via Celiac Disease in Women Linked to Depression Risk.

And since you’ve heard that the holidays see the highest rate of suicide all year, you may also be confident that you’ve passed the danger zone. Well, not exactly. The thing is, we’re heading into the danger zone for suicides, not away from it. Contrary to popular belief, the holidays are not the time of the year when we see the most suicides. The beginning of the year, after all the festivities and for many people, in the dead of a dark, endless winter, can be the time when they lose hope.

Now, I have no idea how this myth originated that the holiday period sees a spike in suicides. Maybe the irony appeals to a lot of people. And we also don’t know exactly why major holidays seem to put a damper on suicides. One theory is that people put off a suicide attempt until after the holidays because they don’t want their family and friends to always be thinking of the holidays as a time that they lost someone. That’s definitely a possibility, and I’m not going to discount it.

But in addition, it’s believed that suicides go down during major holidays, when people gather, because we’re in contact with our support network of family and friends. So the family who you probably love dearly, but who can absolutely drive you nuts, is literally what keeps you alive. The best thing that you can do for yourself after the holidays is stay in touch with family and friends.

That’s a bit of a problem. Most people with depression prefer to be alone. Depression can make most of us fairly inarticulate, for one thing. It can be really difficult to hold a conversation with someone other than your cat. Also, we know that we’re a downer when we’re depressed. So being with other people, even close friends and family members, can be such a challenge that it doesn’t really seem worth it.

But for your own sanity, you really need to stay in touch and make plans to see people instead of cocooning at home with the remote control.

Also, If you don’t have a therapist, and you’re feeling particularly depressed, this might be the ideal time to start talk therapy. If you do have a therapist, don’t skip appointments because you’re really down – you need them now more than ever.

Specifically, patients with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop dementia three to five years after being diagnosed with depression compared to nondepressed people with diabetes, researchers found.

“We’ve known for years that diabetes is a risk factor for dementia,” explained study lead author Dr. Wayne Katon, a professor and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health in Seattle. “In fact, having diabetes itself probably doubles the risk for dementia,” Katon added.

via Risk for Dementia Rises When Diabetes, Depression Meet: Study.

via Migraines may raise depression risk: study | Reuters.

Now researchers are exploring a somewhat controversial link between minor, or subclinical, thyroid problems and some patients’ psychiatric difficulties. After reviewing the literature on subclinical hypothyroidism and mood, Dr. Russell Joffe, a psychiatrist at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, and colleagues recently concluded that treating the condition, which affects about 2 percent of Americans, could alleviate some patients’ psychiatric symptoms and might even prevent future cognitive decline.

via For Some, Psychiatric Troubles May Begin With the Thyroid – NYTimes.com.

Socializing and Pastimes (or lack thereof)

* Television, reading, listening to music, or video gaming is your main activity when not at work or school. But reading anything more demanding than escapism is too difficult.

* You’ve become a complete hermit. At the end of the day, all you want to do is go home and sit on the couch or crawl into bed.

via Life and Depression – Symptoms – Depression.

Depression is a common disorder and can be associated with weight and dietary control, pain and inattention to other health issues. According to the authors, about 65 percent of people with depression have repeat episodes.

In the study, researchers studied 585 adults from Statistics Canada’s National Population Health Survey who had suffered depression in 2000/01.

via Recurrent Depression Linked to Poor Resiliency, Smoking | Psych Central News.

According to researcher Roy Otten at the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen, two-thirds of the population have the gene variant that makes one sensitive to depression.

via Dutch Study Shows Cannabis Tied to Risk of Depression in Youth | Psych Central News.

Finally, when I was on one of my (by now) bi-weekly visits to my GP to get a prescription for antibiotics to fight the most recent infection, the nurse practitioner said, “Why don’t we check your Vitamin D level.” Sure enough, I was extremely deficient. The standard range is 32-100 ng/mL. Mine was 20. I was put on prescription Vitamin D and voila! No more sinus infections.

via How Vitamin D Affects Depression – Prevention – Depression.

via Lots of Coffee Might Lower Depression Risk: Study.