Mental Health Archive

The start of a new year is always a great opportunity for people to re-engage with their health. One of the first steps is to conduct a personal health review. It's a way to measure where a person's health stands now, outline the goals, and create a strategy to reach them. A personal health review follows a three-step process: gathering all current health information, listing short- and long-term goals, and sharing everything with a doctor during a scheduled wellness visit.

People can't control the outside world, but they can control their reactions to it. A technique called cognitive restructuring can help a person change negative thinking and calm stressful reactions. It involves a four-step process, known as "stop, breathe, reflect, choose."

A 2023 study suggests that eating lots of ultra-processed foods, which are high in sugar, salt, fat, and additives, may raise the risk for depression.

Rumination consists of a repetitive stream of negative thoughts or themes. It often involves mentally replaying a past scenario or conversation or trying to solve a vexing problem. But rumination can also damage mental and physical health, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and inflammation. People can thwart rumination by finding distractions, changing location, relying on relaxation techniques, confiding in a friend, or taking action. Cognitive behavioral therapy can also help.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that begins in late fall and early winter, is caused by lack of sunlight exposure. Common symptoms of SAD include lack of sexual energy, overeating, problems sleeping, and social withdrawal. SAD is also associated with impaired cognitive function. Getting more sunlight from being outdoors or sitting in front of a sunlit window helps stimulate the brain's 24-hour sleep-wake clock. Taking antidepressants and using light therapy (which involves sitting in front of a light box) also can help manage SAD.

The FDA approved the first pill for postpartum depression in August 2023. The fast-acting drug, zuranolone (Zurzuvae), is taken for just two weeks.

An estimated 58 million American adults live with a mental illness such as anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder. More women than men receive treatment such as medication or counseling. But despite its pervasiveness, mental illness remains stigmatized. Scientific advances are helping dismantle damaging public attitudes about mental illness. People with mental health challenges can help combat stigma by embracing treatment, not taking other people's offhand comments personally, and sharing their personal stories.

Both loneliness and isolation were associated with poor health outcomes in a 2023 study. However, social isolation was a stronger predictor of physical decline and early death, while loneliness was more predictive of mental health issues such as depression.

A 2023 study of about 110,000 people in the United Kingdom suggested that those who most adhered to a Mediterranean lifestyle had a 28% lower risk of dying from cancer and a 29% lower risk of dying prematurely from any cause, compared with those who least adhered to the lifestyle.