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Natural supplements for good mood in teens

February 23, 2016 By Kay Walker

The following is a list of natural supplements that may help ease the symptoms of depression. Many of these supplements can

natural remedies for good mood — Natural supplements for good mood

be taken alongside other therapies (ie. with antidepressants – though, some can’t) Be sure to ask your doctor about drug and supplement interactions. The items on this list have been studied by researchers extensively. They’ve made the list because there is much evidence to support their effectiveness. If you are treated by a naturopathic doctor, many will suggest taking some or a combination of these supplements.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS:

These are acids from unsaturated fat that are found primarily in fish, but also in certain plant sources such as nuts and seeds. Two that are crucial for your health are called EPA and DHA. You can find omega-3 fatty acids as a supplement in most pharmacies and health food stores.

There have been numerous studies to conclude that omega-3 fatty acids are helpful in preventing and improving mild to moderate depression. One sizeable Norwegian study that included 22,000 participants revealed that participants who took cod liver oil (a source of omega-3) were approximately 30% less likely to have symptoms of depression than the group that did not.

Foods that have omega-3 fatty acids: Most types of fish (salmon and tuna have large amounts), flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, roe and caviar, chia seeds and walnuts.

VITAMIN B12, VITAMIN B6 and FOLATE:

Bestselling author Dr. Mark Hyman, calls folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B-12 the “mighty methylators for mental health.” He suggests that one-quarter of all severely depressed people are vitamin B deficient. Most of them, he believes, can be cured with B12 shots, which can be taken as a mega-dose with a eye dropper.

Foods high in vitamin B-12: Clams, mussels, beef liver, mackerel, crab, tofu, eggs.

Foods high in vitamin B-6: Sunflower seeds, pistachios, tuna, turkey, prunes, lean pork, bananas, avocado.

Foods high in folate: Beans, lentils, spinach, asparagus, lettuce, avocado, broccoli, mango.

TURMERIC:

A spice that has been used for thousands of years in Chinese and Indian medicine to treat various medical issues. David Perlmutter, author of “Grain Brain”, suggests that your brain loves it. It is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, (which means when it’s eaten, the chemical goes through your bloodstream and into your brain, most substances do not do this). For this reason, it holds great promise to be neuroprotective agent. It may help treat and cure many neurological disorders.

It also produce antioxidants that protect mitochondria, which are a component of human cells that produce energy.

How to get more turmeric: Turmeric is an edible root, similar to ginger. If you want to get more into your diet you can buy it as a supplement or a spice. The spice can be added to many foods: soups, shakes, and scrambled eggs. Indian cooking uses a large amount of turmeric.

Vitamin D:

Having a deficiency of vitamin D can feel like depression. A great deal of published research has shown a correlation between depression and a lack of vitamin D. It’s suggested that this one of the reasons individuals may from depression in the winter months (this condition is often known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD). During winter, there is less sun. Exposure to the sun allows human skin create to naturally produce vitamin D.

Foods with vitamin D: Cod liver oil supplements, oily types of fish (such as trout), mushrooms, tofu, fish, extra lean ham.

5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan):

5-HTP is chemical by-product of one of the most important amino acids (there are 22 in total) called L-tryptophan, that are necessary components in the human diet. Your body can’t make L-tryptophan, so you need to get it from your diet. L-tryptophan is beneficial in building important proteins that are used by the body and essential for sustaining life.

5-HTP works increase the chemical serotonin in the brain. You’ll recall that serotonin is one of the chemicals targeted by certain antidepressants. It affects your sleep, appetite levels, mood and pain sensation. For this reason, research shows that taking 5-HTP supplements may improve depression. A dose of 50-3000 mg daily for two to four weeks has been found in many clinical studies to improve depression symptoms and be as effective as antidepressant medications.

It’s rare, but there are some people taking 5-HTP supplements that may get a disease called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS). This is a serious condition that involves muscle tenderness (myalgia) and blood abnormalities (eosinophilia). You should consult a doctor before taking this over-the-counter supplement. It also can interact with some medications.

Foods with tryptophan: Poultry, chocolate, oats, dates, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, chickpeas, bananas, sunflower seeds.

PROBIOTICS:

Probiotics are healthy bacteria that keep your digestive track healthy. And if you read the next section of this book on how your gut is connected to your brain, you’ll learn why it’s important ensure your digestive processes are functioning optimally. The nerve cells in your gut manufacture 90% percent of your body’s serotonin. Probiotics help keep the bacteria in your intestines healthy.

Foods rich in probiotics: Yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kefir, pickles, tempeh.

SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine):

SAMe is a chemical that’s naturally produced by your body. Your body uses it to make various chemicals that play a major role in pain and depression.

The supplement you can buy is a synthetic form of the same substance. It’s been on the market in the U.S. since 1999. A 2002 review by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality suggested that SAM-e was equally as effective as antidepressants.

There are no food sources of SAMe. It must be taken as a supplement that can be purchased in most North American pharmacies.

Amino Acids:

All the molecules in your body are built from eight essential amino acids. We get them from food and they are important for building protein. Without adequate amino acids your brain can slow down, you can feel sluggish and have a low mood.

Foods high in amino acids: Avocado, leafy green vegetables, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, figs, raisins and quinoa.

GABA:

GABA is an amino acid that acts as a chemical in the brain. When taken as a supplement it acts as a natural tranquilizer.

Many anti-anxiety medications target this brain communication pathway. When GABA is stimulated the result is a calm and relaxed the mood. It lowers anxiety and improves a depressed mood.

It’s also typically used to It promote lean muscle growth, burning fat, stabilize blood pressure and relieve pain.

GABA must be taken as a supplement. It is normally taken by placing it under the tongue.

MAGNESIUM:

Stress, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol can reduce the amount of magnesium in the body. It’s been suggested that increasing your intake of magnesium can help you better handle stress.

Foods high in magnesium: Leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish beans, whole grains, avocado, yogurt, bananas, dried fruit, dark chocolate.

MELATONIN:

Malfunctioning levels of a hormone found in your body, called melatonin, can dramatically affect your sleep-wake cycle. If you are having trouble sleeping, taking it as a supplement may help boost your mood. There has been research to suggest that individuals suffering from seasonal affective disorder may have lower than normal levels of melatonin.

Foods that help your body make melatonin: Tuna, halibut, salmon, raw garlic and pistachios.

ST.JOHN’S WORT:

St. John’s Wort is a yellow weed that grows in many regions of the United States. There are some studies that suggest it is effective in elevating mood, while others say it’s not. You should be aware that it it has been known to react badly with many antidepressant medications. Tell your doctor if you choose to take it.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for teens

February 23, 2016 By Kay Walker

DBT has become one of the most popular forms of conventional therapeutic treatment methods for patients suffering from mental disorders. Here’s a brief summary of what it is and how it works so you can decide whether to continue to explore this methodology as a therapy option for your teen.

What’s DBT? (stands for Dialectical behavior therapy):

An overview of DBT:

“DBT”, as it’s most commonly known, stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. It is a type of cognitive behavior therapy (see above for the definition of CBT). It involves a dual component process of:

Acknowledging and accepting your current behaviors, and
learning to change them.

The acceptance allows you to be present to your reality (helps you live in the “now”) versus thinking about or referencing the past. It also allows you to recognize what’s not working so you can work on changing it.

A large component of DBT involves a skill called “mindfulness” (covered in SECTION 5). This skill teaches you how to look at emotions and situations objectively and without judgement.

The accepting component also means not being frustrated about making mistakes as you learn to create new patterns of behavior.

Core skills taught by DBT:

There are four core skills taught in DBT, each one teaches how to choose how you will behave in a specific situation.

Mindfulness: Learning how to live from the present and be conscious of your feelings, thoughts and actions without be judgmental. Mindfulness is covered in greater depth in SECTION 5, but here is a quick example of what it means to be mindful: If you were being mindful right now your focus would be on reading the words on the page in front of you. You may also notice sounds and the temperature of your environment. You may notice your thoughts and how you are feeling about what you are reading. But, you only notice and don’t react to these various parts that make up your present experience right now at this moment.

Distress tolerance: Learning how to be non-reactive to stressful situations. It’s about learning how to tolerate versus change something that is uncomfortable. Allowing yourself to deal with momentary pain may help you achieve an outcome you actually desire. For example, a marathon runner who wants to win may have to tolerate physical and mental pain all the way to the finish line.

Interpersonal effectiveness: Learning how to interact with other people so you can maintain good relationships that involve mutual respect. Learning how to make requests and say no to the requests from others if and when you need to.

Emotion regulation: Learning which emotions serve you and which ones don’t; and how to shift them. Learning how not to immediately react to emotions without thinking about the consequences or the facts.

DBT involves a combination of four types of treatment:

Participants of DBT learn the tactics it teaches in three ways:

Group training
Individual therapy
Phone coaching

Group therapy sessions typically run for 24 weeks to cover the entire DBT curriculum. Participants meet for one 2.5 hour session. The group therapy is taught in a similar style to a traditional classroom. An instructor teaches DBT concepts and assigns homework.

How DBT therapists are different than other therapists

DBT therapists also participate in therapy. They meet with other DBT counsellors in a group setting where they develop skills, get help from other therapists for their own patients and stay motivated.

The therapist is allowed to empathize with the patient. Which means, acknowledging what they are dealing with versus take on a role of being the expert and not expressing emotion (as is the case with some therapies). The alliance is based on a “tough love” type of principle. Much like a parent-child relationship, where the parent ensures that the child takes actions in line with what is good for them, even if they don’t want to.

The use of acronyms as teaching tool

DBT uses a great deal of acronyms to help participants easily learn and remember the new skills they’re taught. Here is an example of one of the acronyms. It is used to teach good interpersonal behaviors

The “GIVE” acronym:

GIVE: These skills are to be used in communicating with others. It helps you to be great with other people and make them feel comfortable when they speak to you.

Gentle: Use appropriate language always. Do not verbally attack people. Don’t put them down even in frustrating situations. Be non judgemental in your communication with others.
Interested: When the person you are speaking to is talking about something try your best to remain engaged. Listen to what they are saying. Show you are listening with your body’s cues. Make eye contact. Nod your head.
Validate: Show your understanding by nodding your head or responding.
Easy Manner: When you speak to people be relaxed. Smile and laugh.

Cognitive behavior therapy for teens

February 23, 2016 By Kay Walker

Many therapists today suggest CBT as a therapy for patients suffering from mental health disorders. It’s one of the easiest and most effective behavior modification therapies available for teens. This article provides a brief overview of how CBT works.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for teens

If you’ve ever listened to Dr. Laura Schlessinger on Sirius radio you’ll hear her recommend CBT to many people. It’s one of the most effective and popular treatments for learning new behaviors.

CBT, as it’s most commonly known, stands for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. And the nature of the method is as it’s named. It involves reprogramming thought and behavior patterns you’ve learned overtime, that have helped prevent you from dealing with fears, or pain, and allow you to ensure your survival.

CBT acknowledges that what you think about a external situation influences your emotional experience. And, what you think and believe is also related to what you’ve learned.

For example, a person that almost drowned as kid may see a body of water and think “I need to stay far away from the water”. They will feel fear and the action they will take will be to avoid the water. Whereas, a person who spent summers at the beach, took swimming lessons and never had an accident, may see the same body of water and think, “wow, I’d love to hop in there right now.” They will feel happy when they see water and will take an action like going for a swim.

When your behavior does not serve what you would like to do – for example, the adult that had the swim accident is embarrassed of their inability to swim on a vacation with friends – it becomes a distressing problem. The good news, is this thought – emotion – behavior pattern can be disrupted and changed through CBT.

CBT as a diagram looks like this:

The diagram above presents a triangle to show how thoughts, behaviors and emotion are connected and continue to reinforce one another overtime.

CBT acknowledges that individuals learn automatic behaviors that become difficult to control through rational thought. It appears as if they act spontaneously to situations, without any reasoning. That’s because the past has conditioned them to react automatically.

Why CBT is effective and how it’s different from other therapies

CBT targets the problem in behavior, which makes it a problem-focused type of treatment. It teaches you new actions that stop you from taking unwanted actions you have taught yourself to take. It replaces them with healthy behaviors that lead to more favorable outcomes. Therefore, it is more “action-oriented” than earlier therapies and leads to fast results.

Earlier therapy techniques (which are still in practice today) focus on understanding the past to learn why you have a tendency to behave a certain way. This introspection can be helpful, though it does not address present issues. It looks directly at the problems the individual is suffering from and treats them. The goal is not to diagnose, but to fix.

Six phases of CBT treatment:

Assessment
Reconceptualization;
Skills training;
Application of skills
Maintenance;
Post-treatment and follow-up.

A typical CBT program consists of in-person sessions with a therapist. A minimum of six to 10 sessions with one to three weeks in between. There are often homework assignments to do that help you learn and use various skills.

How doctors prescribe antidepressants to teens

February 23, 2016 By Kay Walker

Finding the right antidepressant medication requires a trial and error approach. Currently, there exists no test to accurately measure symptoms. So the doctor doesn’t really know what to prescribe. They select one from a list, prescribe it and monitor your teen over 4-12 weeks (this is how long it takes to see benefits and qualify a medication) to see if what they’ve chosen works. If not, they try another medication. This process continues until they find what works.

How doctors prescribe antidepressants:

There are approximately 22 antidepressant medications on the market that have been approved by the American Federal Drug Association (FDA). They fall under four categories, labeled for the brain chemical they target. (each variety is explained below).

For teens you’ll need to be aware of the following – information take from NIMH.com (National Institute of Mental Health):

Recently, there has been some concern that the use of antidepressant medications themselves may induce suicidal behavior in youths. Following a thorough and comprehensive review of all the available published and unpublished controlled clinical trials of antidepressants in children and adolescents, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public warning in October 2004 about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior (suicidality) in children and adolescents treated with SSRI antidepressant medications. In 2006, an advisory committee to the FDA recommended that the agency extend the warning to include young adults up to age 25.

In order to choose an appropriate medication for your teen, your doctor may consider these factors:

Your teen’s situation. Each case of depression is different, which means so are the symptoms. The doctor will like assess your teen’s situation and choose an antidepressant that is likely not to amplify a negative issue they are dealing with. For example, if they are severely overweight or have an eating disorder a doctor will try and prescribe a medication that does not have a side effects of weight gain because that will only make the situation worse.
Your teen’s lifestyle. Antidepressants have side effects that can unobstrusive but annoying (ie. dry mouth). A doctor may ask you some lifestyle questions to help him discover what a good medication would be. For example, if you are a man trying to have a baby with your wife, taking a low sex drive medication may not be helpful.
Your teen’s current physiology. The doctor will evaluate your teen’s current physiology, this includes taking into account other health conditions you may have.
Your teen’s genetics. If you have a family members that take antidepressants the doctor may prescribe the same treatment to your teen. Often genes play a role in how a patient reacts to a medication. If it work for a family member with a similar genetic predisposition then it may be effective for you.
Your financial capabilities. If you do not have medical coverage antidepressants can cost up to $350/month. Some antidepressants are cheaper than others.
Your teen’s other medications. Is your teen taking other supplements and/or medications? This will be considered as some medications work negatively together.

How do anti-depressants work?:

The basic premise of an antidepressant is that once you take it the drug passes through your body via your blood and into your brain. There, it targets a specific brain chemical (or chemicals) that control your mood.

If you read the word “inhibitor reuptake” what that means is that the drugs stops a process where the chemical does not re-enter the brain cell, which it would normally do. That means, less of the chemical remains in the nerve cell.

The brain chemicals that are targeted by these drugs are called: Dopamine, Serotonin, and Norepinephrine

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

These medications are safer and generally cause fewer bothersome side effects than other types of antidepressants.

Common SSRIs by drug name include: Prozac, Selfemra, Paxil, Pexeva, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro

Serotonin and norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors (SNRIs)

Common SNRIs by drug name include: Cymbalta, Effexor XR, Pristiq, Khedezl, Fetzima

Norepinephrine and dopamine re-uptake inhibitors (NDRIs)

One of the few antidepressants not frequently associated with sexual side effects.

Common NDRIs by drug name include: Wellbutrin, Aplenzin, Forfivo XL.

Tricyclics

Not many doctors prescribe tricyclics these days, though they are still effective for many people. They are often used after other drugs haven’t work. They’ve been replaced because they tend to have more side effects.

Cyclic antidepressants block the absorption (reuptake) of the neurotransmitters serotonin (ser-o-TOE-nin) and norepinephrine (nor-ep-ih-NEF-rin), making more of these chemicals available in the brain. This seems to help brain cells send and receive messages, which in turn boosts mood.

Norpramin, Tofranil, Pamelor, Vivactil, Trimipramine, Surmontil

MAOIs Using an MAOI requires a strict diet because of dangerous food interactions. Selegiline (Emsam), a newer MAOI that you stick on your skin as a patch, may cause fewer side effects than other MAOIs

Atypical antidepressants

Oleptro, Remeron, Brintellix, Viibryd

How do doctors diagnose teen depression?

February 23, 2016 By Kay Walker

The most common diagnostic tool used by doctors to help them decide if a patient with symptoms of depression is actually suffering from the full on illness (and not just a passing state of feeling sad that’s caused by a life event) is a questionnaire.

How do doctors diagnose teen depression? Here are the common tests they use:

Currently the most common ones are:

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD)
Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)
Beck Depression Inventory
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

The doctor will likely used one of these tests to assess your teen. Questions are similar in nature for each. They ask you about symptoms your experiencing – such as: Sleep disturbances, issues with fatigue, suicidal thoughts, feeling uninspired or hopeless, loss of motivation, loss of pleasure. They will also ask your teen questions to help them understand the severity of symptoms.

Here are some examples of the types of questions you may be asked:

Have you lost interest in activities you used to find pleasurable?
Ae you experiencing changes in appetite such as eating too much or not feeling like you want to eat?
Are you having difficulty concentrating?
Having you been experiencing thoughts of suicide, death, or wanting to die?

In most cases, if your teen has felt hopeless for a least two weeks or more and it’s so bad it’s affecting their quality of life – they’re having trouble going to school, socializing, enjoying activities they once thought were pleasurable etc. – these are high indications they have depression.

The diagnostic criteria for depression appears in a medical text for mental illness called the DSM-IV. (Read the diagnostic criteria here).

The doctor will also likely run some basic biological tests to rule out other potential issues that cause depression. The most common ones are the:

Physical exam. The doctor will likely examine your teen to ensure there is nothing notable wrong with their physiology that could be causing depression symptoms.
Blood tests : A blood sample may be taken and a complete blood count (CBC) will be performed. This helps the doctor find out if they have any hormonal issues or a vitamin deficiency.

How doctors “fix depression”: Antidepressants

If the doctor rules out all other medical issues that could be causing your teen’s depressed mood and suggests a diagnosis of major depression they’ll likely treat them by prescribing an antidepressant medication. Doctors are trained to fix medical problems and this is how they cure depression. It’s the only tool available to them, aside from referring your teen to a different type of specialist.

As the parent, you need to be aware that the problem with this route is that they may skip identifying other potential causes for your depression. They will treat the symptoms without curing them. So, you need to investigate therapeutic forms of treatment – especially for teens – that teach your teen how to proactively deal with negative and uncomfortable emotions.

What you need to understand about antidepressant medications:

Finding the right antidepressant for your teens is like finding the perfect wedding dress. They’ll have to “try on” many to find what works for you. This is because the current diagnostic criteria that doctors use is based on asking you a line of questions, ruling out other illnesses with basic physical tests, and then making an educated assumption.

As you can see, this is hardly an effective treatment. But for now, it’s all doctors have. A questionnaire, some basic tests and a lot of trial and error with antidepressants.

It’s important that depressed teens try all other natural alternatives and therapies first before going on an antidepressant. These medications are serious and may make the symptoms more severe in individuals under 18 years of age.