Therapy Equally Effective as Drugs for Front Line Depression Treatment & Helps Reshape Brain, Studies Say

Posted on February 10, 2016 by GREG

The synaptic gap is filled by neurotransmitters like serotonin.

New clinical practice guidelines advise physicians that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and second-generation antidepressants (SGAs), are equally effective treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) recommendation appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Patients are frequently treated for depression by primary care physicians, who often initially prescribe SGAs,” said ACP President Wayne J. Riley, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., M.A.C.P.

“However, CBT is a reasonable approach for initial treatment and should be strongly considered as an alternative treatment to SGAs where available, and after discussing treatment effects, adverse effect profiles, costs, accessibility, and preferences with patients.”

Major depression is a medical condition causing sadness that interferes with daily life, not a normal reaction to life situations such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job.

Symptoms associated with depression include lack of energy and loss of interest in things previously enjoyed. READ MORE.

ALSO another new study supports the idea that CBT actually reshapes the brain

A new Swedish study finds that after just nine weeks of Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy, the brains of patients suffering from social anxiety disorder change in volume and activity — and anxiety is reduced.

Researchers noted that the brain is remarkably adaptable. For instance, previous studies have shown that juggling and video games affect brain volume. But questions remain about how brain volume and neuronal activity in specific areas may change.

In the current investigation, a group of researchers from Linköping University and other Swedish universities studied how Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) affects brain volume and activity.

The researchers focused on patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), one of the most common mental health problems.

For the study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), was performed on all study participants before and after the ICBT intervention.

The researchers found that in patients with SAD, brain volume and activity in the amygdala decrease as a result of ICBT. Study results appear in the journal Translational Psychiatry. READ MORE

Check out the Pastoral Solutions Institute’s tele-counseling practice for more information on how cognitive therapy can help you overcome your struggles with depression, anxiety and other emotional problems.

Think Fast!–What Marriage Can Teach Us About Lent (and it’s not what you think!)

Posted on February 10, 2016 by GREG

Check out this great post by Jacob Popcak of JHP Ministry

What pictures come to mind when you hear the word, “fasting”? What about, “penance”? Perhaps you envision the grumpy monk, self-flagellating in some medieval chamber. Or perhaps you see the pious holier-than-thou, starving herself out of some sense of personal loathing. As citizens of the 21st Century, it’s very likely that you envision something at least similar to what I’m describing.

Because of these associations, I always had a really difficult time rationalizing penance, even the menial kinds. Of course, I never gave up anything great than a favorite snack or a less-than-savory habit (in freshman year of college, I gave up swearing). And yet, I had a deep and uncomfortable question that I had to wrestle with: why should I have to be made uncomfortable in my relationship with God? If God really loved me, I thought, and I really loved him, why should the kind of discomfort that came with penance be something I had to take on? Don’t get me wrong: I understood the importance of being able tosuffer for God, if necessary. After all, almost anyone raised Catholic has at least a basic familiarity with the various saints and martyrs who’ve stood up for their faith even in the face of suffering. But there’s something heroic, even dramatic, about suffering. Discomfort, on the other hand, just seemed so meaningless.

I ended up finding the answer to my question, though, in a little document known as The Theology of the Body. A collection of public talks by Pope Saint John Paul II, the document explains – among other things – the sacred beauty of the body, what it means to love others, and God’s plan for human relationship.

Beyond all that, though, one of the central messages of TOB is that our relationship with God is (and should be) like a marriage. If this is a new concept for you, it shouldn’t be an overly difficult one to take in. Where else but the best marriages do we see two people giving themselves completely to their other? Where else but in the best marriages do we a love so great it has the power to change people? Where else but the best marriages do we see a love that is free, total, faithful, and fruitful? The answer to all of these questions is, mysteriously and simply, “the cross”; we see this love – this radical kind of self gift – in the way that God loves us and in the way He asks us to love Him.

But as the best of married couples will tell you, nuptial love isn’t always flowers and chocolates and sweet nothings. Oftentimes, the most sincere communications of love lie in the daily messiness of life. “I knew you were tired” says the bridegroom to his bride, “so I gave the baby his bath tonight”; “I know you’re suffering”, says the bride to her bridegroom, “so I took care of the dishwasher”. The lovers don’t do these things for each other because one is angry at the other, nor because one is at fault and seeks to appease the other, nor because their relationship is suffering. After all, no amount of chores or duties would be enough to even the scale against, for instance, an unkind word, a particularly nasty argument, or – God forbid it – a painful infidelity. Instead, the lovers do these things for one another when their relationship is solid to make it even more solid. They do it because amidst the Saturday chores and the leaky faucets and the could you just make sure the door is locked one more time’s – amidst, as Mother Teresa put it, the “small things” – great love flourishes. This doesn’t mean that the roses and the chocolates are any less real, less sincere, or less necessary ; it simply means that the thorns and the poopy diapers are real, sincere, and necessary as well.

In a similar way, our relationships with God can’t (and shouldn’t) always be sweet. A love as profound as that which is shared between Creator and creation, between bridegroom and bride, cannot be made up simply of inspirational sermons, grateful praise, and merry Christmases; there must also be somber hymns, times of silence, and Good Fridays. Put another way, the marital proclamations of, “It feels so good loving you!” mean nothing if they are not balanced with a “…but I love you when it doesn’t feel so good, too.”

This is the true spirit of fasting, of penance, and of mortification. READ THE REST…

Do YOU Have What It Takes? 4 Promises That Lead to a Happier Marriage

Posted on February 8, 2016 by GREG

Shutterstock

Celebrate National Marriage Week with FaithontheCouch as we explore what it takes to live a more loving, joyful, grace-filled marriage!

Do You Have What it Takes to Get to “Happily Ever After?”

Almost every newly married couple has two things in common. First, they are deeply in love with each other and rightly excited about the lives they are building together. They are passionate about each other, and hopeful about a bright future filled with blessings. But second, underneath that mutual love, joy, and hope, almost every newly-married couple is also a little terrified. They wonder if they have what it takes to make it “until death do they part.” Almost every couple we talk to in our years of marriage ministry ask us one basic question; “How can we know if we have what it takes to make it to ‘Happily Ever After?'”

I can give you the answer to that question right now. Do you have what it takes? YES! Absolutely, you have what it takes to have a great Catholic marriage. Contrary to what you might have heard elsewhere, it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, what your background is, or what your family of origin did or did not give you. We know from years of marriage research that what separates so-called “marriage masters” from “marriage disasters” is not magic or history, it’s a set of teachable skills that happy couples have either picked up along the way or are willing to learn.

4 Promises…

While there are many good habits you can cultivate to lay the foundation for a great, Catholic marriage, ultimately, it is your willingness to make four promises that will help you and your spouse become “marriage masters.”

1. A promise to commit to personal and couple prayer.

2. A promise to nurture your love.

3. A promise to commit to your vows even more than each other.

4. A promise to learn new skills when new challenges come instead of blaming your marriage or spouse for being “broken.”

Each of these is rooted in solid research that examines what separates marriage success stories from marriage nightmares and each of these is borne out in our experience–which we will share a bit of with you in this chapter. Let’s look at each of these four commitments.

1. A promise to commit to personal and couple prayer

Making and keeping marriage great over the course of a lifetime requires us to be willing to sit at the feet of the Author of Love himself and ask him to teach us how to love. We need to do this every day both individually and together. There is a reason that research consistently shows that couples who pray together are up to 30% happier across every dimension of married life than couples who don’t. When a couple prays both individually and together they are admitting they have a lot to learn about love and they open their hearts to be taught by the best teacher in the universe.

2. A promise to nurture your love.

Love is like a fire. You can keep it burning forever, but you have to tend it consciously and constantly. Leave it alone for too long and it simple burns out. There is no great mystery to it. Fires without fuel, die. Smart couples understand that to keep the fires of their love burning strong, they need to tend the flame by doing those little, extraordinary things for each other. Every. Single. Day. Little surprises like love notes in a lunch bag, calls to say, “I was thinking of you,” bringing home your spouse’s favorite ice cream instead of yours, doing that chore your spouse hates so that you can say, “I want to make your life easier and more pleasant”, wearing that new lingerie on a night when you might rather just pass out because you want to say, “I still want you”, and many other little, thoughtful gestures go a long way to stirring the coals and keeping the embers of your love burning hot. Want your love to last a lifetime? Tend the fire every day.

3. A promise to commit to your vows even more than each other

In the early years of marriage, especially if you’ve been arguing more than you expected–and many couples do–it can be very tempting to begin wondering if you didn’t make a mistake.

The key to making it through these days–both now and throughout the rest of your married life–is making a commitment, not just to each other, but also to the marriage itself. This means making a commitment to your vows. Research by the Relationship Institute at UCLA shows that while almost every couple is committed to each other, those couples who make an additional commitment to the relationship itself–vowing to work on the marriage even when it isn’t fun and they don’t feel that great about their spouse–have much greater chances to have marriages that are happy and last a lifetime (Wolpert, 2012).

Making a commitment to your vows means that even on the days where your spouse is driving you crazy and you don’t really feel like being a loving person, you are committed to fighting through all of that to find your best selves again. Not because you necessarily feel like it. Not because your spouse necessarily deserves it. But because your commitment to your marriage demands it. If you make a commitment to sticking it out and working it out, you will find your way back to the joy, love and passion you seek.

4. A promise to learn new skills when new challenges come instead of blaming your marriage or spouse for being “broken.”

No newly-married couple knows what they are doing when it comes to marriage. No one. Not even the people who came from the best families-of-origin on the planet. When you hit hard times and begin feeling the urge to turn against each other you must remember that it is not because your marriage is flawed. It is simply because you don’t know what you are doing and you need new skills. We want you to remember four little words that will help you get through these times. Ready?

NEVER. BLAME. YOUR. MARRIAGE.

Write it down. Memorize it. Say it until you can dance to it. Marriages do not have lives of their own. A marriage only has the life a husband and wife give it. If your marriage is struggling, it is simply that you don’t currently have the skills to nurture it under the pressures you are currently facing. Get those skills. Read good self-help books; go on a marriage retreat; join a support group; get therapy. The good news is that research consistently shows that couples who have the “don’t blame the marriage” attitude and, instead, commit to acquiring skills when they hit hard times, have much higher levels of marital satisfaction and longevity. No marriage ever failed because a couple lacked skills. Rather, marriages fail because couples are too prideful to admit that they need to acquire new skills. As it says in Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, disgrace follows. But with humility comes wisdom.”

You CAN do it!

If you and your beloved can make these four commitments, you will discover everything you need to make your marriage everything God wants it to be–a great love story that will both satisfy the deepest longings of your heart and be a witness to the world of what God can do when two, imperfect people are willing to learn the steps that lead them to a more perfect love.

Dr. Greg Popcak is the author of many books including Just Married: The Catholic Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the First Five Years of Marriage from which this article is adapted. Learn more about Dr. Popcak’s books, radio program, and tele-counseling practice at www.ExceptionalMarriages.com

You Can Pass on Trauma Through Your Genes: New Study Finds

Posted on February 3, 2016 by GREG

Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children, the clearest sign yet that one person’s life experience can affect subsequent generations.

The conclusion from a research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda stems from the genetic study of 32 Jewish men and women who had either been interned in a Nazi concentration camp, witnessed or experienced torture or who had had to hide during the second world war.

They also analysed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war. “The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” said Yehuda.

The Corporal Works of Mommy and Daddy: Living the “Little Way” of Family Life

Posted on February 3, 2016 by GREG

Image via Shutterstock

In preparation for our oldest child’s First Communion, we were reviewing the various Works of Mercy. When he heard that they included things like feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty and clothing the naked, he looked up at us and said, “You guys do those things all the time. They should call them the Corporal Works of Mommy–and Daddy too!”

Our son stumbled upon a great spiritual truth. Family life can be an incredible engine of spiritual growth. The Works of Mercy as practiced at home–what I have come to call The Corporal Works of Mommy and Daddy–remind us that charity truly does begin at home, and that there is no better place to remind each other what we are worth in God’s eyes–that is, to practice mercy–than in the home. Here are some ways you can draw greater spiritual significance from living out the simple tasks of life in your family.

The Corporal Works of Mommy & Daddy

Feeding the Hungry: Family members truly bless one another when they create a nurturing place around the dinner table for communion and conversation to occur and when they take time to plan nourishing, heartwarming meals. Tons of research reveals the benefits of families sitting down to meals together including everything from better physical and mental health outcomes, higher academic achievement, and greater life and relationship satisfaction. Add “growing in holiness” to the list!

Give Drink to the Thirsty: What parent hasn’t been asked to get a thirsty child a drink in the middle of the night? Getting up and serving that child cheerfully with compassion is a work of mercy that reminds the child that his or her needs are important and that they will be heard and loved even when it is inconvenient for us to do so.

Clothe the Naked: Finding the grace to be patient while dealing with a toddler who only wants to wear the blue shirt or helping a teen dress attractively, yet modestly, isn’t just an exercise in patience, it’s an opportunity to help your children remember their worth in God’s eyes!

Sheltering The Homeless: Putting in the thought, time, and effort it takes to make your house a welcoming home by working to make it a beautiful, orderly, yet comfortable and hospitable place is a great way to remind yourself and your family of their dignity as children of God. And teaching your family to be good stewards of what you have been given is an important lesson in godly gratitude.

Visit the Sick: When you respond to a sick child lovingly, refusing to treat him or her as a burden or an inconvenience even though the illness has thrown your schedule into chaos, you are practicing mercy, growing in personal holiness, and showing your child his or her worth in God’s eyes and yours.

Visit the Imprisoned: It is one thing to banish our children to their rooms or to time out when they have committed some offense, but when we visit them a few minutes later, talk them through their error, teach them what to do instead, and work to heal their hurts and rebuild our relationship, we are practicing true mercy and showing our children they still have worth in God’s eyes and our eyes even when they mess up.

Bury the Dead: Helping a child deal with sad transitions in life, whether due to the loss of a pet or favorite relative, or other events that can turn family life upside down, requires incredible compassion and sensitivity–especially when we are dealing with our own grief. Doing this well enables our children to connect with God’s loving presence even in times of sadness.

The Spiritual Works of Mommy and Daddy

Of course, there are Spiritual Works of Mommy and Daddy too. There isn’t room to address these at length here, but it should be obvious that there are ample opportunities to admonish wrongdoing, instruct each other in the right things to do, counsel each other work through doubts, comfort each other in times of sadness, bear wrongs patiently, forgive willingly, and pray for one another.

Saint Making Machines

The truth is, our homes can become saint-making machines if we simply realize the transforming, spiritual power that exists behind even the most mundane tasks of family life. We can use The Corporal Works of Mommy and Daddy to cooperate with God’s plan to make us and our children into the saints we were created to be!

God has incredible plans for your family! May those plans unfold in your home as you explore all the ways the Corporal Works of Mommy and Daddy can help you experience the family life God wants for you! To discover more ways you can encounter God’s grace hidden behind the mundane moments of family life, check out Discovering God Together: The Catholic Guide to Raising Faithful Kids and Parenting with Grace.

Breastfeeding Could Save Lives of Over 800,000 Babies & 20,000 Moms Annually

Posted on February 2, 2016 by GREG

New report in the British Medical Journal The Lancet. H/T HuffPo

New research highlights the economic advantages of exclusive and continued breastfeeding in rich and poor countries alike, and the enormous cost of failing to support it writes Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General.

As a young doctor working with refugees in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, I saw how breastfed babies can prosper even under such challenging circumstances, and even when they are sick or small. So I am delighted that new research published today in The Lancet again confirms the health benefits of breastfeeding.

The findings show that breastfed infants are more likely to thrive physically and mentally into adulthood. Breastfeeding should be exclusive for at least the first six months of life and then with a mix of other foods, ideally up to the age of two. The authors — a team of independent scientists, together with the World Health Organization and UNICEF — also conclude that the health benefits are as significant in rich countries as in poor ones.

Breast is best: benefits worldwide for moms and tots
The message that “breast is best” applies equally the world over, and to children as well as mothers. Longer durations of breastfeeding improve maternal health by increasing birth spacing, and saves thousands of lives every year from reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

According to The Lancet series, improved rates of exclusive and continued breastfeeding could prevent:

~820,000 deaths in children under 5 years annually

~20,000 additional deaths from breast cancer annually (even at current rates, 20,000 deaths are averted)

~Ovarian cancer and type 2 diabetes for some mothers.

Economic dividends

A less familiar finding is that higher rates of breastfeeding could also pay enormous economic dividends. Purely in terms of reduced healthcare costs due to improved breastfeeding practices, the study projects total savings of more than US$300 million in the US, UK, Brazil and urban China alone. These add to the other economic benefits associated with breastfeeding, such as higher IQ, greater school attainment and higher salary in later years. These economic findings are yet another brick in the now imposing wall of evidence that supports the case for exclusive breastfeeding. READ MORE

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The Theology of the Body points out that our bodies are given to us so that we can work for the good of others. In order to be truly fulfilled in our life and relationships we need to ask God how he would want us to use our bodies to serve others. God gives breastmilk to the mother to be held in trust for the baby. When mothers faithfully respond to that trust, both mom and baby benefit on so many levels. In Parenting with Grace and Then Comes Baby, my wife and I offer ways moms can get the information and support they need to create a healthy and mutually nurturing breastfeeding relationship with their little ones. Discover how breastfeeding isn’t an obligation or a cross, but a blessing for you and baby!