Can you say “duh?”
Yes, antidepressants are highly addictive and can do permanent brain damage.—MR
In SSRI Withdrawal, Brain Zaps Go from Overlooked Symptom to Center Stage
by Katie Brown, Psychiatrist.com, July 10, 2023
A sensation unofficially known as “brain zaps” has caused concern in patients stepping off of their SSRIs. Until recently, physicians have widely been unaware or dismissive of the symptom.
Slow it down
Anxiety has many causes. To get a handle on it, a sufferer must add some stress reducing behaviors to their lives and take stressors away. Living or working where you do not chronically hear traffic moving at speeds of 40 miles an hour or above is critical to reducing chronic anxiety. If it is impossible for you to more or get a new job, consider wearing ear plugs.—MR
Slower Traffic, Quieter Streets Improve Urban Life
By Denis Storey, Psychiatry.com, November 27, 2024
In today’s expanding urban landscape, shrinking green spaces and never-ending noise threaten the health and wellbeing of city residents.
Have you seen my um, um, um?
Cognitive change due to aging is normal. The below article succinctly explains the difference between forgetfulness and dementia. For example, forgetting you left your car keys in the bedroom and having to go look for them there is normal. Not remembering you went to your bedroom a few minutes ago and so could have left them there is not. Losing track of time is normal. Not being able to understand an analog clock is not.—MR
15 Warning Signs of Dementia You Shouldn’t Ignore
By Rachel Nania, AARP newsletter, November 20, 2024
You’re running late because you can’t find your keys. Of course, they’re buried in your bag.
Get real!
May I humbly suggest that real reality is much healthier for the entire human body than virtual reality (sic) no matter the venue?—MR
Real art in museums stimulates brain much more than reprints, study finds
by Senay Boztas, Guardian US, October 3, 2024
It was a truth known to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell back in 1968, but now scientists have caught up with them: there really ain’t nothing like the real thing.
How do you spell that?
Sex is a word a lot of seniors avoid. But, frankly, a contented life generally includes it. If your sex life has dried up, read the below article to, at least, find out why.—MR
Cuddling too much and doing it after dinner: 12 ways you could be ruining your sex life – and how to fix them
by Paisley Gilmour, The Guardian US, October 5, 2024
Not quite at it like rabbits? From trying to be too adventurous to dogs on the bed, experts on the habits you didn’t realize were spoiling your sex life – and how to improve it
Join the conversation
The below article highlights the fact that there are as many ways to help persons that hear voices as there are reasons for it. If you are a person who hears people speaking that others don’t seem to hear, find a compassionate counselor with whom you can share the conversation. There are good reasons for the information you are receiving and different ways to respond beyond drugs and believing your brain is broken. The world is not black and white, unless one is color blind.—MR
Targeted
by Justin Garson PhD, Aeon newsletter, September 6, 2024
In November 2020, the voices came. Luca didn’t know how many there were or how they managed to force themselves into his mind.
One is the loneliest number
The below article states the “overall mortality impact of loneliness and isolation are on par with smoking daily, and they’re even greater than the mortality impact we see with obesity.” This is nothing to sniffa ya nose at as they say in New York. If you live alone, try as hard as you can to get out and about daily—join a club, volunteer to help the elderly, invite a friend over for lunch, go to a mental health counselor—as if your life depends on it because, in fact, it does!—MR
US surgeon general warns about the dangers of loneliness
By Youri Benadjaoud, ABC News, June 12, 2024
At least one in two U.S. adults is experiencing loneliness, Murthy said.
Alcohol kills. Period.
A decades-long study of over 60-aged drinkers found that compared with occasional drinkers, low-risk drinkers had higher cancer mortality, i.e one glass of wine with meals, moderate-risk drinkers had higher all-cause and cancer mortality, and high-risk drinkers had higher all-cause, cancer, and coronary vascular disease (CVD) mortality. If you wish to protect your mental and physical health, it’s pretty simple, don’t drink.—MR
Let’s dance!
One of the more pleasant ways to repair personal, social and relational health is to dance together. This delightful four-minute animated video explains the reasons why. Let’s dance!–MR
by Director Rosanna Wan et al, Psyche, July 12, 2024
Every culture dances. So why did humans evolve to get down?
Moving our bodies to music is ubiquitous throughout human history and across the globe. So why is this ostensibly frivolous act so fundamental to being human? The answer, it seems, is in our need for social cohesion – that vital glue that keeps societies from breaking apart despite interpersonal differences. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) theorised that ‘collective effervescence’ – moments in which people come together in some form of unifying, excitement-inducing activity – is at the root of what holds groups together. More recently, Bronwyn Tarr, an evolutionary biologist and psychologist at the University of Oxford who is also a dancer, has researched the evolutionary and neurological underpinnings of our innate tendency to bust a move.
Betcha can’t eat just one!
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is, shall we say, “not my favorite,” and I generally tend to ignore it because I don’t “take” insurance for ethical reasons. Getting insurance companies to shell out is its main purpose, but the below author has a good point. Some folks simply do not realize their brains have normally-useful brain chemicals to which a person can become addicted if triggered by some substances and behaviors. It’s called “secondary addiction” as opposed to a primary one like to alcohol or heroin. Highly-processed foods are intentionally designed by unethical corporations to cause secondary addictions in their customers, so the corps can sell tons of fake food and make beaucoup bucks. They don’t care that they destroy lives. If you’d like help getting your life back, give me a call.—MR
Food Addiction Should Be Included in the DSM-6
June 6, 2024
In the evolving landscape of mental health diagnostics, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) stands as the cornerstone. While it is far from a perfect tool, its revisions shape clinical practice and legitimize acceptance of mental health conditions that affect large numbers of patients. Without an accurate diagnosis, patients will continue to experience undue stigma, misdiagnosis, and poor prognosis.
Take it slow!
Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome is a very real mental illness. Yes, antidepressants can help a patient get over a rough patch, but then trying to get off a very real addiction to them is difficult in many cases. All antidepressants are not created equal. Some are very difficult to get off and others not so bad. I recommend a year’s titration for some and only a few months for others. If you’d like help quitting a drug that radically increases your risk of dementia, let’s talk!—MR
Incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis
by Jonathan Henssler, MD and others, The Lancet Psychiatry, June 05, 2024
Antidepressant discontinuation symptoms are becoming an increasingly important part of clinical practice, but the incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms has not been quantified. An estimate of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms incidence could inform patients and clinicians in the discontinuation of treatment, and provide useful information to researchers in antidepressant treatments. We aimed to assess the incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms in patients discontinuing both antidepressants and placebo in the published literature.
How can I help?
People are losing their minds, not to mention their lives, from loneliness. Fortunately, it one of the epidemics in America that is most easily rectified. We can help ourselves by helping others not feel so lonely. And no, social media does not help mitigate feelings of isolation, it increases them. Talking with a counselor can help you learn how to socialize again. Call today!—MR
We can all help combat loneliness, surgeon general says in Seattle
By Taylor Blatchford, Seattle Times, May 30, 2024
Loneliness isn’t just a feeling. It’s a public health concern, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Wednesday in Seattle. Murthy declared loneliness and isolation a national epidemic in May 2023, issuing an 81-page report outlining the problem and potential solutions. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, about half of American adults said they’d experienced loneliness.
Spring-back effect
Yes, it’s true, initially cannabis use alleviates anxiety and pain. But as it fades from your system, anxiety and/or pain become worse than either was originally (called a spring-back effect) and you’ll need more and more to alleviate your issue. Why? Because over time, your brain has become addicted to the endogenous opioid it triggers to help you relax or dull pain in the first place. It is true, cannabis is not primarily addictive, but the brain chemical it triggers at a higher level than normal certainly is. This is called “secondary addiction.” So if you’d like to feel more anxiety or more pain, use cannabis in an ever-increasing cycle.—MR
Legal Marijuana Leads to More Hospital Trips for Older Adults — ED visits tripled after edible cannabis was legalized in Canada
by Judy George, MedPage Today, May 20, 2024
… Emergency department (ED) visits for cannabis poisoning among older people in Ontario doubled after dried cannabis flowers were legalized for recreational use … and tripled after edible cannabis was legalized … reported Nathan Stall, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto in Canada, and co-authors.
The price of your life
Frankly, I think the below idea is silly, but folks are desperate to quell the continuously rising tide of tobacco use. I quote from the article. “In the U.S., smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death, with 480,000 people dying from tobacco-related illness…each year.” And I don’t know if they are counting the suicide that results from the deep depression tobacco can cause. Let’s get the real culprit to pay. Charge a tobacco company $1M every time a person dies from using its product and put it into funding substance-abuse clinics. —MR
What If States Paid People to Stop Using Drugs and Smoking?
by May 4, 2024
The U.S. is grappling with two leading and interwoven crises of addiction that result in far too many preventable deaths each year. While one is a problem that the country has been battling for decades, the other is relatively new. By now, you may have guessed the crises at hand: tobacco use and opioid and stimulant-related overdose.
It just feels right
Learning about your feelings in general help to process them to move forward. Thoughts about feelings are feelings too and help you navigate the world to be happier and more successful.—MR
How ‘feelings about thinking’ help us navigate our world
By Pablo Fernandez Velascoi, Psyche magazine, May 3, 2024
The pleasant feeling of knowing, the frustration of forgetting, and other ‘metacognitive feelings’ serve as unsung guides.
Pesticide producers think you’re a pest
There’s a good reason to eat organic only for the below list of veggies. Pesticides destroy the nervous system of a pest and yours is just like theirs. In other words, consumption can harm your brain—particularly if you’re under 26 because the brain is still growing.—MR
Blueberries and bell peppers: six fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide risk
by Catherine Roberts, Guardian US, April 18, 2024
Pesticides pose a serious risk in conventionally grown versions of the produce shown below, according to a new analysis by Consumer Reports. Here’s why these fruits and vegetables are so problematic, plus how to safely fit them into your diet or make smart substitutions.
Slow suicide
When I started drinking in the late sixties, a few drinks a day was considered okay. A liver cancer diagnosis changed my mind. Now it’s clear, anymore than a few a month and you will damage your mental and physical health. A few a day and you’ll die young and miserable.—MR
More women are drinking themselves sick
When Karla Adkins looked in the rearview mirror of her car one morning nearly 10 years ago, she noticed the whites of her eyes had turned yellow.
More bad cannabis news
That heartache you’re feeling? It may be the marijuana you’re using.—MR
Cannabis Singled Out for Cardiovascular Risk
Cannabis use was independently linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes in the general population even after accounting for tobacco cigarette and e-cigarette use, a large national study found. Using data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), there was an increase in most incident cardiovascular disease events among adults using cannabis daily compared with non-users:
Trick or treat?
It’s a fact! Acupuncture works well to treat the symptoms of PTSD. With PTSD, the body is terrified out of its wits, so if you calm the body, you calm the mind. And its not addictive like drugs that cause more problems than they fix.—MR
Acupuncture Tops Sham for Easing PTSD in Combat Veterans
by Shannon Firth, MedPage Today, February 22, 2024
Acupuncture outperformed “sham” needling in clinical and biological measures of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans, a …randomized trial showed.
Really big feelings
Noticing that the anger you feel is caused by something inside of you is the first step to taking a step back and regaining composure.—MR
Big Feelings: An Interview with Mishele Maron
By Andrew Snee, The Sun, February 12, 2024
Andrew Snee: In “Anger Management” you write about working with angry men when you were a cook and a chef aboard ships. What was that like?
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