In The News
Author Andrew H. Miller, MD Discusses
A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonist Infliximab for Treatment-Resistant Depression
Watch at JAMA Psychiatry
Depression May Lower Response to Shingles Vax
Untreated major depression may hamper the protective effect of varicella zoster virus (VZV) vaccine against herpes zoster – shingles – in older individuals, researchers found.
Read more at MedPage Today
Pace Meets PopTech
“As a biological psychologist, I’m very interested in what connects stress to health, and I’m also interested in novel ways to intervene to make us healthier people.”
Watch the video at PopTech
Learning to Bounce Back
We need approaches that are both more pragmatic and more politically inclusive — rolling with the waves, instead of trying to stop the ocean.
Read more at The New York Times Opinion Pages
Uncovering the source of inflammatory malaise
A study conducted by researchers at Emory indicates that inflammation targets a part of the brain called the basal ganglia, causing symptoms of depression and fatigue. The study was recently reported in the October edition of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Read more at Medical Xpress
The Evolutionary Advantage of Depression
Genes influencing depression also bolstered our ancestors' immune systems -- an understanding that's informing experimental therapies.
Read more at The Atlantic
Dr. Tad Pace selected as a PopTech Fellow for 2012
Each year, PopTech selects ten to twelve Fellows drawn from many different research fields, from economics and planetary science to renewable energy and biomedical research. What they have in common is talent, a passion for asking big questions, a commitment to innovating within their field, an innate interest in communications and leadership, and a strongly collaborative spirit.
Read more at poptech.org
Emory Study Connects Dots Between Inflammation and Depression
A drug used to treat inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis may help those with difficult-to-treat depression, according to newly-published research from Emory University.
Read more at pba.org
Targeting Inflammation to Treat Depression
Researchers at Emory University have found that a medication that inhibits inflammation may offer new hope for people with difficult-to-treat depression.
Read more at Emory News Center
Inflammation Drug May Help Cure Depression
A drug that eases inflammation may offer new hope for people with difficult-to-treat depression, says a new study.
Read more at The Times of India
Burgeoning Field of Study Could Impact Psychiatry
Although no study has shown that immune-system manipulation can impact a neuropsychiatric disorder, psychoneuroimmunologists are optimistic that such manipulation might someday do so.
Read more at Psychiatric News
Specialised Training Improves Health of Children in Foster Care
An international team of researchers has found that Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT) can significantly improve the mental and physical health of children in foster care.
Read more at International Business Times
Children in Foster Care Develop Resilience Through Compassion
A new study shows that a therapeutic intervention called Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) appears to improve the mental and physical health of adolescents in foster care. CBCT is a tool that provides strategies for people to develop more compassionate attitudes toward themselves and others.
Read more at ScienceBlog
Does Depression Trigger Immune Activation in Body?
Depression is so detrimental to good health, it’s hard to believe that the human body hasn’t found a way, through evolution and adaptation, to eliminate it. Unless, of course, it serves a purpose.
If depression itself is an evolutionary adaptation, what advantages might be found in the depressive state?
Read more at OpposingViews
Why Stress Might Make You Sick
A new study involving the common cold may help explain why stress, which dampens the immune system, seems to trigger inflammation in many people.
Read more at HealthDay
Study Shows How Stress Triggers Immune System
It's well-known that stress causes several reactions in the body. "Stress activates the immune system in preparation for
fighting infection and healing wounds," explained Dr. Andrew Miller, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory
University School of Medicine, in Atlanta.
Read more at US News & World Report
and USA Today
Dr. Charles Raison talks about our true enemies and how compassion meditation can transform us
Dr. Charles Raison believes our survival as a species depends on finding better ways to deal with our enemies. But who is the real enemy?
Read more at TedX Atlanta
Immunologists and Neuroscientists Find Common—and Fertile—Ground
More surprising than links to neurological diseases, perhaps, is the apparent role of inflammation in a psychiatric disorder-major depression. The evidence is substantial enough to have led to a clinical trial, said Andrew Miller, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine.
Read more at The Dana Foundation
Are Depressed People Too Clean?
In an effort to pinpoint potential triggers leading to inflammatory responses that eventually contribute to depression, researchers are taking a close look at the immune systems of people living in today’s cleaner, modern society.
Rates of depression have steadily grown, and researchers think it may be because of the loss of healthy bacteria.
In a review article published in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, Emory neuroscientist Charles Raison, MD, and colleagues identified data that suggests there is mounting evidence that disruptions in ancient relationships with microorganisms in soil, food and the gut may contribute to the increasing rates of depression.
Read more at Science Daily
Compassion Meditation May Improve Physical And Emotional Responses To Psychological Stress
Data from a new study suggests that individuals who engage in compassion meditation may benefit by reductions in inflammatory and behavioral responses to stress that have been linked to depression and a number of medical illnesses. "While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming the mind, improving focused attention or developing mindfulness, less is known about meditation practices designed to specifically foster compassion," says Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Ph.D., who designed and taught the meditation program used in the study.
Read more at Medical News Today
Study Sheds Light on a Potential Cause of Insomnia
In a study at Emory University, investigators have shed new light on a potential cause of insomnia, demonstrating that products of the immune system called cytokines may be the culprits. The study was published May 25, 2010 in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Read more at PhysOrg
Depression and Inflammation May Go Hand-in-Hand
People who are depressed are more likely to have exaggerated inflammatory responses to stressful situations, according to the results of a study released this week. Now, researchers want to know if that inflammation is behind the link between depression and heart disease ... or if it's the actual cause of depression.
Investigators from Emory University in Atlanta studied 28 otherwise healthy men. Half of the participants were diagnosed with major depression while the other half was depression-free.
Read more here
