Seasonal Depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Do the bleak winter months get you down -- more than you think they should? Maybe you have seasonal depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder or SAD. Seasonal depression is a mood disorder that happens every year at the same time. A rare form of seasonal depression, known as "summer depression," begins in late spring or early summer and ends in fall. But in general, seasonal affective disorder starts in fall or winter and ends in spring or early summer.

What Causes Seasonal Affective Disorder?

There are two seasonal patterns with SAD. One starts in the fall and continues through the winter, and the other starts in late spring or early summer. The fall-onset type of SAD, often referred to as "winter depression," is better known and easier to recognize -- and we know more about it than we know about its counterpart.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder was formerly called manic depression. It is a major affective disorder, or mood disorder, characterized by dramatic mood swings. Bipolar disorder is a serious condition, when mania causes sleeplessness, sometimes for days, along with hallucinations, psychosis, grandiose delusions, and/or paranoid rage.

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a complex genetic disorder. The mood swings associated with it alternate from major, or clinical, depression to mania or extreme elation. The mood swings can range from very mild to extreme, and they can happen gradually or suddenly within a timeframe of minutes to hours. When mood swings happen frequently, the process is called rapid cycling.

Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and behavioral changes that happen in a woman after giving birth. According to the DSM IV, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, PPD is a form of major depression that has its onset within four weeks after delivery. The diagnosis of postpartum depression is based not only on the length of time between delivery and onset, but also on the severity of the depression

What Is Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression is linked to chemical, social, and psychological changes associated with having a baby. The term describes a range of physical and emotional changes that many new mothers experience. The good news is postpartum depression can be treated with medication and counseling.

Alcohol and Drug Problems

The overuse or abuse of alcohol (alcoholism) or other drugs is called substance abuse. It can cause or worsen many medical problems and can destroy families and lives.

If you think you may have a problem with drugs or alcohol, take a short quiz to evaluate your symptoms:

Alcohol

Alcohol abuse causes over 100,000 deaths in the United States and Canada each year. It is the drug most commonly abused by children ages 12 to 17. Alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in teenagers. People who drink alcohol are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior, have poor grades or job performance, use tobacco products, and experiment with illegal drugs. Alcohol and drug use may be an unconscious attempt at self-treatment for another problem, such as depression.

Gamma Knife Snips OCD in Bud

High-Tech Procedure ‘Cuts’ Abnormal Brain Wiring Linked to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

May 8, 2008 (Washington) -- A high-tech procedure that delivers radiation deep within the brain relieved symptoms in half of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder who got no help from medication or talk therapy, a small study shows.

The procedure uses a gamma knife to target brain circuits that work overtime in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), says Antonio Lopes, MD, PhD, of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

"In people with OCD, the network of areas that communicate is always working, working, working. Medication and behavioral therapy can lower the activity of this brain circuitry. But some people don't respond, and we use the gamma knife to try to cut the connection," Lopes tells WebMD.

Not really a knife at all, the gamma knife is a machine that emits powerful, highly focused gamma radiation beams. This helps the doctors target a specific area of the brain while sparing healthy surrounding tissue. It's used to treat people with brain tumors, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders.
Gamma Knife Relieves OCD Symptoms

At the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Lopes presented early results of a study that pits the gamma knife against a sham procedure in 48 patients.

Two years after undergoing the procedure, two of four patients continue to have significant relief from symptoms, he says. Their memory has improved. And they are better able to pay attention to tasks at hand.

In contrast, there has been no improvement among patients who got the sham procedure.

The procedure was relatively safe, with transient headaches and dizziness among the most common side effects.

However, one patient suffered a manic episode about three months after the procedure, which was followed by a bout of hallucinations and delusions a few months after that.

"There are some complications, so this is not for everyone," Lopes says. "This is for people who fail to respond to other treatments."

But for such patients, the procedure can mean the difference between being homebound and functioning "moderately well," says David Baron, DO, professor and chairman of psychiatry at Temple University in Philadelphia.

"These are patients who have failed every single drug and are essentially nonfunctioning, so even a little improvement is a big deal," he says.

Baron tells WebMD that in the U.S., "surgery [for OCD] is an old idea that is coming back because of the gamma knife. It allows you to be much more selective and precise with less adverse effects."