Mind & Mood Archive

Some drugs go too far, dulling emotions across the spectrum. A dose adjustment or a switch to a different medication can help.

 Image: Wavebreakmedia/Thinkstock

When your doctor prescribes a medication for depression, the goal is to reduce painful feelings of sadness or hopelessness. The majority of people taking the most commonly prescribed antidepressants—selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—improve substantially. But sometimes, SSRIs go beyond improving mood and make a person feel too little emotion. "Some people feel like they've lost the richness of daily life," says Dr. Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Serotonin and SSRIs

What you should do

An analysis of records of 5,635 participants in the Health and Retirement Study linked regular book reading with a 20% reduced risk of dying over a 12-year period. 

Animal-assisted therapy can be your best friend when it comes to mental support.

 Image: Jevtic /Thinkstock

They say a dog is man's best friend, but when it comes to better health, any type of animal bonding will do.

Research shows that interaction with animals like dogs, cats, and even horses can have both immediate and long-lasting impacts on your mental well-being. Done more formally in a medical context, it's known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT).

Lower your dependency on medication by altering your perception of pain.

Image: Cathy Yeulet/ Thinkstock

Everyday pain becomes more constant as you age. It can vary from morning aches to occasional joint flare-ups to recurrent episodes that interfere with your life and overall health.

Yet pain has a valuable role. It alerts your systems to potential injury so you can seek treatment. "Pain is similar to blood pressure, which becomes a problem if the levels become too high," says Dr. Jianren Mao, director of the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Translational Pain Research. "Only when pain becomes intolerable should you resort to medication or other types of treatment."

A mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) can help control anxiety among men who follow active surveillance for prostate cancer. The wait-and-see approach can make men feel so uneasy about their condition that they opt for treatment with radiation therapy or surgery when it is unnecessary. MBSR not only eases anxiety levels, but also inspires men to be more proactive about their health and adopt lifestyle changes like a proper diet and exercise.

A study published online Aug. 8, 2016, by BMJ Open found that volunteering seems to confer greater benefits for general well-being in middle and older age than earlier in life. 

The science of neurogenesis suggests it's possible to create neurons that improve your memory and thinking skills.

Image: Decade3d/ Thinkstock

There are many aspects of aging you cannot prevent, but surprisingly, memory trouble is not one of them.

"The dogma for the longest time was that adult brains couldn't generate any new brain cells. You just use what you were born with," says Dr. Amar Sahay, a neuroscientist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "But the reality is that everyone has the capacity to develop new cells that can help enhance cognitive functions."

Mindfulness can be an effective adjunct to medication for chronic pain.

 Image: Tetmc/ Thinkstock

For a long time, people with chronic pain have had to make a trade-off—enduring the discomfort stoically or taking medications that pose additional health risks, including dependence and addiction. But in the last few years, medicine has added another approach that has no troubling side effects: mindfulness.

"Mindfulness is basically paying attention to the present moment without judging," says Dr. Sara Lazar, a neurologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. It is a component of many relaxation techniques, including yoga, deep breathing, tai chi, massage, reflexology, journaling, and prayer.

British researchers tested whether behavioral activation therapy alone is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy. The results were almost identical for both groups, with two-thirds of each group reporting a reduction of depressive symptoms of at least 50%.

Often considered an ailment of only military veterans, this condition also can affect many older men.

 Image: Devoryou/Thinkstock

Mention post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and most people immediately think of military veterans. While this group is highly susceptible to PTSD, research has shown that older adults, specifically men, are also vulnerable.

PTSD is a potentially debilitating condition that can occur in people who have experienced a natural disaster, war, terrorism, serious accident, violent personal assault, or similar traumatic event.