Mind & Mood Archive

No one likes being stuck by a needle, and it’s not unusual for a person to be afraid of needles. If it’s serious enough, this phobia can affect quality of life and overall health — an especially important concern with vaccination available for COVID-19. But there are ways to cope with the problem.

As more states have legalized the use of marijuana and products derived from it, more children are being exposed. Children can't be trusted not to eat appealing-looking food items they may find, so it's up to adults to take precautions and make sure edibles are stored where children can't find them.

Try stress reduction to improve your quality of life and potentially relieve allergy symptoms.

Spring allergies are a stressful business. Coping with watery eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or a sore throat affects how you get through each day. "The primary consequence is a reduced quality of life. This naturally can lead to stress on patients and their families," says Dr. Ahmad Sedaghat, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

The influence goes both ways: not only can allergies cause stress, but stress can make allergies worse.

In addition to everything else associated with stress, it can have negative effects on the skin, and can also aggravate certain skin conditions. But skin and hair also produce stress-inducing signals that can travel back to the brain, adding to psychological stress and perpetuating a stress cycle.

Peer support groups in mental health allow people with similar lived experiences to listen, share, and encourage one another. A Black peer support group created around race and culture as well as mental health may offer a safe space that allows people to address aspects of shared identity and experiences around racism with others who understand their daily reality.

Ask the doctor

Q. How do we store memories in our brain, and is there hope that someday we might be able to restore memories we've lost?

A. We remember just a tiny fraction of the events of our lives. The sights and sounds of every conscious moment could become a memory. But only when a moment seems important do we remember it, at least for a while. I remember the radiant beauty of my wife's face on our wedding day, at the moment she lifted the veil.

Details of significant experiences from decades ago may still be available if you can coax them out of your memory.

Sometimes memories of certain experiences remain crystal clear for life, like the moment you said "I do," or the first time you held your baby in your arms. Other significant memories from long ago can be harder to recall. But they may still be with you; it just takes effort to retrieve them.

Which memories stay with us?

Of the many memories you accumulate every day, only those marked as meaningful are recorded in your brain's long-term files. "We have a system in our brains that tags memories that are important in some way so we'll remember them in the future," explains Dr. Andrew Budson, a neurologist and chief of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at VA Boston Healthcare System.

Research we're watching

While opioid use disorders have gotten a lot of attention in recent years, the number of people dying as a result of methamphetamine use is on the rise. A study published Jan. 14, 2021, in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a combination drug therapy may provide some hope in helping people with this difficult-to-treat disorder.

In the trial, half of the 403 adult volunteers were given a combination of two drugs: naltrexone, which is used to treat both opioid and alcohol use disorders, and bupropion, an antidepressant. The other half of the group received a placebo. The treatment period began in 2017 and ended in 2019. During that time people were given periodic urine tests to gauge whether they used methamphetamines. Those who had at least three of four drug-free tests were defined as having responded to treatment. Researchers found that by weeks five and six, 16.5% of the treatment group had responded to treatment, compared with 3.4% of the control group. By weeks 11 and 12, 11.4% of the treatment group met the urine test criteria for successful treatment, compared with less than 2% of the control group. Most people who received the drug treatment didn't have any serious side effects.

News briefs

We already know that mindfulness meditation and a mentally active life are boons to healthy aging. But do these practices also help older people struggling with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)? To find out, Harvard researchers reviewed more than a dozen recent studies that looked at the effects of either mindfulness or cognitive training (including computerized programs) on older adults with MCI. In findings published online Dec. 29, 2020, by The American Journal of Medicine, researchers concluded that both strategies have potential benefits for cognition and mood. For people with MCI, practicing mindfulness over several weeks to months seemed to sharpen attention, memory, and other mental skills, and ease anxiety and depression. Similarly, cognitive training was associated with better memory, executive function, and mood. Most of the studies included in the review were relatively small and short-term, so they don't provide strong evidence of benefit, nor could they determine how long any benefit might last. But researchers say both strategies are feasible and low-risk, with the potential to benefit thinking skills and mood in people with MCI. Now we need more research to find out how the benefits might translate into everyday life and endure over time.

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