Depression in the News 1998

October 26, 1998 issue of New York Magazine. By Maia Szalavitz. Certain popular antidepressants can lift you up only to let you down again. Doctors are finding that so-called "Prozac poop-out" is common -- but perhaps correctable. 
Up to a third of depressed people who respond well initially to the SSRI class of antidepressants (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.) find that the positive effects of the drug wear off. This effect is called "Prozac poop-out" but applies to all of the SSRIs. Eli Lilly reports that 10% to 30% of patients may experience this effect. A psychiatrist is quoted as saying that it happens with all antidepressants, but is more common with the SSRIs. The article discusses possible reasons for this effect and how doctors are treating it. The article advises that "Getting emotional aid from a self-help organization like the Mood Disorders Support Group or additional professional therapy can help tide people over during periods when medication fails. This is why medication combined with therapy and other support is considered the state-of-the-art treatment for depression."
http://www.nymag.com/Critics/view.asp?id=1740

The Infinite Mind is a weekly radio show on National Public Radio (NPR) focusing on the art and science of the human mind and spirit, behavior, and mental health. Since its premiere in March, 1998, it has become one of the most popular science and health shows on public radio. Each week The Infinite Mind addresses one topic -- the full spectrum of issues involving the human mind.  The host is Dr. Fred Goodwin, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Here in New York City it can be heard on WNYC, 820 AM on Sundays from 3pm - 4pm. Both audio tapes and transcripts of past shows can be purchased and their web site lists other stations that carry the show. Some shows can also be listened to over the Internet!
http://www.wnyc.org/pdescrips/infonews.html#mind  
http://www.theinfinitemind.com  
MANIC DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS   October 12, 1998
With an untreated suicide rate of 20 to 25 percent, manic depressive illness (also called bipolar disorder) ranks among the most fatal diseases in medicine. Why is it such a killer? For one thing, it's a long way down for a person falling from the heights of mania to the depths of depression. We'll talk to top experts about this, and about new research that could narrow the gap between "average" and "optimal" treatments. Plus, a whole range of brand-new diagnoses that may leave you wondering whether everybody isn't a little bit bipolar. http://www.lcmedia.com/mind9825.htm  
MEN & SUICIDE: THE TRAGEDY OF J. TIMOTHY HOGAN   December 28, 1998
The tragic death of Tim Hogan, publisher of the Taunton, Massachusetts Daily Gazette, is a reminder that today's health care system is often unable to help people with mental illness. Hogan, a 36-year-old executive, had kept his severe depression hidden from close friends and family. His repeated efforts to get a psychiatric referral from his HMO and referral hotlines were fruitless. Doctors from his HMO couldn't provide him with immediate treatment. At one point he was referred to a mental health clinic but they told him they wouldn't take his insurance. When he offered to pay with cash, he was again turned away, told they didn't take cash "because it was too expensive."  On May 14, 1998, just three months after finding his dream job, running a daily newspaper, Hogan killed himself.  http://www.lcmedia.com/mind9822.htm  

September 11, 1998. Associated Press. Scientists may have stumbled onto an entirely new way to treat depression: an experimental drug that targets a mysterious brain chemical called substance P, that until now, doctors did not know was at work in mental disorders. Just how the drug (MK-869) worked inside these patients' brains remains a mystery. Merck is rapidly planning the research studies required before its new drug would be eligible to sell. Dr. Steven Hyman, director of the government's National Institute of Mental Health, cautions that scientists must verify Merck's findings to be sure that blocking substance P really works.  http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9809/11/treating.depression.ap/index.html
Note: In March 1999, Dr. Ivan Goldberg, medical advisor to MDSG was asked about Substance P during a lecture. His response is in the May 1999 issue of our newsletter.

June 1998 issue of Scientific American Magazine. The search for biological underpinnings of depression is intensifying. Emerging findings promise to yield better therapies for a disorder that too often proves fatal
Considerable evidence indicates that regardless of the initial triggers, the final common pathways to depression involve biochemical changes in the brain. It is these changes that ultimately give rise to the salient characteristics of depression. This article discusses norepinephrine, serotonin, genetics and hormonal abnormalities. http://www.sciam.com/1998/0698issue/0698nemeroff.html   

June 1998 issue of Scientific American Magazine. Women may be more sensitive -- physiologically, at least -- to certain changes in the environment. And this responsiveness might help explain the high rates of depression in their ranks
Few people realize that depression is more prevalent among women, affecting almost 20 percent of the female population in the developed world. Studies show that 12% of U.S. women have suffered from clinically significant depression vs. only 6 percent for U.S. men. This article discusses the psychological, environmental and biological roots of depression. http://www.sciam.com/1998/0698womens/0698leibenluft.html    

USA Today. Many psychiatrists and patients are supporters of shock therapy because of the startlingly quick changes it usually produces. Shock therapy lifts 70% to 95% of patients out of depression, according to most studies. That compares favorably with the most popular anti-depressants: Prozac (51%) and Zoloft (59%). But, unlike drugs, shock therapy's benefits fade quickly. Researchers have been unable to document any anti-depressant effect from shock that lasts longer than four weeks - a fact not disclosed to patients in educational literature or consent forms.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/mentalh/depress/lhmde003.htm

USA Today. Many people with major depression still don't get optimum treatment, despite the availability of effective therapies and substantial public education efforts, experts say. Studies show that only one-third to one-half of people with major depression get proven drugs or psychotherapies. Up to 17% of the U.S. population will at some time suffer a bout of clinical depression. Several kinds of anti-depressant drugs have been shown to help as have certain forms of psychotherapy. In studies, 50% to 60% of patients respond to initial treatment.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/mentalh/depress/lhmde005.htm

March 20, 1998. An experimental treatment for severe depression, in which powerful magnets are applied to patients' heads, is showing signs of success according to researchers at Emory University who reported their work in the journal Psychiatric Annals. More than half of the patients treated improved with no serious side effects. It seems to work best in the left front portion of the brain, believed to be underactive in people with depression. While the magnetic therapy is being studied it is only available for people with severe depression. The treatment is experimental and the long-term effects are unknown. http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/20/magnets.depression/index.html
The September 21, 1998 issue of Newsweek magazine had a brief story on the same subject
http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/issue/14_98b/focus/he/he0612_1.htm
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
June 8, 1998. University of Pennsylvania Health System Press Release.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation,or TMS, delivers a mild, magnetic pulse which jump starts the part of the brain that is functioning poorly, therefore causing severe depression.A study under way at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
compares the effectiveness of transcranial magnetic stimulation to electroconvulsive therapy -- or electric "shock" therapy -- in treating severe depression. ECT is still the most effective treatment for severe depression that is unresponsive to anything else. ECT is now an extremely safe treatment, however, it requires a tremendous amount of preparation to make it that way."
http://www.med.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/june98/tms.shtml

Voices of an Illness is a radio documentary series which provides an extraordinary window on serious mental illness. It is a three-part series. Patty Duke hosts the first part on manic-depression from May 1992. Jason Robards hosts the second part on Schizophrenia from May 1994. Rod Steiger hosts the third part on clinical depression from May 1996. The manic-depression segment is one-hour and features people with manic-depressive illness telling their own stories in their own words. Nine people describe their efforts to stabilize the disorder's effect on their lives. The documentary has won many awards and has been broadcast on many radio stations. If you have real audio software, you can listen to parts of the shows from their web site. Audio tapes of each segment are available for sale.
http://www.theinfinitemind.com/voices.htm