It’s fairly known that depression can occur after a heart attack and can increase the likelihood of a second heart attack. But did you know that the flip side is also …
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Did the study control for those with depression who were being treated with medication? Because psych meds are often linked with weight gain and a whole host of other problems like diabetes, hypertension, etc.
The medication variable would be important information to know before one could determine if there’s support for the claim that depression increases the risk of major diseases. That old saying “correlation does not equal causation” may be applicable here.
oh, that’s really bad, every now and then i find another bad thing that depression can cause!
thanks for the info
Researchers hypothesize not theorize. It is not appropriate to report information from the comments or conclusion section of a study implying that the in anyway represent scientific inquiry. The language of your article is causal and as the first person who commented on this article noted correlation does not mean causation. You are communicating to the public uneducated in research statistics. It is, therefore, very important that you do so clearly and precisely otherwise wrong conclusion will be drawn. Look at the second comment if you doubt this.
When I’ve been depressed, I am thinking that I would like to end my life because it’s too painful, going on. So things like going to the dentist or lowering my cholesterol rank pretty low on my list of priorities.
I was struggling just to get out of bed. One of the few things I took pleasure in was that cup of coffee first thing in the morning. And my doctor wanted to detract from that small pleasure by taking away my half and half!
So my own anecdotal experience is that there’s a correlation between physical health. Symptoms of depression are intertwined with things like changes in eating, sleeping, inactivity, grooming, being around other people. And all of those things are related to physical health.
Actually, at this moment it’s striking me as very strange that we try to separate physical health and well-being from mental/emotional health and well-being. The dualistic mind-body split that is part of our Western mindset is rather artificial.
I am bipolar – diagnosed two years – but was treated for depression for fifteen odd years, taking large doses of a variety of anti-depressants – no anti-psychotic.
I struggled, but survived, cycled in and out of depressive bouts, but my mania seemed to offset the lows with some functioning highs.
In 2002, at my stepdaughters wedding, I collapsed. In the next few months I weakened to the point I could no longer work. I experienced chronic neck and leg pain and had a great difficulty walking and catching my breath. This condition lingered for years.
Before my savings were exhausted and my insurance dropped my disability coverage, I underwent extensive neurological testing – all negative, all suggesting the meltdown was a somaticized depressive event.
I wasn’t able to a understand, let alone accept the possibility of the mind crippling the body. I was outraged at what I considered incompetence. I withdrew socially and attempted suicide a few months later.
I was hospitalized and my medications were increased to absurd amounts, the symptoms exacerbated and my discomfort became intolerable. I underwent several series of ECT until my memory was compromised – I gave up.
I left after 6 months, weaker and with little hope – more anti-depressants, more therapy – and a year later, I isolated again and made another attempt on my life.
Again hospitalized, but a different system, different psychiatrist, a different diagnosis – bipolar. The ssri’s were all but eliminated and I was introduced to Seroquel. The ruminations and mania became apparent to me for the first time in my life. The medication provided a much needed break in the cycling. I began to understand this process and live accordingly. Slowly my physical health returned to very acceptable levels.
I know now that my ‘condition’ was s complex interaction of both body and psyche.
Understanding this had, quite honestly, saved my life.
I am now convinced the mind holds a tremendous authority over the body.