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Everyone feels anxious now and then. It's a normal emotion. For example, you may feel nervous when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision.

Anxiety disorders are different, though. They are a group of mental illnesses, and the distress they cause can keep you from carrying on with your life normally.

For people who have one, worry and fear are constant and overwhelming, and can be disabling. But with treatment, many people can manage those feelings and get back to a fulfilling life.

Types of Disorders

Anxiety disorder is an umbrella term that includes different conditions:

Panic disorder. You feel terror that strikes at random. During a panic attack, you may also sweat, have chest pain, and feel palpitations (unusually strong or irregular heartbeats). Sometimes you may feel like you're choking or having a heart attack.

Social anxiety disorder. Also called social phobia, this is when you feel overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. You fixate about others judging you or on being embarrassed or ridiculed.

Specific phobias. You feel intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights or flying. The fear goes beyond what's appropriate and may cause you to avoid ordinary situations.

Generalized anxiety disorder. You feel excessive, unrealistic worry and tension with little or no reason.

Symptoms

All anxiety disorders share some general symptoms:

Panic, fear, and uneasiness

Sleep problems

Not being able to stay calm and still

Cold, sweaty, numb or tingling hands or feet

Shortness of breath

Heart palpitations

Tense muscles

Causes

Researchers don't know exactly what brings on anxiety disorders. Like other forms of mental illness, they stem from a combination of things, including changes in your brain and environmental stress, and even your genes. The disorders can run in families and could be linked to faulty circuits in the brain that control fear and other emotions.

Diagnosis

If you have symptoms, your doctor will examine you and ask for your medical history. She may run tests to rule out medical illnesses that might be causing your symptoms. No lab tests can specifically diagnose anxiety disorders.

Continued

If your doctor doesn't find any medical reason for how you're feeling, she may send you to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or another mental health specialist. Those doctors will ask you questions and use tools and testing to find out if you may have an anxiety disorder.

Your doctor will consider how long and how intense your symptoms are when diagnosing you. She'll also check to see if the symptoms keep you from carrying out your normal activities.

Treatments

Most people with the condition try one or more of these therapies:

Medication: Many antidepressants can work for anxiety disorders. They include escitalopram (Lexapro) and fluoxetine (Prozac). Certain anticonvulsant medicines (typically taken for epilepsy) and low-dose antipsychotic drugs can be added to help make other treatments work better. Anxiolytics are also drugs that help lower anxiety. Examples are alprazolam (Xanax) and clonazepam (Klonopin). They're prescribed for social or generalized anxiety disorder as well as for panic attacks.

Psychotherapy: This is a type of counseling that addresses the emotional response to mental illness. A mental health specialist helps you by talking about how to understand and deal with your anxiety disorder.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: This is a certain type of psychotherapy that teaches you how to recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that trigger deep anxiety or panic.

Managing Symptoms

These tips may help you control or lessen your symptoms:

Cut down on foods and drinks that have caffeine, such as coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks, and chocolate. Caffeine is a mood-altering drug, and it may make symptoms of anxiety disorders worse.

Eat right, exercise, and get better sleep. Brisk aerobic exercises like jogging and biking help release brain chemicals that cut stress and improve your mood.

Sleep problems and anxiety disorder often go hand in hand. Make getting good rest a priority. Follow a relaxing bedtime routine. Talk to your doctor if you still have trouble sleeping.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist before taking any over-the-counter meds or herbal remedies. Many contain chemicals that can make anxiety symptoms worse.

Sources

SOURCES:

American Psychological Association.

National Institute of Mental Health.

Anxiety Disorders Association of America: "Medications."

Mayo Clinic: "Anxiety."

Twin Research and Human Genetics: "Common Psychiatric Disorders and Caffeine Use, Tolerance, and Withdrawal: An Examination of Shared Genetic and Environmental Effects."

Anxiety and Depression Association of America: "Physical Activity Reduces Stress."

Revista Brasileira de Reumatologia (Brazil): "Effects of physical exercise on serum levels of serotonin and its metabolite in fibromyalgia: a randomized pilot study."

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All About Anxiety Disorders: From Causes to Treatment and Prevention

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Everyone feels anxious now and then. It's a normal emotion. For example, you may feel nervous when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. Anxiety disorders are different, though. They are a group of mental illnesses, and the distress they cause can keep you from carrying on with your life normally.

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Overcoming Anxiety | Jonas Kolker | TEDxTheMastersSchool

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When you're feeling anxious or stressed, the strategies listed below can help you cope. We also encourage you to visit our managing stress and anxiety website page for helpful resources.

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This is actually me.

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Anxiety Disorder Symptoms, Causes and Effects

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Anxiety Disorder Symptoms, Causes and Effects

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Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder - Causes and Effects

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When a person has an anxiety disorder, they may feel fearful or uncertain almost all the time. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the fear and anxiety that occur due to an anxiety disorder are markedly different than the brief episodes of these feelings that are commonly related to normal events, such as speaking at a public event or meeting a blind date.

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Yoga for Sleep and Relaxation Effects of Yoga On Anxiety Kundalini Yoga Yoga Poses for Anxiety Yoga to Control Anxiety Yoga Is Good for Anxiety Yoga for Depression Best Yoga for Anxiety Yoga for Anxiety Disorder Yoga to Relieve Anxiety Fear and Yoga Yoga by Control Anxiety YouTube Yoga for Anxiety Relief Strong ABS Yoga Yoga Best at Home

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In connection to The Dangers Of Suppressing Sadness. Try using natural method before running straight to medications.

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Anxiety is an inherent part of modern life. People feel stress over work, health, money, family and pretty nearly everything else. While a small dose of daily stress can be useful as it provides motivation to press forward and meet goals, it is not natural to be in a constant state of anxiety. Living with distress as a normal part of life is detrimental to all aspects of health.

That's why an increasing number of people are seeking cures for anxiety. Frequently, this means an appointment with a doctor who can prescribe an anti anxiety medication. The trouble is that many of these pills come with side effects that are nearly as distressing as the anxiety. Moreover, many of these prescriptions can be habit forming or may interact harmfully with other medications.

The need to find effective natural supplements for anxiety is greater than ever. A natural remedy for anxiety comes without the fear of dependence. Most of these anti anxiety supplements also do not cause harmful side effects. In fact, many natural cures for anxiety are known to have other positive attributes as well.

Best of all, these natural cures for anxiety actually work. You can rest easy in the knowledge that you're doing something that's good for your mind and body when you rely on a natural treatment for anxiety.

1. Kava Root

As a natural medicine for anxiety, many people swear by kava root. It promotes a feeling of general relaxation and is safe to use in accepted forms. A few years ago, kava root got a bad reputation as scientists suggested that it might cause liver damage. These findings have largely been debunked now, but it's still important to use kava root only as instructed.

The results of the earlier studies were thought to have been skewed by heavy alcohol users who were already at greater risk for liver damage. Furthermore, it is believed that kava root interacts negatively with alcohol. Accordingly, if you choose kava root as a natural remedy for anxiety, it's probably best to steer clear of alcohol altogether.

Use of kava root is associated with muscle relaxation, improved cognitive ability and mild sedation. In other words, it does everything that an anti anxiety remedy could be expected to do. Traditionally kava root is consumed in tea, a practice which is still widely used in its native Pacific Islands and elsewhere.

Today kava root is more frequently consumed in pill form. Several varieties are on the market, including this well reviewed one. As with all natural supplements, it's important to realize that each substance may affect the user differently, so some experimentation may be in order.

2. Valerian Root

This is another natural treatment for anxiety upon which users have relied for centuries. Many people recognize valerian as a supplement that eases insomnia, but it can also help to relax those suffering from anxiety. Once again, it's never a good idea to mix valerian use with alcohol as this can prove dangerous.

Because valerian root doesn't have a particularly nice smell, most people don't take it as a tea. Try it in pill form instead, such as this product. Because of its sedative effect, most people take it before bed. However, some people find that they can take it during the day to help manage anxiety. Individual users must experiment to determine what works for them.

3. Chamomile

Sipping a cup of chamomile tea is a gentle, effective way to ease anxiety. Natural supplements for anxiety generally haven't been scientifically tested to a great degree, and this can also be said of chamomile. Nonetheless, people have used chamomile for centuries as a natural remedy for anxiety without suffering any adverse side effects.

People who would rather not drink tea can find chamomile in pill form here. Chamomile has also been known to ease digestion issues and have a positive effect on insomnia. Overall, chamomile is a safe and effective choice for many people.

4. Green Tea

Much has been said about the healthful effects of green tea in the media in recent years. Green tea packs a nutritional punch, helps burn fat and boasts antioxidants that may fight cancer. Moreover, green tea has L-theanine, an amino acid that helps to steady the blood pressure and the heart rate. This makes green tea one of the best natural cures for anxiety.

Unfortunately, you'd probably have to drink a lot of tea to feel the effects. Try an L-theanine supplement like this instead. It provides a more potent dose and won't leave you feeling drowsy.

5. Lemon Balm

This plant has been used since at least the Middle Ages as a natural treatment for anxiety. Sometimes also called Melissa officinalis, this herb eases stress and anxiety. It is sometimes combined with chamomile and valerian in a tea or pill form.

Lemon balm may also be an effective natural remedy for digestive issues, pain and headaches, all of which can be associated with ongoing anxiety. It is commonly found in capsule form, such as this product, and also as an extract which can be taken alone or mixed into tea or another beverage.

6. Passionflower

Although its name seems to promise excitement, taking this natural medicine for anxiety actually has the opposite effect. People who are nervous, restless or anxious have all felt the calming effects of passionflower. The plant is native to Peru, but its influence has spread across the world.

Some users experience sleepiness or drowsiness when taking passionflower, while others merely feel a calming effect. It's probably best to try this in the evening before trying it in the midst of a busy day to see how it affects you. Find this supplement in pill form here.

7. Lavender

Most people looking for anti anxiety supplements already know that the lavender plant smells heavenly. What people don't know is that the flower and its oil can both be effective natural remedies for anxiety. Studies using lavender have been conducted around the world, showing that people feel less anxious in stressful situations after inhaling lavender.

Many people utilize a lavender essential oil product like this to add to bathwater or bedclothes to bring about a calming effect. However, there are also soft gel supplements that are non-drowsy and produce a relaxing sensation.

As with any supplements, it's important to use these anti anxiety remedies with caution and in accordance with instructions. It's generally not a good idea to mix several of these supplements unless they are packaged together as a single product. Attempting to combine too many of these relaxing supplements can actually have the opposite effect.

If you are taking any prescription medications, it may be worthwhile to consult with your doctor before beginning any of these supplements so you can rule out any potentially harmful drug interactions.

You may feel as if anxiety is running your life, but it doesn't have to be that way. With the help of these natural anxiety remedies, you can begin to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle that isn't driven by constant stress.

- Keep Inspiring Me

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7 Natural Supplements For Anxiety That Work

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Anxiety is an inherent part of modern life. People feel stress over work, health, money, family and pretty nearly everything else. While a small dose of daily stress can be useful as it provides motivation to press forward and meet goals, it is not natural to be in a constant state of anxiety.

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Thinking positive can change your whole life. It may be hard with anxiety but setting your mind to being positive can really benefit you. being positive = positive tings coming towards you = better life = better mental heath.

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Virtually everyone experiences loneliness from time to time, with many people becoming especially aware of feelings of loneliness around the holiday season, Valentine's Day, and during times of extreme stress. While the sheer number of people who experience loneliness is quite large (a poll on this site shows that holiday loneliness is experienced by a surprising proportion of readers, for example), people don't always talk about feelings of loneliness, and don't always know what to do with these feelings.

Other than being emotionally painful, loneliness can affect people in many ways:

Physical Pain: Research shows that the areas of the brain that deal with social exclusion are the same areas that process physical pain, adding a scientific explanation to the oft-romanticized experience of a "broken heart."

Depression: One study found that lonely people showed more depressive symptoms and that lonely and depressed people alike tended to experience less "togetherness" in social interactions. Research has also found that depression and loneliness can feed off of each other, each perpetuating the other.

Physical Health: Several studies have linked emotional stress with depressed immunity. Other research links loneliness and depression with poorer health and wellbeing. That means that people who are experiencing loneliness are susceptible to a variety of health issues.

If you're experiencing loneliness, there are some things you can do about it.

Join a Class

Whether it's an art class, an exercise class, or a class at your local community college, joining a class automatically exposes you to a group of people who share at least one of your interests. It can also provide a sense of belonging that comes with being part of a group. This can stimulate creativity, give you something to look forward to during the day, and help stave off loneliness.

(See this article for more on the benefits of exercise and taking classes.)

Volunteer

Becoming a volunteer for a cause you believe in can provide the same benefits as taking a class - meeting others, being part of a group, creating new experiences - and also brings the benefits of altruism, and can help you find more meaning in your life, both of which can bring greater happiness and life satisfaction, as well as decrease loneliness. Additionally, working with others who have less can help you feel a deeper sense of gratitude for what you have in your own life.

Find Support Online

Because loneliness is a somewhat widespread issue, there are many people online who are looking for people to connect with. You do have to be careful of who you meet over the internet (and, obviously, don't give out any personal information like your bank account number), but you can find real support, connection and lasting friendships from people you meet online.

Strengthen Existing Relationships

You probably already have people in your life that you could get to know better, or connections with family that could be deepened. If so, why not call friends more often, go out with them more, and find other ways to enjoy your existing relationships and strengthen bonds?

(See this article on creating supportive friendships for more ideas.)

Get A Pet

Pets - especially dogs and cats - carry so many benefits, and preventing loneliness is one of them. Rescuing a pet combines the benefits of altruism and companionship, and leaves you with several loneliness-fighters. It can connect you with other people - walking a dog opens you up to a community of other dog-walkers, and a cute dog on a leash tends to be a people magnet. Additionally, pets provide unconditional love, which can be a great salve for loneliness. (See this article for more on the benefits of pets.)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy And Other Types of Therapy

Research has shown that loneliness and depressive symptomatology can act in a synergistic effect to diminish well-being, meaning the more lonely you are, the more depressed you feel, and vice versa.

It's also been found that people experiencing loneliness tend to feel more lonely than others when with other people, meaning that even when they are with other people, lonely people tend to keep their loneliness to a degree. Because of this, sometimes just "getting out there" and meeting other people isn't enough. If this is the case for you, it may be a good idea to seek psychotherapy to help with feelings of loneliness, especially if you also feel symptoms of depression such as a loss in enjoyment of things you used to enjoy. Some forms of therapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy, can help you to change your thoughts as well as your actions to help you not only experience less loneliness, but do more in your life to prevent loneliness. (See this article for more on cognitive therapy.)

Whatever you do to combat loneliness, know that you are truly not alone, and there are many things you can do to feel more connected.
Sources: Panksepp J. Neuroscience. Feeling the Pain of Social Loss. Science, October 2003. Tiikkainen P, Heikkinen RL. Associations Between Loneliness, Depressive Symptoms and Perceived Togetherness in Older People. Swami V, Chamorro-Premuzic T, Sinniah D, Maniam T, Kannan K, Stanistreet D, Furnham A. General health mediates the relationship between loneliness, life satisfaction, and depression. A study with Malaysian medical students. Social Psychiatry Epidemiology, February 2007.
Cacioppo JT, Hughes ME, Waite LJ, Hawkley LC, Thisted RA. Loneliness as a Specific Risk Factor for Depressive Symptoms: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses. Psychology and Aging, March 2006.

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Virtually everyone experiences loneliness from time to time, with many people becoming especially aware of feelings of loneliness around the holiday season, Valentine's Day, and during times of extreme stress.

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Loneliness is literally killing us | Will Wright | TEDxBirmingham

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In this counterintuitive talk, healthcare tech entrepreneur Will Wright shares the strong impact that loneliness has on our health, and proposes a novel idea for how we can easily connect with others and combat its effect.

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good activities for when your feeling lonely - Bing video

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Loneliness and Emptiness: How Can It Help Me?

One of the toughest changes to navigate in life is the death of a spouse. This change is usually not one that is planned for, welcomed, or many times even anticipated. It makes its appearance either suddenly or gradually, steals our loved one from us, then leaves us to deal with the realities of grieving, loneliness, memories, making decisions alone and all the other adjustments that come as a result of living life without our partner. A common saying is that a married person is only one heartbeat away from singleness.

Loneliness is a frequent and sometimes ongoing emotion someone who has lost his/her spouse will feel and must learn to adjust to. It is a common reality, yet a difficult thing to accept. Martha Felber, in her book, Finding Your Way After Your Spouse Dies, reports that friends would ask her, "What hurts the most?" She said her answer was always the same, "Loneliness for my loved one."[1] Death leaves a hole that no one else can fill. You feel cut off from and abandoned by your loved one. Feeling lonely, though it can be extremely difficult, is not all bad. Several things can be learned from loneliness:

will experience loneliness as a newly single person.

it is normal to feel lonely.

will not die of loneliness (although it may feel like it sometimes).

ubstitutions will not dissolve my loneliness.

will grow through the experience.[2]

Here are some suggestions to help deal with the reality of loneliness. These are not meant to be the total answer. Rather, they are offered as practical recommendations to manage the lonely feelings and help turn those feelings into positive, constructive personal outcomes.

1. Accept your loneliness: Most of the time we want to run from feelings that are difficult. The challenge is to understand and accept that loneliness will teach us more about who we are and who we are becoming. We can learn from this uncomfortable invader.

2. Run to God: He understands loneliness: It is helpful to remember that God the Father and Jesus the Son both experienced loneliness while Jesus was on the earth for thirty-three years. Talk to Him and learn to listen for His comforting voice in Scripture, music, sermons, the care of a friend, etc.

3. Look for and spend time with friends: It is okay to admit that we need friends, especially during times of loneliness. Be open and honest with them about the difficulty. One of God's most prized gifts to us is a good friend.

4. Recall the good times: Intentionally remember and make a list of the pleasant memories you shared with your spouse. What first attracted you to each other? What qualities did you discover later? What was your favorite time of the day? What were your favorite foods, places to go, etc.? Recall family times, vacations, holidays, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, special occasions, etc. Yes, these can be difficult memories; however, the joy from these will also bring comfort and pleasure.

5. Explore your interests: Make time to explore the things that excite and interest you. What do you like to do? What TV programs and movies do you like to watch? What would you like to learn about?

6. Find a place to belong: If you do not attend a healthy church that accepts, affirms, and genuinely cares for people, look for one that will as well as teach you the principles of God's Word that will enrich your life and spirit. Some churches have support groups that may be beneficial.

7. Get moving: Regular physical activity can help you feel better about yourself and your situation. Exercise usually raises one's self esteem. Walking, yard work, even playing outside with children are simple ways to begin increasing your activity level.

8. Set some goals: Determine objectives for yourself that will improve your life. What books would you like to read? Where would you like to visit? What things would you like to do with friends? What abilities would you like to strengthen? What things would you like to buy? Consider the physical, financial, mental, social, and spiritual areas of your life in setting your goals.

9. Keep a journal of your thoughts: Writing your thoughts on a regular basis can prove to be a comfort when looking back upon them later. Consider the positive things you experience and the lessons you learn. "A journal is not only a record of events that touch and transform us; it is a private space in which we can meet ourselves in relation to others and God." [3]

10. Trust your loved one to God's keeping: God knows your loved one. He is acquainted with your spouse's life. One author said, "If the compassionate power of God could bring about the existence of the world in the beginning, and if the living God . . . is unshakably faithful, then that same compassionate power can be trusted not to let persons perish into oblivion but to engage in an act of new creation at the end. In this perspective, faith in the creating God gave rise to the conviction that the Creator Spirit keeps faith with the beloved creature even in death."[4]

As difficult as it may sound, loneliness can actually help us if we choose to let it. The fact that loneliness will come to each life is a reality. The prolonged sadness and depression that can occur, however, does not have to be!

Recommended Reading

Felber, Martha. Finding Your Way After Your Spouse Dies. Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 2000.

Smith, Harold Ivan and Steven L. Jeffers. ABC's of Healthy Grieving: Light for a Dark Journey.

Shawnee Mission, Kans: Shawnee Mission Medical Foundation, 2001.

Smith, Harold Ivan. A Decembered Grief. Kansas City, Kans: Beacon Hill Press, 2001.

[1] Marta Felber, Finding Your Way After Your Spouse Dies (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 2000) 70.

[2] Jim Smoke, Suddenly Single (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co, 1982) 41.

[3] Susan Annette Muto, Pathways of Spiritual Living, as quoted by Harold Ivan Smith, A Decembered Grief, (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press, 1999) 62.

[4] Elizabeth A. Johnson, Friends of God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints, as quoted by Harold Ivan Smith, ABC's of Healthy Grieving, (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press, 1999) 63.

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Journey Answers - Loneliness: How can it help me?

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One of the toughest changes to navigate in life is the death of a spouse. This change is usually not one that is planned for, welcomed, or many times even anticipated.

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In connection to The Dangers of Suppressing Sadness. doing drugs will not benefit your mental heath, especially those of recreation.

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All drugs have some kind of effect on your mental health. They affect the way you see things, your mood and your behaviour.

These effects may:

be pleasant or unpleasant

be short-lived or longer-lasting

be similar to those you experience as part of a mental health problem

go away once the drug has worn off

continue once the drug has worn off

For some people, taking drugs can lead to long-term mental health problems, such as depression or schizophrenia.

You may already have a mental health diagnosis, and use illegal drugs to help yourself cope.

Dual diagnosis

If you have mental health problems and also have problems with drug or alcohol use, you will probably be described as having 'dual diagnosis'.

This may cause a large number of problems, and you may need help with many different parts of your life - see support for dual diagnosis.

There is no standardised treatment for dual diagnosis. Treatment involves both mental health services and drug and alcohol services.

How drugs may affect you

It is difficult to predict how you will react to a drug. You may react differently to the same drug at different times or in different situations.

This may differ depending on:

the type of drug

whether the drug has been mixed with other substances, and what these other substances are

the amount you take

the environment or social situation in which you take it

how often you take it

your previous experience of it

what you want and expect to happen

your mental state at the time

If you have a history of poor mental health, you may be more likely to experience negative effects with illegal drugs.

If you have previously had no mental health problems, you may still develop symptoms of a mental health problem from using these drugs.

Regular use

If you use drugs a lot, or become dependent on them, this can have a negative impact on your day-to-day life. For example, it could lead to problems with:

money

education and employment

relationships

housing

low self-esteem

finding it hard to maintain commitments, including appointments related to your drug use or mental health

crime - either in possessing an illegal substance or to finance a habit, leading to a criminal record

imprisonment

If you take drugs, remember:

you don't always know what is in them

it can be difficult to predict how you will react

they could contain additional harmful substances

they may not contain any of the substance you are expecting

even if you have taken something before, it could have different ingredients or be a different dose

This is more likely to be the case with illegal highs.

This information was published in November 2016. We will revise it in 2019.

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Effect on mental health | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems

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All drugs have some kind of effect on your mental health. They affect the way you see things, your mood and your behaviour.

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How does bullying affect health and well-being?

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How does bullying affect health and well-being?

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Bullying can affect physical and emotional health, both in the short term and later in life. It can lead to physical injury, social problems, emotional problems, and even death.1 Those who are bullied are at increased risk for mental health problems, headaches, and problems adjusting to school.2 Bullying also can cause long-term damage to self-esteem.3

Children and adolescents who are bullies are at increased risk for substance use, academic problems, and violence to others later in life.2

Those who are both bullies and victims of bullying suffer the most serious effects of bullying and are at greater risk for mental and behavioral problems than those who are only bullied or who are only bullies.2

NICHD research studies show that anyone involved with bullying-those who bully others, those who are bullied, and those who bully and are bullied-are at increased risk for depression.4

NICHD-funded research studies also found that unlike traditional forms of bullying, youth who are bullied electronically-such as by computer or cell phone-are at higher risk for depression than the youth who bully them.5 Even more surprising, the same studies found that cyber victims were at higher risk for depression than were cyberbullies or bully-victims (i.e., those who both bully others and are bullied themselves), which was not found in any other form of bullying. Read more about these findings in the NICHD news release: Depression High Among Youth Victims of School Cyberbullying, NIH Researchers Report.

Citations

​ ​

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Fact sheet: Understanding bullying. Retrieved June 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying_factsheet.pdf (PDF - 356 KB). [top]

2. Smokowski, P. R., & Kopasz, K. H. (2005). Bullying in school: An overview of types, effects, family characteristics, and intervention strategies. Children and Schools, 27, 101-109. [top]

3. Reece, T. (2008). Bullies beat down self esteem. Retrieved June 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-play/Pages/Bullies-Beat-Down-Self-Esteem.asp [top]

4. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2010). Taking a stand against bullying. Retrieved June 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/resources/spotlight/Pages/092110-taking-stand-against-bullying.aspx [top]

5. ​ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2012).Focus on children's mental health research at the NICHD. Retrieved June 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/resources/spotlight/Pages/060112-childrens-mental-health.aspx [top]

Who is affected and how many are at risk for bullying?​​

What are common signs of being bullied?​​

How does bullying affect health and well-being?

Are there risk factors for being bullied?​

What can be done to help someone who is being bullied?

​

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How does bullying affect health and well-being?

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Bullying can affect physical and emotional health, both in the short term and later in life.

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Cyber Bullying | If Bullying Happens To You

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Use the above links to explore the cyber bullying guide.

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In connection to The Dangers Of Suppressing Sadness. Many people whom are bullied, become depressed. Some may know how to cope, others may not. some may run to drugs, those of the recreation kind and those of a prescribed kind. But, what many people don't know is that they can mostly defeat it without it.

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Bullies and Substance Abuse​

The connection between drug abuse and bullying is more pronounced in bullies than in victims of bullying. Bullies abuse substances more often, which is part of a set of problem behaviors. Typically, they have low self-esteem and turn to bullying others in an effort to feel stronger and more confident. In some cases, bullies are aware of the social power they yield and seek to dominate others to reinforce it. What all bullies have in common is a deep need to put others down so they can feel better about themselves.

Bullies are more likely to act aggressively and rule-breaking behavior tends to be more noticeable. The latest School Psychology Quarterly report indicates that perpetrators of bullying seek to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs in an attempt to deal with underlying mental health problems that are at the core of their aggressive behavior. The report also showed that bullies are also more likely to contact and communicate with peers who display the same kind of behavior or reinforce it.

Victims of Bullying and Substance Abuse​

Victims of bullying tend to withdraw from social situations, circles of friends, and family. They face a higher risk of developing symptoms of depression. Bullying may also exacerbate pre-existing conditions. Some victims develop behavioral problems, mood disorders, drug abuse disorders, and other mental health issues as a result of being bullied.

Victims of bullying are also more likely to suffer from a range of afflictions that might include anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, persistent feelings of loneliness, and sleep problems. They begin isolating themselves, and isolation reinforces the extent, to which they are suffering from one or more of the above afflictions. School Psychology Quarterly reports a link between being a victim of bullying and increased school dropout rates. Research suggests that some victims of bullying try to relieve stress or cope with anxiety, isolation, and depression by self-medicating with illegal substances.

Bystanders and Substance Abuse

Bystanders are exposed to a higher risk for marijuana use than uninvolved students, but the risk found for bullies is higher than that for bystanders. Durand et al., 2013 and Rivers et al., 2009 have found bystanders to seem to be more alike to victims as a group, which is one way of explaining the connection between witnessing incidences of bullying and substance abuse. These students have an empathic understanding of how victims suffer, which leads to psychological co-victimization (Durand et al., 2013). At the same time, they do not intervene in favor of the victim out of fear of taking their place at some point in the future (Durand et al., 2013) or because they recall experiences from the past.

One recent study (Rivers and Noret, 2013) showed children and adolescents who were exposed to violence suffered deep psychological distress. Being exposed to bullying episodes is also associated with other risk behaviors, such as teen pregnancy and attempts to commit suicide. Rivers and Noret found that feelings of helplessness and frequency of observed bullying incidences are two key factors that make bystanders more likely to abuse drugs and have suicidal thoughts.

Bully-Victims and Substance Abuse​

Of the various types of bullies, there is one seemingly bizarre class that merits special focus - bully-victims. These are children or adolescents who have been both victims and perpetrators of bullying. Often subjected to ruthless bullying, they unleash their pent-up rage and frustration on others whenever the opportunity arises. This runs contrary to expectations as one would think a victim of bullying would be capable of empathy.

In most cases, bully-victims have suffered at the hands of bullies for a very long time and bullying others is an attempt to regain control. They often come from homes wrecked by drug abuse and domestic violence. Bullying is learned behavior if they were abused by an older sibling, which is sometimes the case. According to a survey by the Journal of Emotional Abuse on 133 middle school students, bully-victims and bullies showed higher rates and degrees of severity of depression than passive victims and students not involved in bullying. Numerous studies by the American Journal of Public Health show a direct link.

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Substance Abuse and Bullying: Interconnection and Consequences

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There is more to bullying than making hurtful jokes, teasing, or being "a little rough" with a classmate. Bullying can be a dangerous activity with devastating psychological and physical consequences. It's also a major risk factor for drug abuse, both for the bully and the person being bullied.

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Skye Gould/Business Insider

In a stunning upset, Americans elected Republican Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in the wee hours of the morning November 9.

With control of the presidency, House, Senate, and at least one Supreme Court seat to fill, the GOP will have the opportunity to make sweeping changes in the next four years.

The positions Trump and his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton had on environmental issues couldn't be more different.

Most notably, she accepts climate change as a human-caused reality, while he does not.The scientific debate about climate change has ended, largely because it's been an obvious, observable reality for decades now that humans are causing warming global temperatures - and the host of problems that come with them.

While Hillary Clinton listed " Protecting animals and wildlife" and " Climate change" as two major topics on her campaign website, Trump didn't include anything about the environment.

Here's where President-elect Trump stands on key environmental issues, based on positions outlined on his campaign website and public statements before Election Day.

Skye Gould/Business Insider

Climate change

At the first presidential debate September 26, Clinton brought up her and Trump's differences on climate change. Here's how the exchange unfolded:

CLINTON: Some country is going to be the clean- energy superpower of the 21st century. Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. I think it's real.

TRUMP: I did not. I did not. I do not say that.

CLINTON: I think science is real.

TRUMP: I do not say that.

As many news organizations pointed out after the debate, Trump tweeted in 2012 that "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

He has tweeted dozens of times about how he does not accept the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real. You can read all of his tweets that have mentioned "climate change" or "global warming" here.

Trump wants to dismantle the Paris Agreement that sets targets to reverse the worst effects of global warming, which nearly 200 countries agreed to last December.

In response to a question about his views on climate change on ScienceDebate, Trump implied that the US shouldn't waste "financial resources" on climate change and should instead use them to ensure the world has clean water, eliminate diseases like malaria, increase food production, or develop alternative energy sources.

"There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of 'climate change,'" he said. "We must decide on how best to proceed so that we can make lives better, safer and more prosperous."

Water

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

Over the past several years, the western states have suffered from one of the worst droughts in US history. California is in its fifth straight year of severe drought, which has put considerable stress on crops and water use. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given infrastructure across the country"D" grades for dams, drinking water, and wastewater.

Trump says clean water may be the "most important issue we face as a nation for the next generation," and it will be a "top priority" for his administration.

"We must make the investment in our fresh water infrastructure to ensure access to affordable fresh water solutions for everyone," he said on ScienceDebate. "We must explore all options to include making desalinization more affordable and working to build the distribution infrastructure to bring this scarce resource to where it is needed for our citizens and those who produce the food of the world."

Desalination is the costly process of removing salt from ocean water to make it potable. While many scientists view it as a last-resort option for drought-stricken areas, researchers have made small advancements in recent years that has made the process incrementally more efficient. A $1 billion desalination plant that opened in December 2015 provides 50 million gallons of water a day to Carlsbad, California.

Conservation

Trump has said he wants to keep public lands in the control of the federal government, a position that his Republican opponents criticized him for during the primary. He hasn't announced positions on other conservation issues.

"In a Trump administration, there will be shared governance of our public lands and we will empower state and local governments to protect our wildlife and fisheries," he said on ScienceDebate. "Laws that tilt the scales toward special interests must be modified to balance the needs of society with the preservation of our valuable living resources."

SEE ALSO: 3 reasons researchers are terrified about Donald Trump's presidency

DON'T MISS: Here's where Trump stands on abortion and other women's health issues

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows what the US would look like if all the Earth's ice melted

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President-elect Donald Trump doesn't believe in climate change. Here's his platform on the environment

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In a stunning upset, Americans elected Republican Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in the wee hours of the morning November 9. With control of the presidency, House, Senate, and at least one Supreme Court seat to fill, the GOP will have the opportunity to make sweeping changes in the next four years.

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In connection to The Danger Of Suppressing Sadness.

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In previous blogs, big pharma's influence on trade deals like the TPP and the negative consequences for Canadians was uncovered. The topic is inherently broad and often quite technical, so as a result the downstream outcomes people face as a result of pharma policy tend to be obscured. The recent opioid epidemic destroying lives across Canada and the US serves as the clearest example of the influence of big pharma has physician prescribing habits. This epidemic serves as a heartbreaking reminder of what occurs when our government allows big pharma to undemocratically influence our policies.

Opioids include prescription narcotics, such as Oxycontin, hydromorph Contin and fentanyl (which is around 100 times stronger than morphine). Alan Cassels, a pharmaceutical policy researcher at the University of Victoria, has stated, "By all accounts, we are in the midst of a deadly drug epidemic so severe and widespread that few people in North America will remain untouched by it. In case you think I'm exaggerating, right now we have probably the highest rates of narcotic abuse and deaths in modern history... we have some of the highest rates of prescription-opioid consumption in the world. From 2006 to 2011, use of opioids in Canada rose by 32 per cent and that rise has continued unabated... It's important to recognize that liberal prescribing of opioids is a recent problem and, since the mid-1990s, can be linked to the message-crafting activities of the pharmaceutical industry that helped shape both patient perceptions of pain and influence how doctors thought about the safety of these drugs."

More specifically on the influence of drug companies, an opinion piece in the Toronto Star by health lawyer Matthew Herder and Dr. David Juurlink highlighted, "You only need to know the name of one company - Purdue Pharma - to understand why transparency is needed in the financial dealings between drug manufacturers and doctors. Purdue sells OxyContin and other products prescribed for the treatment of pain, one of the most common symptoms physicians encounter. As the U.S. company acknowledged, Purdue misled doctors about the safety and effectiveness of OxyContin, fuelling a public health crisis that now claims the lives of some 30,000 North Americans annually."

To understand what these two public health advocates are talking about, a great place to start is an excellent article by the LA Times this month (which is truly worth a full read by anyone interested in the subject) that has exposed the unbelievable facts how the opioid epidemic has been driven by big pharma. The article begins with a marketing claim made two decades ago when drugmaker Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin, "one dose relieves pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications... Patients would no longer have to wake up in the middle of the night to take their pills, Purdue told doctors. One OxyContin tablet in the morning and one before bed would provide smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night." As a result, Purdue reaped $31 billion in revenue but, "But OxyContin's stunning success masked a fundamental problem: The drug wears off hours early in many people... Purdue has known about the problem for decades. Even before OxyContin went on the market, clinical trials showed many patients weren't getting 12 hours of relief," yet, "The company has held fast to the claim of 12-hour relief, in part to protect its revenue. OxyContin's market dominance and its high price - up to hundreds of dollars per bottle - hinge on its 12-hour duration. Without that, it offers little advantage over less expensive painkillers.Purdue tells doctors to prescribe stronger doses, not more frequent ones, when patients complain that OxyContin doesn't last 12 hours. That approach creates risks of its own. Research shows that the more potent the dose of an opioid such as OxyContin, the greater the possibility of overdose and death."

The result is that in the US more than half of long-term Oxycontin users are on doses that are considered dangerously high by public health officials (there have been more than 190,000 lives lost from overdoses involving OxyContin and other painkillers since 1999 in the US). Theodore J. Cicero, a neuropharmacologist and a leading researcher on how opioids affect the brain has highlighted that, "OxyContin taken at 12-hour intervals could be 'the perfect recipe for addiction,'" and other experts have stated that, "when there are gaps in the effect of a narcotic like OxyContin, patients can suffer body aches, nausea, anxiety and other symptoms of withdrawal. When the agony is relieved by the next dose, it creates a cycle of pain and euphoria that fosters addiction."

The LA Times article details how Purdue developed OxyContin as a cure for pain - and for a financial problem. Even though the drug demonstrated a lack of increased efficacy in treating pain compared to older medications, the company pushed its product with zeal. In a 1995 meeting, a marketing executive explained to employees planning the drug's debut, "We do not want to niche OxyContin just for cancer pain." According to recent court documents the company spent $207 million US on the launch, doubling its sales force to 600, and sales reps pitched the drug to family doctors and general practitioners to treat common conditions such as back aches and knee pain. Further, the company's, "sales reps showered prescribers with clocks and fishing hats embossed with 'Q12h.' The company invited doctors to dinner seminars and flew them to weekend junkets at resort hotels, where they were encouraged to prescribe OxyContin and promote it to colleagues back home." It has been reported that in the seven years after OxyContin's approval by the FDA in 1995, the company sponsored some 20,000 pain 'education programs' in the United States at a cost of about $200 million, the company employed a legion of sales representatives to promote its products, paying them bonuses averaging $70,000, with some earning upwards of $250,000, and Purdue also spent huge amounts on 'gifts' and 'swag' for doctors, and distributed starter coupons entitling patients to their first OxyContin prescription free. At the same time Purdue simultaneously engaged several 'key opinion leader' ( a common practice by big pharma for new drugs) to tout OxyContin's safety and effectiveness to the profession. By the fifth year after its launch, OxyContin was generating annual revenue of more than $1 billion US and 2010 sales were at $3 billion. The only slap on the wrist to occur as a result of this marketing campaign came as a warning from the FDA in 2003 over misleading advertisements.

When doctors began complaining OxyContin didn't last patients the specified 12 hours, Purdue reps were told "to recommend increasing the strength of the dose rather than the frequency. There is no ceiling on the amount of OxyContin a patient can be prescribed, sales reps were to remind doctors, according to the presentation and other training materials." Further, in the late 1990's when doctors started prescribing at shorter intervals, Purdue executives mobilized, "hundreds of sales reps to 'refocus' physicians on 12-hour dosing. Anything shorter 'needs to be nipped in the bud. NOW!!' one manager wrote to her staff." Other supervisors, like one in West Virginia told, "one of his highest performing sales reps in a 1999 letter that she could 'blow the lid off' her sales and earn a trip to Hawaii if she persuaded more doctors to write larger doses. In an August 1996 memo headlined '$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It's Bonus Time in the Neighborhood!' a manager reminded Tennessee reps that raising dosage strength was the key to a big payday." An analysis of the medical records of more than 32,000 patients on OxyContin and other painkillers in Ontario, Canada, found that one in 32 patients on high doses fatally overdosed.

The state of Kentucky filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma alleging the company helped create a wave of addiction by improperly downplaying the addictive properties of its drug while aggressively marketing the drug to doctors. In December, the case was settled, with Purdue agreeing to pay the state $24 million. Yet, the settlement did not require Purdue to admit any wrongdoing or change the way it told doctors to prescribe the drug. The company said they, "planned to continue telling doctors OxyContin was a 12-hour drug. The lawyers gave a list of reasons: Purdue hadn't submitted studies to the FDA to support more frequent dosing, the FDA had approved OxyContin as a 12-hour drug, and 12-hour dosing was more convenient for patients," and, "their final reason: It was better for business.... 'The 12 hour dosing schedule represents a significant competitive advantage of OxyContin over other products,' the lawyers wrote." Recently, a Kentucky judge ordered an important deposition from the case to be released to the public after a request by journalists. Purdue, for their part, are planning to appeal the ruling, and the documents are being withheld pending the outcome of an appeal. So stay tuned...

Overall, the result of situation outlined in the paragraphs above means more Americans are being prescribed opioids than is necessary. In 2012, it is reported that 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids - enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills. Since 2000, the overdose death rate in the U.S. has risen by 200 per cent; nearly 19,000 opioid-related overdose deaths occurred in 2014. A recent survey in the US found 44% of respondents say they personally know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers, with about a quarter (26 percent) saying the person they know is an acquaintance, 21 percent saying a close friend, 20 percent saying a family member, and 2 percent saying themselves. In a New York Times op-ed, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. David A. Kessler summarized the situation stating, "Beginning in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies selling high-dose opioids seized upon a notion, based on flimsy scientific evidence, that regardless of the length of treatment, patients would not become addicted to opioids. It has proved to be one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine."

Most Canadians would likely assume our public health system would protect us from big pharma's influence on doctor's prescribing habits (usually through a process known as the 'gift relationship'), yet we have less transparency the US. Until the mid-1990s, opioids were, "primarily prescribed to cancer patients and others suffering debilitating pain. But in 1996, Health Canada approved OxyContin, a brand-name version of oxycodone, to relieve moderate-to-severe pain, heralding a sea change in the treatment of pain. Purdue Pharmaceutical, the maker of OxyContin, launched sales campaigns promoting the benefits of the drug. Doctors started prescribing it for everything from backaches to fibromyalgia. OxyContin quickly became the top-selling long-acting opioid in Canada."

The National Post has reported in the past that, "Purdue has a yearly promotional budget of $14-million in Canada for its painkilling products, according... As direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs is all but banned here, virtually all those resources are targeted at the country's physicians, the gatekeepers who make or break any new medication." Along with sales visits to prescribing doctors, "the company ran ads in medical publications that depicted OxyContin as a seemingly benign drug with wide application. One published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal - distributed to virtually every doctor in the country"

Purdue also sponsored lectures for doctors at fancy hotels, lunches, dinners, and so on, with experts in the field (funded by the company). One of these included Dr. Brian Goldman of the CBC radio show White Coat, Black Art. To be fair to Goldman, since this time he has stated, "I no longer believe it to be possible for educational courses paid for by drug companies to be free of corporate bias. But the practice of recruiting and paying doctors to give company-sponsored talks is alive and well - and the practice doesn't end with opioid pain relievers." While the exact number of doctors Purdue reimburses for 'education work' is not clear, a 2011 article stated the company pays about 100 Canadian doctors to influence their colleagues.

A Purdue-funded speaker was also one of the teachers in the University of Toronto inter-faculty pain-curriculum course, and students for years had been receiving free copies of Pain Management, a textbook paid for and copyrighted to Purdue. By 2007, the amount of this funding from companies selling opioid analgesics to the university centre exceeded CAN $500 000. It wasn't until years later when two physicians complained and the story became public that the university barred industry-linked speakers and ending distribution of the Purdue text (yet the Faculty of Medicine did not inform previous students of concerns about the content of the lectures or the reference book). A paper on the incident from 2013 highlights that, "Undergraduate medical education is relatively free of restrictions on industry involvement...Medical students received information about opioids in educational sessions that were developed using funding from pharmaceutical companies that sell opioids. The course material contained information that aligned with the interests of these companies by minimising opioid-related harms relative to those of other analgesics, overstating the evidence for their effectiveness, and in at least one instance, provided a potentially dangerous characterisation of the potency of a commonly used opioid... Opioid prescriptions and opioid-related deaths both also rose in Ontario during the period medical students were exposed to this information in an industry-supported lecture series."

Documents obtained by The Globe through an access-to-information request show, "The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario raised concerns, noting in a 2004 report that deaths linked to oxycodone climbed steadily between 1999 and 2003... it is noteworthy that the increase in the prevalence of oxycodone findings in death investigations coincides with the introduction of Oxycontin [sic] to the Canadian market." According to a 2014 report by the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Opioid overdoses were, "the third leading cause of accidental death in Ontario, according to a 2014 report by the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. In Toronto alone, coroners' statistics cited in the same study said more than 200 people died of overdoses in 2012. The CBC reports that, "Ten per cent of Ontario high schoolers reported having used prescription opioids for non-medical purposes in 2015, according a study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health," which is slightly down from more than 12% in 2013.

The consequence of the influence big pharma has on our governments, trade deals, the medical community and physician prescribing, trickles down and ultimately rests with the public. This year, the chief medical officer of health of British Columbia has declared B.C.'s first ever public health emergency in light of 200 opioid related death. Overall, the Globe reports, "illicit drug overdoses killed an average of 64 British Columbians in each of the first four months of 2016 - a dramatic increase over last year's record-breaking tally." In Alberta deaths from fentanyl (a more potent analgesics than OxyContin that has been around since the 1950's but who current abuse correlates to the increase in opioid prescription) have increased by 4,500 per cent over the last five years, and in Ontario one out of every eight deaths among young adults is attributable to opioids. No country on a per-capita basis in the world consumes more prescription opioids than Canada. Yet, Canada does not have a national database tracking deaths from opioid overdoses.

The provincial and the federal government continue to not take the steps needed to stop doctors from overprescribing addictive opioids. In 2015, "doctors wrote enough prescriptions for one in every two Canadians. And addiction-treatment programs are few and far between - a legacy of the former Conservative government's tough-on-crime policies." Unlike the US, which has guidelines to advise doctors not to prescribe opioids for chronic pain in most situations, Canada has not revised its guidelines since 2010. As a result, opioid prescriptions totalled 19.1 million in 2015, up from 18.7 million the year before.

The result of Canada's inaction affects every province and territory. In Alberta, the situation is particularly dire with fentanyl being found in the blood and urine of 392 fatal-overdose victims over the past two years. On the Blood Tribe reserve (Kainai Nation), in March of 2015, the local band council declared a state of emergency, making it the first community in the country to sound the alarm because of fentanyl (at the same time Health Canada told one of their deputy medical officers [who has now resigned] to stop speaking publicly about First Nations health in Alberta). Another physician, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, a family physician from Blood Tribe stated, "People sold everything they owned to buy another pill... with some nursing a habit that cost as much as $300 a day," and she, "visited homes where there was no food, no heat and no blankets. The four walls of one house were covered with writings about suicide," declaring, "It's like a natural disaster on the reserve." Since 2104, there have been at least 20 overdose deaths in the small community, which reports saying, "Initially the victims were in their 20s and 30s, but now teens as young as 13 are using."

*Federal lobbying by Purdue Pharma since the Liberal government was sworn in this past November

While Health Canada has dragged its feet and continued to allow drug companies to influence doctors to prescribe more opioids, people are dying. With this being said Health Canada, due largely to media attention recently decided, "that the government would no longer be going through with the proposed new rules because the move would drive low-cost drugs from the market and have 'little to no effect in the fight against problematic opioid use.'" Purdue Pharma holds the patent on tamper-resistant oxycodone with its OxyNEO drug, an updated version of OxyContin. In a news release the company stated it is "disappointed" by the move and urges Health Minister Philpott to "reconsider this decision of regulatory inaction." So, if you're following along, the same company which it could be argued largely created the opioid epidemic in Canada now wants rules in place to promote its tamper resistant version (which it has the patent rights for). Dr David Juurlink, an opioid-addiction expert in Toronto wisely explained the situation stating that, "while he supports the concept of tamper resistance, the majority of patients who misuse opioids do so by simply swallowing the pills. Targeting oxycodone for tamper resistance wouldn't have accomplished anything other than allowing one company greater control over the market. There's a lot of money to be made from the sale of these products." Further, rules to promote OxyNEO as a solution do not address the core problem, over prescribing by doctors of opioids.

This decision led to yet another example of how pervasive big pharma's influence is on many doctors with the Globe and Mail reporting a, "chronic pain and addiction specialists sent a letter to Dr. Philpott this week asking her to change her mind and move forward with tamper-resistant regulations for oxycodone...A Globe and Mail analysis found that more than 60 per cent of the nearly 40 signatories have declared financial ties on various websites to Purdue Pharma as consultants, speakers or researchers. The author of the letter, pain specialist Roman Jovey, for instance, has a long-standing relationship with the company. He faced widespread criticism in 2010 when it was revealed that he taught lectures to medical students at the University of Toronto that included course material copyrighted and paid for by Purdue." Dr Juurlink surmises that, "for too long, vested interests have influenced public policy over opioids...It's time we stopped listening to pain specialists. Their messages, which were wrong, got us into this mess in the first place... Many of these physicians are deeply in the pockets of the companies that make opioids and that stand to profit immensely from the sale of these new products." While Health Canada and the Health Ministers decision is to be commended, sadly if opioid-related deaths had not reached a crisis level in Canada (with many media reports) they probably would have went along with the drug company.

Another recent Health Canada decisions to allow, "doctors to apply for special access to prescribe [SAP] pharmaceutical-grade heroin to severe addicts... would overturn a ban imposed by the previous Conservative government," is a positive step. The SAP considers, "requests for emergency access to drugs for patients with serious or life-threatening conditions when conventional treatments have failed, are unsuitable, or are unavailable." The departments release highlights this practice is, "permitted in a number of other jurisdictions, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, to support a small percentage of patients who have not responded to other treatment options, such as methadone and buprenorphine." While this is a move in the right direction, we also need a serious commitment to intensive treatment programs from the federal and provincials governments if any progress is to be made.

Overall, despite some positive steps to address the opioid epidemic occurring in Canada there is a dire need to look at the root cause of the problem. The harmful influence big pharma has on doctor's prescribing habits is one that can -and should be- eliminated in the name of public health. The research data is there to show this practice is dangerous and leads to the inappropriate prescribing of medications. The lived realities of people suffering from opioid addiction show what the outcome of our system ultimately leads to. While we have seen downstream reactions to the problem, unless our government starts to seriously address the upstream causes of prescription drug abuse we will continue to see more stories of lives ruined and communities devastated.

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In previous blogs, big pharma's influence on trade deals like the TPP and the negative consequences for Canadians was uncovered. The topic is inherently broad and often quite technical, so as a result the downstream outcomes people face as a result of pharma policy tend to be obscured.

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It was billed as a historically large effort to "take America back," decades in the making. Hundreds of white nationalists, Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville for a rally that quickly and frequently descended into chaos.

The demonstrators carried U.S. and Confederate flags. They held tiki torches and clubs and donned impromptu battle gear - helmets, clubs, sticks and makeshift shields. At times the "Unite the Right" rally was marked by peaceful marches and chanting. But often, neo-Nazis exchanged blows with counterprotesters in clouds of tear gas and pepper spray.

By the end of the weekend, three people were dead and many others had been injured.

Read more: In the wake of Charlottesville protests, a Kentucky mayor wants to remove Confederate statues Mistrial for officer who killed a black man while wearing Confederate flag shirt 'Mind your manners,' a white man wrote to his black neighbor. This was the response. After a lost court battle, New Orleans protesters launch last-ditch effort to protect Confederate monuments

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Here's what a neo-Nazi rally looks like in 2017 America

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It was billed as a historically large effort to "take America back," decades in the making. Hundreds of white nationalists, Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville for a rally that quickly and frequently descended into chaos. The demonstrators carried U.S. and Confederate flags.

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In connection to The Dangers Of Suppressing Sadness. more and more youth are being prescribed anti-something medications, and Big Pharma is gaining from it. Despite the clear issues with people under 25 talking anti-depressant they are still prescribed. Could this be adding to drug abuse?

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In Connection To The Dangers Of Suppressing Sadness.

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Here's some depressing recent medical news: Antidepressants don't work. What's even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they DO work. As a physician, this is frightening to me. Depression is among the most common problems seen in primary-care medicine and soon will be the second leading cause of disability in this country.

The study I'm talking about was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. They have published nearly all the studies that show benefit -- but almost none of the studies that show these drugs are ineffective. ( 1)

That warps our view of antidepressants, leading us to think that they do work. And it has fueled the tremendous growth in the use of psychiatric medications, which are now the second leading class of drugs sold, after cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The problem is even worse than it sounds, because the positive studies hardly showed benefit in the first place. For example, 40 percent of people taking a placebo (sugar pill) got better, while only 60 percent taking the actual drug had improvement in their symptoms. Looking at it another way, 80 percent of people get better with just a placebo.

That leaves us with a big problem -- millions of depressed people with no effective treatments being offered by most conventional practitioners. However, there are treatments available. Functional medicine provides a unique and effective way to treat depression and other psychological problems. Today I will review seven steps you can take to work through your depression without drugs. But before we get to that, let's take a closer look at depression.
What's in a Name?
"Depression" is simply a label we give to people who have a depressed mood most of the time, have lost interest or pleasure in most activities, are fatigued, can't sleep, have no interest in sex, feel hopeless and helpless, can't think clearly, or can't make decisions.

But that label tells us NOTHING about the cause of those symptoms. In fact, there are dozens of causes of depression -- each one needing a different approach to treatment. Depression is not one-size-fits-all, but it is very common.

Women have a 10 to 25 percent risk and men a five to 12 percent risk of developing severe major depression in their lifetime. ( 2) One in ten Americans takes an antidepressant. The use of these drugs has tripled in the last decade, according to a report by the federal government. In 2006, spending on antidepressants soared by 130 percent.

But just because antidepressants are popular doesn't mean they're helpful. Unfortunately, as we now see from this report in The New England Journal of Medicine, they don't work and have significant side effects. Most patients taking antidepressants either don't respond or have only partial response. In fact, success is considered just a 50 percent improvement in half of depressive symptoms. And this minimal result is achieved in less than half the patients taking antidepressants.

That's a pretty dismal record. It's only made worse by the fact that 86 percent of people taking antidepressants have one or more side effects, including sexual dysfunction, fatigue, insomnia, loss of mental abilities, nausea, and weight gain.

No wonder half the people who try antidepressants quit after four months.

Now I want to talk to you about the reasons why doctors and patients have been deceived by the "antidepressant hoax." Despite what we have been brainwashed to believe, depression is not a Prozac deficiency!
How We have Been Deceived by the Antidepressant Hoax
Drug companies are not forced to publish all the results of their studies. They only publish those they want to. The team of researchers that reported their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine took a critical look at all the studies done on antidepressants, both published and unpublished. They dug up some serious dirt ...

The unpublished studies were not easy to find. The researchers had to search the FDA databases, call researchers, and hunt down hidden data under the Freedom of Information Act. What they found was stunning.

After looking at 74 studies involving 12 drugs and over 12,000 people, they discovered that 37 of 38 trials with positive results were published, while only 14 of 36 negative studies were published. Those that showed negative results were, in the words of the researchers, "published in a way that conveyed a positive outcome."

That means the results were twisted to imply the drugs worked when they didn't.

This isn't just a problem with antidepressants. It's a problem with scientific research. Some drug companies even pay or threaten scientists to not publish negative results on their drugs. So much for "evidence-based" medicine! I recently had dinner with a step-uncle who runs a company that designs research for drug companies. He designs the study, hires the researcher from an esteemed institution, directs the study, writes up the study and the scientist just signs his or her name after reviewing it.

Most of the time, we only have the evidence that the drug companies want us to have. Both doctors and patients are deceived into putting billions of dollars into drug companies' pockets, while leaving millions with the same health problems but less money.

The scientific trust is broken. What can we do? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. But I do think functional medicine, on which my approach of UltraWellness is based, provides a more intelligent way of understanding the research. Rather than using drugs to suppress symptoms, Functional Medicine helps us find the true causes of problems, including depression.

I see this in so many of the patients I have treated over the years. Just as the same things that make us sick also make us fat, the same things that make us sick also make us depressed. Fix the causes of sickness -- and the depression takes care of itself.

Consider a few cases from my practice ...

A 23-year-old had been anxious and depressed most of her life and spent her childhood and adolescence on various cocktails of antidepressants. Turns out, she suffered from food allergies that made her depressed.

Food allergies cause inflammation, and studies now show inflammation in the brains of depressed people. In fact, researchers are studying powerful anti-inflammatory drugs used in autoimmune disease such as Enbrel for the treatment of depression.

After she eliminated her IgG or delayed food allergies, her depression went away, she got off her medication -- and she lost 30 pounds as a side effect!

Here's another story ... A 37-year-old executive woman struggled for more than a decade with treatment-resistant depression (meaning that drugs didn't work), fatigue, and a 40-pound weight gain. We found she had very high levels of mercury. Getting the mercury out of her body left her happy, thin, and full of energy.

Or consider the 49-year-old man with severe lifelong depression who had been on a cocktail of antidepressants and psychiatric medication for years but still lived under a dark cloud every day, without relief. We found he had severe deficiencies of vitamin B12, B6, and folate. After we gave him back those essential brain nutrients, he called me to thank me. Last year was the first year he could remember feeling happy and free of depression.

These are just a few of the dozens of things that can cause depression.

The roots of depression are found in the 7 keys to UltraWelless and the 7 fundamental underlying imbalances that trigger the body to malfunction. Taking antidepressants is not the answer to our looming mental health epidemic. The real cure lies in rebalancing the underlying systems in your body that are at the root of all healthy and illness.

Here are a few things you can do to start treating your depression today.
7 Steps to Treat Depression without Drugs
1. Try an anti-inflammatory elimination diet that gets rid of common food allergens. As I mentioned above, food allergies and the resultant inflammation have been connected with depression and other mood disorders.

2. Check for hypothyroidism. This unrecognized epidemic is a leading cause of depression. Make sure to have thorough thyroid exam if you are depressed.

3. Take vitamin D. Deficiency in this essential vitamin can lead to depression. Supplement with at least 2,000 to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day.

4. Take omega-3 fats. Your brain is made of up this fat, and deficiency can lead to a host of problems. Supplement with 1,000 to 2,000 mg of purified fish oil a day.

5. Take adequate B12 (1,000 micrograms, or mcg, a day), B6 (25 mg) and folic acid (800 mcg). These vitamins are critical for metabolizing homocysteine, which can play a factor in depression.

6. Get checked for mercury. Heavy metal toxicity has been correlated with depression and other mood and neurological problems.

7. Exercise vigorously five times a week for 30 minutes. This increases levels of BDNF, a natural antidepressant in your brain.

Overcoming depression is an important step toward lifelong vibrant health. These are just of few of the easiest and most effective things you can do to treat depression. But there are even more, which you can address by simply working through the 7 Keys to UltraWellness.

Now I'd like to hear from you...

Have you been diagnosed with depression?

How have antidepressants worked for you?

Do you plan to try any of the approaches mentioned here?

Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, M.D.
References
(1) Turner EH et al. 2007. Selective publication of antidepressant trials and its influence on apparent efficacy. New England Journal of Medicine. 358: 252-260.

(2) Eaton WW, Kalaydjian A, Scharfstein DO, Mezuk B, Ding Y. 2007. Prevalence and incidence of depressive disorder: the Baltimore ECA follow-up, 1981-2004. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 116(3):182-188.
Mark Hyman, M.D. practicing physician and founder of The UltraWellness Center is a pioneer in functional medicine. Dr. Hyman is now sharing the 7 ways to tap into your body's natural ability to heal itself. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on Youtube and become a fan on Facebook.

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Why Antidepressants Don't Work for Treating Depression

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Here's some depressing recent medical news: Antidepressants don't work. What's even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they DO work. As a physician, this is frightening to me.