies and researchers are casting their nets too wide to find new patients, calling normal, rational feelings a disease, says Greenberg. Some simple sadness, the occasional melancholy, is part of a normal life, he says, and getting rid of them may mean getting rid of the soul

He suggests that a diagnosis of depression leads to prescribing antidepressants when people may be better served by other treatments and lifestyle changes. For an interesting discussion the subject of depression you can listen to a podcast where Greenberg is joined by Dr. Jonathan Alpert, Associate Director of the Depression Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Peter Kramer, a clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and author of Against Depression, Listening to Prozac and Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind

Richard Jeni death a suicide according to family

The news that popular comedian Richard Jeni committed suicide shocked fans. Jeni shot himself in the face, apparently in the presence of his girlfriend, who phoned for help.

It seems a senseless waste of life and I can’t even begin to imagine the trauma that his girlfriend suffered in dealing with the aftermath of the shooting. Many of you are probably asking why someone might commit suicide when they appear to have so much going for them. Why does someone who is successful and popular commit suicide?

Suicidal ideation (thoughts of suicide) are rarely logical and are usually a response to feelings of hopelessness, poor coping skills or an inability to see other options. According to the NIMH substance abuse (drugs and alcohol), depression and other mental illnesses are significant risk factors for suicide.

To the outside world Richard Jeni who appears to have a great career, supportive friends, a loving girlfriend and positive future prospects. However depression can distort thinking and unhelpful - and in this case dangerous – thoughts can intrude.

According to a statement by Richard’s family:

The truth is: earlier this year Richard Jeni was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. One only needs to have a family member or friend with a mental illness to understand that there is nothing rational, predictable, or fair about these diseases. Mental illness is as serious as any physical affliction and can be just as devastating.

What can you do if someone you love is contemplating suicide?

• Suggest they visit a health professional such as a doctor, psychologist, counselor or psychiatrist.


• Ask them to make a ‘no suicide’ contract with you. A no suicide contract is an agreement that the individual concerned will not commit suicide without first talking to you or someone else you name (such as a doctor or therapist).


• Don’t blame yourself. You are not responsible for someone else’s actions.


• Take care of yourself. Give yourself some time each day for your own well-being and to recharge your batteries.


• Educate yourself about depression and suicide.


• Consider getting support from a doctor or therapist to help you deal with the situation or from a telephone helpline such as Lifeline or Samaritans. You could also join a support group to meet other caregivers in a similar situation.


• Make a list of support services and phone numbers for your loved one to call. This should include suicide phone lines, Samaritans, Lifeline, health professionals and any friends or family that would be willing to help.


• Be willing to listen and provide a sounding board.


• Try not to criticize or judge their decision to consider suicide.


• Lock medications in a secure cupboard and only provide enough pills for each day’s allowance.


• If your loved one is skipping their medications, encourage them to resume taking pills.

Resources:
A list of suicide prevention resources and support is available here

In the News: The pursuit of happiness

There is an excellent article in Newsweek discussing men and depression.

the facts suggest that, well, men tend not to take care of themselves and are reluctant to own up to mental illness. Although depression is emotionally crippling and has numerous medical implications—some of them deadly—many men fail to recognize the symptoms. Instead of talking about their feelings, men may mask them with alcohol, drug abuse, gambling, anger or by becoming workaholics.

NBC have been running a series on The Pursuit of Happiness. You can check out the article and a video on happiness and the links to health as well as a quiz on life satisfaction.

There's a Detroit study of nuns that started in the 1930s. In the nuns' diaries, researchers looked at references to positive words and number of different types of positive words. Those nuns who had most references to positive feelings and positive words lived nine years longer than nuns with more negative thoughts.

Part of having a positive emotional style is a feeling of calmness. Research shows that happier people have a lower resting pulse at work, as well as at leisure.

More men seeking help for depression

A New Zealand Depression Helpline is reporting success with it's latest television campaign. The advertisements seek to raise awareness of depression and encourage people to seek help. To view the advertisements click on the photo to the left or here

In the advertisements, former All Black, John Kirwan talks candidly about his experiences with depression. He talks about being told by friends that he needed to toughen up, and how that was the wrong thing to do. Kirwan provides proof that there is a way through the mire of depression.

A spokesperson for the Depression Helpline has reported an increased number of calls to the Helpline. In particular, they have been surprised that approximately half the callers are men. In the past, women have been reported as being twice as likely to experience depression, however this advertising campaign appears to be encouraging men to seek help and support. Click here for a Video link to the news story on the positive response to the depression campaign.

Kirwan is not the first celebrity to talk about depression. Nancy Schimelpfening reports that celebrities such as Beyoncé Knowles, Brooke Shields and Jessica Simpson are talking openly about depression.

Talk about depression at our forum

Anti-Depressants - Is the cure worse than the illness? (Part 1 of 2)

This is the sort of book you wish your doctor would read.

It looks holistically at depression considering the biomedical model (i.e. there is something wrong with your body and in particular your brain) as well as psychosocial factors, lifestyle changes and other environmental influences. Is It Me or My Meds is penned by David Karp, who has long term depression and anxiety. He interviewed 50 people (including teens) with major depression and manic depression to gauge their attitudes about taking antidepressants and dealing with depression and the stigma around it.

Why people take antidepressants

Commonly accepted wisdom is that depression is caused by a biochemical balance in the brain which can be helped by taking antidepressants. Not everyone accepts this hypothesis. Some believe that depression and other mental illnesses can be fixed through meditation, counselling or other types of therapy, dietary changes, exercise or sheer willpower.

According to an anonymous academic who blogs here

Please. There may well be brain issues in people with various “mental illnesses,” but this whole ‘chemical imbalance’ thing is 95% marketing, 5% science. Find a serious scientist who will step up to the mic (sic) and tell us about the definitive chemical imbalance that causes bipolar, schizophrenia, or much of anything else in the mental disorder world.

While there were many people that resisted medication there were some who welcomed it with relief. Many patients were anxious for anything that might grant them some relief from unrelenting feelings of sadness, worthlessness and at times suicidal ideation.

Individuals reported varying degrees of success with antidepressants. For some, taking medications were a lifesaver that enabled them to feel more confident, overcome feelings of hopelessness and get on with life. However large numbers of people reported dissatisfaction with the side-effects of meds, failure of the meds to work effectively, gained only short-term relief from antidepressants or felt ostracised by being labelled as someone who needed to take psychotropic medications.

There were several patients who refused to take meds, or found themselves hopeful that they would one day be able to wean themselves off antidepressants. Overall, the majority of patients interviewed did not like taking meds for depression, bipolar or anxiety.

This attitude is also reflected in the attitude of the author, who has tried unsuccessfully to withdraw from taking antidepressants and antianxiolytic meds.

The people interviewed referred to searching for identity and not knowing whether the self on drugs is the ‘normal’ person or the one off drugs. Many felt pressure to conform to society’s expectation of normalcy.

The book includes a quote from Francis Fukuyama:

There is a disconcerting symmetry between Prozac and Ritalin. The former is prescribed for depressed women lacking in self-esteem; it gives them more of the alpha-le feelings that comes with high serotonin levels.
Ritalin on the other hand, is prescribed largely for young bots who do not want to sit still in class because nature never designed them to behave that way.

How your relationship with your doctor affects you

It was also evident throughout the book that the relationship of the individual to their health professional made a substantial difference. In situations where the individual felt that the health professional listened to their needs and offered trustworthy advice, patients were more likely to take meds and more likely to have success with them.

In this respect the placebo effect of medications was influenced not only by the knowledge that they were taking meds for their depression but also by their trust in the Health Professional prescribing the meds.

Part 1 of our review of Is It Me or My Meds?: Living with Antidepressants by David A. Karp
You can read Part 2 here

~ For help with depression and other emotional issues visit our forum ~

Why is depression different for Men?

According to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) of New Zealand men may experience depression as often as women. They suggest that depression in men is underrecognised due to their reluctance to visit doctors or other health professionals for help.

The MHF also suggests that men may become depressed for different reasons, and employ different coping skills to women. For example:

Compared with women, men are more likely to be concerned with being competitive, powerful and successful. Men may fear that admitting to their depression will result in being rejected by their partner.
Most men don’t like to admit that they feel fragile or vulnerable.
Some symptoms such as anger, restlessness and hostility are not commonly associated with depression

I haven't been able to find any research that supports the idea that men are equally as likely to experience depression. Most studies suggest that women are approximately twice as likely to experience depression as men. Logically women have risk factors that men don't have, such as the possibility of post-natal depression

However I believe the MHF raises some valid points: men may find it unmanly to admit to depression or fail to recognise the signs. This suggests depression is underrecognised in males but I doubt they experience equal rates of depression as women.

Join a free forum on depression here