Perception is Everything

Ever heard of the old adage, "Life is 20% of what happens to us and 80% of how we view it"? Then this blog post is dedicated to you!

I've been exercising a bit more heartily lately (read: I've taken up jogging, again) and I've realized that listening to the same songs on my MP3 player over and over again is taking a toll on my morale. Frankly, if I can't lose myself in the music, then I start wondering why I'm moving a muscle at all and I start thinking about how I could be watching a movie or surfing the web, etc... You get the picture.

So, it's no surprise that ScienceDaily.com had an article for my perusing -- on the subject of how music changes our way of thinking. In fact, the study they carried out had participants seeing smiley faces where there were none. Click on the link for the details on the study. In a nutshell, participants perceived positive emotions in their environment simply by listening to upbeat music. Actually, this doesn't surprise me a great deal, but it still speaks volumes for why I want to update my playlist. If I can get into the groove of jogging simply by making my music experience more upbeat, then I'm on it! Excuse me, I've got work to do...

Sleep Deprivation as Treatment for Depression?

So, again I asked myself this morning: What can I research? I recently heard from a medical provider that sleeping too much can actually make depression worse for some people. That's okay for the majority of people who suffer from depression: WebMD.com states that 85% of people with depression actually suffer from insomnia, rather than hypersomnia (sleeping too much).

So, what about the other 15%? One article recommends that for healthy adults, seven to nine hours of sleep is sufficient and goes on to explain that sleep deprivation can actually be considered a treatment for some folks with depression. It also goes on to explain that "death" can be a "side effect" from sleeping over nine hours per night (meaning, that people who sleep more than nine hours have a higher mortality rate -- they don't know why this is, either. Scary? You bet it is).

I personally need a lot of sleep. I find that I function better that way. I'm interested to find out how this is for other people. As far as sleep deprivation being a treatment for depression? Apparently, according to another article on WebMD.com, this was an old treatment that became outmoded by the use of antidepressant medication. In the most recent methods utilizing sleep deprivation, it is used in conjunction with antidepressant medication and may be helpful for patients considered to be treatment-resistant to normal methods. For the full text of the article, check out: WebMD sleep deprivation article.  I'm going to take a nap.

Depression: The New Era of Classification

DSM-IV-TR

So, I woke up this morning with the idea that I would look up which type of depression is worse in the morning...on the internet. Everyone knows that scanning the internet (even, ahem, Wikipedia) is not the most reliable method of obtaining accurate information. Nevertheless, I thought I'd try. I am only familiar with the following categories that depression exists under, classified under the Mood Disorders section of the DSM-IV-TR:

• Dysthymic Disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Bipolar Disorder and its associated Depression
• Cyclothymic Disorder

There are several "specifiers" that describe certain features associated with the above diagnoses, such as Melancholic Features, Atypical Features, Catatonic Features, and the like.

So, you'll imagine my surprise when my research turned up the following term as a type of depression that is worse in the morning: Melancholic Depression. I also noted that the terms "Psychotic Depression" and "Catatonic Depression" were getting thrown around as well. I'm confused.

Those in the psychology profession are familiar with the psychologist's "Bible" (A.K.A. the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM). The DSM is under revision and hence has the suffix: "IV-TR" meaning it is in it's fourth edition, currently under revision. The full title of the text is DSM-IV-TR. The panel of experts and professionals currently involved in the DSM-IV-TR revision process are discussing the changes associated with what will be released as the fifth edition of the DSM and will be appropriately dubbed the DSM-V.

Why do I bring this up? Well, it's simple: if a psychological professional needs to know what diagnosis his or her client's symptoms fall under, the DSM-IV-TR is the book to consult. It has undergone several revisions and with this current process of revisions, diagnoses are being categorized differently than they were before.  I have the most recent copy of the DSM and it has no category of depression labeled "Melancholic Depression." However, the Melancholic Features Specifier does describe a depression that is worse in the morning. I can only assume that this surprise category that turned up is a result of this revision process.

On a very circuitous path, I found my answer. I also found a reason to pay more attention to the revision process of the DSM. It is, after all, the book I shall be married to in my practice. I must learn to love it.