What's the main difference between Western societies and those from the East? Many might cite such things as skin colour, dress codes, dietary habits etc. However, there is something much more important which those of us born and brought up in the West should take heed of - especially if we want to avoid the stress of mental disorders. It is how we, as a society, deal with each other.
Western societies are generally termed ‘individualistic', which means they encourage people to be independent from one another. Promoting self expression and the pursuit of individuality over group goals are paramount in such societies. It's what our schools teach us in order to promote personal growth and achievement. However, the underside of all this is that such styles of living are also much more likely to promote tendencies towards depression than for people from Eastern cultures, whatever the genetic factors each individual may possess.
Research supports the idea that depression can result from both genes and the environment, and an interaction of the two. In Western populations, people who carry the short version of the serotonin transporter gene (STG) tend to suffer major depressive episodes when they experience a number of life stressors.
Childhood memories: sibling bonds run deep and the trauma of losing a loved one can last a lifetime.
I lost my brother last year, aged 61. He had been diagnosed with terminal myeloma - a devastating cancer of the bone marrow - but by the time I discovered his illness, he was already in a coma. I was therefore denied the spiritual healing of a final conversation with him. Many bizarre symptoms have followed this event. Even though I now live in another country, far away from where my brother spent his whole life, I have recently ‘seen' my brother walking past the car as I drove along. The build was the same, the clothes similar - he was even carrying the unusual multi-striped golfing umbrella he always used - and his ‘eyes' red-rimmed. It is truly chilling when such an experience happens. The brain is an amazing organ.
Losing a close member of the family, particularly when they are still relatively young, is very difficult to deal with. In my case, there was a long-running family saga which meant that my brother and I had lost touch for many years.
Don't take no for an answer. It's vital. Older people can boost their brain activity by performing simple online searches, according to a study that suggests the web could be used in the fight against mental decline.
Researchers in California have discovered that internet searches are more effective than reading at improving brain function. It seems that ‘Googling' is particularly beneficial because it involves a number of simultaneous mental processes, including memory - of the original search term - and the comprehension and analysis of the results. The researchers say that searching online is a simple form of brain exercise that can be employed to enhance cognition in older adults. As part of the study, 24 people between the ages of 55 and 78 were asked to carry out a series of online searches while having the flow of blood around their brains monitored by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. They underwent the same test a fortnight later, having followed a regime of online searching at home.
The results showed that the function improvements detected in the initial scans - in the parts of the brain controlling language, reading, memory and vision - had definitely moved to other areas of the brain responsible for memory and decision making.
In her prime, Dorothy Johnson was quite a woman. Not only was she an international bridge player, an active social organiser, she was entrepreneurial in the way she thought.
But, what happens when someone like this, who was known for her intelligence, suddenly develops dementia? Is there something of that original sharpness of mind that can somehow overcome the crisis of the mind?
When, at 59, Dorothy started to show symptoms of dementia and simultaneously to provide illuminating chinks of information about what was happening to her, her daughter Penny watched and listened attentively. She remembers the day Dorothy, feeling agitated, stood in her kitchen brandishing a milk bottle and asking where the fridge was. "I wouldn't be asking if I didn't need the information," Dorothy explained.
In today's world of rush, rush, rush, there's often no time to say goodbye to a loved one when they die. Yet, our priorities must change. Dying is a part of life. It can't be avoided, however much we wish it, and must be accepted and dealt with.
Let's say it's been two years since your father died and your mom still won't go out socially or stop talking about wanting to join him. Similarly, perhaps you can't shake a sense of meaninglessness into your life as the anniversary approaches of the death of someone close to you. This is exactly what prolonged grief disorder is all about.
Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), previously called complicated grief, has now become a recognized mental disorder. Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston developed and tested standard criteria for identifying the condition, based on the input of a team of experts in bereavement and mood/anxiety disorders. It is shortly to be included in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMV-5), the psychiatric care bible for diagnosing problems. The research was done with widows and widowers but is also applicable to the general population.
Wasn't it a past US president who said ‘there are two sure things in life: death and taxes'? He was absolutely right, and he wasn't alone. Poets, professors, priests, and the ordinary man in the street have always talked about what unites us all: in a word, death.
But, what makes a ‘good death'? Is there such a thing? And how can each of us come to terms with the inevitability of what is facing us?
Education and preparedness is the route. It's only by understanding and planning for what is to come that we can avoid the stress, anguish and mental unhealthiness that follows avoidance and denial. In truth, death is nearly as unique as the life that came before it - shaped by the attitudes, physical condition, medical treatments, and mix of people that accompanies it.
Do these symptoms sound familiar to you? Fatigue. Insomnia. Loss of appetite. Aches and pains. Most of us with these symptoms usually assume we're suffering from an ailment that's physical. Sometimes we're right. But, how often do we realise that what is really wrong is depression?
Even in good times, there are millions of new cases of depression every year. Yet many of those people - more than a third, according to a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - never receive treatment. This is despite the fact that nowadays there are more ways than ever to get help.
One reason is simple confusion over what the illness feels like. The common idea that depression means ‘feeling sad' has a lot of truth to it. Other symptoms could be emotional numbness, a sense of worthlessness, hopelessness, even thoughts of suicide. But for many people, the experience is a bit more blurry - a series of changes affecting them not just emotionally but also physically and mentally.
