The world looks different if you're depressed

Source: 30 November 2009

Not so easy to spot the finer details.

(Image: Jason Todd/Getty)

The world looks different if you're depressed

by Jessica Hamzelou

"Depression is not just a mood disorder: now we know it can affect the way a person sees the world."

DEPRESSION really does change the way you see the world. People with the condition find it easy to interpret large images or scenes, but struggle to "spot the difference" in fine detail. The finding hints at visual training as a possible treatment.

Depressed people have a shortage of a neurotransmitter called GABA; this has also been linked to a visual skill called spatial suppression, which helps us suppress details surrounding the object our eyes are focused on - enabling us to pick out a snake in fallen leaves, for instance.

Now Julie Golomb and colleagues at Yale University are trying to link this ability with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Article continues.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427365.000-the-world-looks-different-if-youre-depressed.html

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George Visger, Former SF 49er / "Head Knocker"

FROM

Head knocker

The road to the NFL is paved

with countless concussions.

Just ask former San Francisco

49er George Visger.

By R.V. Scheide

George Visger is losing his mind. He has no short-term memory. Say something to the former San Francisco 49er defensive lineman and immediately ask him what was just said, and he’ll repeat it back verbatim. Ask him five minutes later, and chances are he won’t have the foggiest notion, as if the words were a dimly struck bell that failed to register before its tone faded.

To cope, Visger jots down anything of importance with a pen he keeps behind his ear and the notebook he always has at hand. The notebook is his memory, and after dealing with his condition for the past 20 years, he has boxes and boxes filled with them.

He remembers the past well, at least the part before the nine brain surgeries. He first had his “bell rung” in the ninth grade, playing football for the West Stockton Bears in 1972. The practice drill was called Bull in the Ring; the players formed a circle 30 yards in diameter, with a football placed at the center. The coach then called out two numbers, and the two players rushed to see who could get to the ball first.

Visger faced off against the junior high school team’s fullback; they collided helmet to helmet at full speed. Visger came to and found himself staring facedown at the turf. He struggled to his feet, took one step and fell on his face again. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with his first concussion. There would be countless others during a playing career that spanned championship-winning teams at the high school, college and professional levels. The repeated blows to the head took their toll, and now Visger is paying dearly.

While head trauma has always been a concern in contact sports, during the past decade, researchers have discovered that repeated blows to the head while playing football can cause depression, loss of memory and, in extreme cases, dementia that mimics Alzheimer’s disease. The condition now has a name—chronic traumatic encephalopathy—and Visger, along with scores of other players, has many of its symptoms.

For its part, the NFL has yet to acknowledge CTE as legitimate syndrome, and many players have not been compensated fully for its debilitating effects.

Article continues.

Sacramento News & Review

Nov. 12, 2009

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1317643

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Meditation on Demand

From Scientific American Mind

November/December 2009

(ScientificAmerican.com/Mind)

Meditation on Demand

New research reveals the cell mechanisms underlying a meditative state.

By Peter B. Reiner

∂∂∂∂∂

FAST FACTS

Rhythm of Serenity

1» Regular deep meditation changes the brain in positive ways. this type of meditation seems to be associated with gamma waves, electromagnetic rhythm of neurons firing very rapidly in harmony.

2» Neuroscientists have pinpointed the cells responsible for producing these gamma rhythms and demonstrated a technology that can induce the brain-wave pattern in mice.

3» In the future it might be possible to use this technology to reproduce some of the beneficial effects of meditation.

∂∂∂∂∂

In the fall of 2005, the Dalai Lama gave the inaugural Dialogues between Neuroscience and Society lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, DC. There were over 30,000 neuroscientists registered for the meeting, and it seemed as if most of them attended the talk. The Dalai Lama’s address was designed to highlight the areas of convergence between neuroscience and Buddhist thought about the mind, and to many in the audience he clearly achieved his objective. There was some controversy over his being invited to deliver this lecture insofar as he is both a head of state and a religious leader, and for that reason he largely stuck to his prepared text. But he strayed from the text at least once, reminding the audience that not only was he a Buddhist monk but also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology.

Continued...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=meditation-on-demand

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Brain Trauma in the N.F.L.

________________________

Thank you, Cindy Shaw,

for sharing this article with us.

_________________________

From the New York Times

SPORTS / PRO FOOTBALL | October 28, 2009

Gay Culverhouse, former president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who is battling terminal illness, wants to speak out on brain trauma in the N.F.L.

Ex-N.F.L. Executive Sounds Alarm on Head Injuries

By Alan Schwarz

TAMPA, Fla. — As the president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the daughter of their owner, Gay Culverhouse was the woman in the men’s locker room. Twenty years later, she is trying to keep her former players out of the emergency room.

Sitting at a restaurant here Friday, she reconnected with a few Buccaneers retirees. There was Richard Wood, the fearsome linebacker known as Batman whose searing migraines and tendency to get lost while driving near his home leave him scared for his future. Across the table was Scot Brantley, an even harder hitter through the 1980s whose short-term memory is gone. Then there was Brandi Winans, former wife of Buccaneers lineman Jeff Winans, who slipped into such inexplicable depression, fogginess and fury several years ago that their marriage splintered.

Culverhouse looked at disability forms, listened to stories, offered counsel and expressed regret. She has done the same via telephone for another half-dozen former Buccaneers in their 40s or 50s who have increasing cognitive problems. Having followed story after story detailing how National Football League retirees are experiencing various forms of dementia at several times the national rate, and listening to the league and its doctors cast doubt that football played any role in their problems, she has emerged after 15 years to reconnect with players and sound an alarm.

She will testify before the House Judiciary Committee at its hearing on football brain injuries on Wednesday to, as she put it, “tell the truth about what’s going on while I still have the chance.”

Culverhouse has blood cancer and renal failure and has been told she has six months to live.

“I’ve got to see that someone stops this debacle before it gets any worse,” said Culverhouse, 62, the daughter of the former owner Hugh Culverhouse who held various executive positions from 1985 to 1994. “I watched our team do anything it could to get players back on the field. We have to make that right.”

Article continues.

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Cell phone risks

____________________________

Thank you, Diane Whitney,

for sharing this article with us.

____________________________

From UPI.com

Health News

Study: Long-time cell phone users at risk

Published: Oct. 24, 2009 at 10:45 AM

LONDON, Oct. 24 (UPI)

Long-term cell phone users face a higher risk of developing brain tumors later in life, researchers in Britain warn.

The risks were identified in a landmark decade-long study by the World Health Organization, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The study, which surveyed the cell phone habits of 12,8000 people in 13 countries, found a "significantly increased risk" of brain tumors among people who had used cell phones for 10 years or longer, Elisabeth Cardis, the head of the study told the Telegraph.

Cell phone use by children should be restricted, Cardis said, adding she does not advocate banning cell phones for children because of their importance in emergencies and in maintaining contact with parents.

Adults should moderate their use and reduce direct contact with the phone via wireless ear devices, headsets and other hands-free kits, authorities said.

A representative of the Mobile Operators Association said more than 30 other scientific surveys found no adverse health effects from cell phone use.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Keep Brain Function At Its Peak

————————————————————

Thank you, Diane Whitney,

for sharing this article with us.

————————————————————

From Mercola.com

This ONE Action Keeps Brain Function at its Peak...

Your mother probably told you eating your vegetables would make you smarter. Here’s why she was right.

Researchers have found that individuals with a high daily intake of vegetables and fruits also demonstrate higher cognitive performance. Please notice that vegetables are mentioned first because they are FAR more important than fruits.

Subjects with a high intake (about 400 grams per day) of fruits and vegetables had higher antioxidant levels, lower indicators of free radical-induced damage, and better cognitive performance.

The findings were independent of age, gender, body mass index, and level of education. Further studies are planned that will include larger subject cohorts, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and patients with mild cognitive impairment.

—

To read "Dr. Mercola's Comments": Click here.

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NeuroBehavioral Programs — John E. Leonard, Ph.D.

Dr. John Leonard, a local

psychologist and neurobehavioral

practitioner in Davis, says

he can help patients get

"conscious control" over their

nervous systems.

ARTICLE»

From the Sacramento News & Review (SN&R); Thursday, September 24, 2009; pages 24-25:

Your brain, the doctor:

Can you instruct your nervous system not to cause you pain?

By Matt Perry

Dr. John Leonard claims

it's possible to erase or

"burn out" highly charged

emotions associated

with pain — both physical

and emotional — that

seem hard-wired into

the body and mind.

•

My index finger lifts into the air. I’m not lifting it, but up it goes.

Dr. John Leonard smiles knowingly. He’s just trained my brain to automatically lift my left index finger when he says “yes” in a mellow, lugubrious tone.

It’s not voodoo or hypnosis, says Leonard in his Sacramento office, but part of a simple, straightforward mind-body system for communicating with the brain. Once that connection is made, Leonard promises, “You get conscious control over your nervous system,” and can tell the body what to think and feel.

Leonard trains my index finger for “yes” and my left pinkie for “no,” with my middle finger being a “working on it” option. The psychiatrist and developer of NeuroBehavioral Programs then checks my stress level and walks me through a sampling of the techniques he claims can reduce physical pain and stress, and also enhance general enjoyment.

It’s surprisingly easy, and has only three steps. He’s already done the first by training my fingers to say yes and no. Next, he asks me, “When you’re ready to reduce your stress to zero, will your body indicate yes?” My brain sifts through the question and, quite unbidden by me, I can feel my index finger lift slightly: yes. My body is telling me that I’m ready to get de-stressed.

Then the third, more difficult command: “I want my stress to reduce to zero.”

. . . .

ARTICLE CONTINUES»

Your brain, the doctor:

Can you instruct your nervous system not to cause you pain?

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