http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/depression http://io9.com/tag/depression

Scientists this week published a study that reveals what the human brain looks like under the influence of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical found in magic mushrooms. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5878523&view=rss&microfeed=true

Depression is the most common mental illness, but there's still a lot we don't know about how the condition affects the brain. But now, a new MRI study reveals that depression deactivates vital pieces of brain circuitry... including, surprisingly, the region that controls hatred. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5846672&view=rss&microfeed=true

After the doctor has finally diagnosed your problem — whether it's high blood pressure or low serotonin levels — nothing is worse than drug price sticker shock. How could a prescription possibly cost so much? It's nearly ten times as much as that other drug that supposedly does the exact same thing. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844482&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's possible that depression could be cured by reducing mild swelling in your brain. Neuroscientists have linked depression to brain inflammation before, and now a new study suggests further evidence for this theory. Here you can see the distinctive signature of a glial cell responding to swollen tissue in a brain — the cell's center is elongated, and it has many more branching fibers than a typical glial cell. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5827988&view=rss&microfeed=true

Clinical depression is one of the most common mental illnesses, a disabling condition that keeps people trapped in feelings of hopelessness and despair. So why do depressed people actually make better decisions than their healthy counterparts? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5799146&view=rss&microfeed=true

Today, clocks throughout the United States jump forward an hour to mark the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. The economic and energy benefits of DST have been hotly debated for nearly a century, but does it pose a health risk? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5781424&view=rss&microfeed=true

As people get older, their driving skills tend to diminish. Failing eyesight and heavy medication are often blamed for this phenomenon, but there might be a neurological reason...and it could help us better understand depression and schizophrenia. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5743333&view=rss&microfeed=true

The causes of depression are many and complex, but who'd have thought too much light could be part of the problem? Hamsters who sleep in total darkness are less susceptible to depression, and the same could be true of humans. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5693125&view=rss&microfeed=true

Doctors have prescribed antidepressants for decades without fully understanding why they helped people. Yes, they increase serotonin levels in the brain, but a new study gives a clear picture of what else these drugs do to us. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5640166&view=rss&microfeed=true

Proxac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa: Whether you're clinically depressed or not, you probably know all of those medications by name. But now you can replace them all with magnets. The Food and Drug Administration in the US has just approved a new option for the depressed and medication-weary: Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. Its jingle could be, "Cheaper than shock therapy, less frightening than electrode implants!" More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5067764&view=rss&microfeed=true

Many economic crisis periods in the U.S. have spawned drug epidemics. During the late-nineteenth century "long depression" or "crisis," the use of opium reached epidemic proportions, and a few decades later the innovation of intravenous injection made heroin the drug of choice among 1930s Depression-era junkies. Heroin made a comeback during the 1973 Oil Crisis, while cocaine and crack use spiked directly after the early 1980s Recession. Meth was the drug of choice during the early 1990s recession, and we're sure to get another dose as the Neo-Depression of the early twenty-first century marches on. We've got some ideas about what drug it might be — and you can offer your opinion in our poll below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5063456&view=rss&microfeed=true

Don't panic! Yes, there's no new Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Doctor Who or Spectacular Spider-Man this week. (And UK viewers are without new Who as well.) But we'll get through this somehow. I promise. There are some science documentaries, some cool movies — including a super-weird thriller about a computer programmer who gets ensnared in a freaky conspiracy involving empty packages, a robot head, and a virtual reality sex game. Television hasn't abandoned you yet. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=391543&view=rss&microfeed=true

At first blush, you want to chuck this in the "no-kidding-that's-why-it's-abused" department. But the horse tranquilizer and hallucinogenic pleasure drug ketamine may have found a clinical home next to Prozac. A serious study by people smarter than most of us suggests ketamine ("Special K" to friends and close acquaintances) restores normal activity in an area of the brain that's usually in overdrive in people with diagnosed clinical depression. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=386973&view=rss&microfeed=true

For over a decade researchers have been treating many different ailments, including depression, with electrodes lodged deep in the brain. Devices like this Soletra brain implant deliver electrical impulses to a targeted brain region, essentially creating artificial activity in an area that the brain won't activate on its own. While there have been anecdotal reports that brain implants can help people with depression or OCD, now there is solid proof. A long-range study being presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons demonstrates how patients, over a 10-year period with brain implants, gained increasing control over their moods and obsessive behaviors. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=385327&view=rss&microfeed=true

Will soldiers of the future be given serotonin depressors to make them depressed and therefore fearless? A new study released Friday shows that people with a low level of serotonin do not "reflexively avoid" bad situations, and are more likely to explore risky and dangerous places. This is a sorry state in everyday life, but might be desirable if you're a soldier and need to venture into spots most people would steer clear of. It's very possible the next "super soldier" drug won't give you superstrength, but just a megadose of depression. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=352145&view=rss&microfeed=true