New Test Distinguishes Physical From Emotional Pain in Brain for First Time

2013-05-07

Maia Szalavitz

New research suggests physical pain may have a distinct brain “signature” that distinguishes it from emotional hurt.

In the brain, the pain from broken leg and the anguish of a broken heart share much of same circuitry. But the latest evidence points to distinct ways that the brain processes each type of pain and could lead to a greater understanding of how to detect and treat them.

“Of all the things I’ve observed in the brain, nothing is more similar to physical pain than social pain,” says lead author Tor Wager, associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Colorado in Boulder, “What we’ve done in the latest paper is to develop something that predicts physical pain at a much more fine-grained level.”

Continue reading New Test Distinguishes Physical From Emotional Pain in Brain for First Time →

The Role of Inflammation in Depression and a Lifestyle Program To Manage It

2013-05-06

It is in moments of illness that we are compelled to recognize that we live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom, whole worlds apart, who has no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body. Marcel Proust: BrainyQuote.com

Some of you are fortunate to have only an occasional cold or flu from time to time. For the most part, you can depend upon the health of your body to support you. But, others of you are struggling with physical illnesses (e.g., cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, crone’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, and chronic fatigue/Epstein-Barr syndrome) that force you to chronically contend with downward changes in your health. How well you feel, think and act fluctuates from one day to the next. To be sure, your body may seem to you like a creature of a different sort that you are forever trying to tame, manage, repair, strengthen, and boost up.

People with mental health disorders often feel the same way. They too cannot depend upon their bodies to support them from one day to the next, as the symptoms that debilitate them are also physical. Weakness, fatigue, muscle pain, slowed motor movements, inability to concentrate and think, insomnia, changes in eating pattern, and nausea, headache, and constipation are physical symptoms that accompany major depression, anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, and even the attention-deficit and thought disorders.

There is a reason why physical and mental illnesses share many of the same symptoms. It’s the body’s response to stress. The body treats injury as a threat, no matter if it is through infection, physical or emotional harm, or by environmental toxin or irritant. The body calls for an all out response to stress to help you to cope with the threat on hand. The brain reacts to the threat by releasing stress hormones (cortisol), fat and sugar, and stimulating nerve transmitters into the bloodstream to help you to fight the threat or run away from it. This gives an immediate rise in blood pressure that leads to a pounding heart, sweaty palms, shakiness, rapid breathing and all of the other symptoms related to brain and body arousal. But, it doesn’t stop there.

Emotional and physical stress also affects the activity of the immune system that causes a widespread inflammatory impact on the brain and body. The brain signals the immune system’s cytokines (pro-inflammatory hormone) to tell the white blood cells to clean up the infected or damaged tissue resulting from the threat. It is these pro-inflammatory cytokines and the white blood cell cleaning up process that actually causes the symptoms in both physical and mental health illness rather than the stress or injuries themselves.

Weakness, fatigue, muscle pain, slowed motor movements, inability to concentrate and think, insomnia, changes in eating pattern, and even nausea, headache, and constipation are just some of the physical symptoms of inflammation that exist in all types of illness. Thus, although the death of a loved one, sexual or emotional abuse, social anxiety and fears, physical injury, infection, and environmental toxins and irritants differ in the type of injury, the body’s stress response is always the same.

Now, here’s the clincher. Once physical or emotional stress subsides, anti-inflammatory agents move in to begin the healing process. ?In a normal immune system, anti-inflammatory agents are able to restore balance throughout the body so that inflammation diminishes. But, in some cases, the immune system gets stuck in high gear, and symptoms of inflammation do not go away. This is known as chronic inflammation. Here, the immune system watchmen never  rest, so to speak, so that the body ends up attacking itself resulting in auto-immune diseases, like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Crone’s Disease, Type II diabetes, and allergies.

Research is showing that chronic brain inflammation is also connected to virtually all types of mental illness that suggests that mood disorders may actually result from a dysfunction in the immune system (Depression linked to Brain Inflammation; The Role of Adipose Tissue in Inflammation and Depression; Allergy and Depression; Inflammation Theory of Depression; Antidepressants Suppress Inflammation; Suicide Attempts Linked to Brain Inflammation and Brain Inflammation).

Specifically, it is the increased inflammatory markers seen in depressed patients, the ability of the immune system’s pro-inflammatory cytokines to influence the neurotransmitter system relevant to stabilizing mood, and also the ability of administered cytokines and other inflammatory stimuli to induce depressive symptoms in mice that supports the strong role of brain inflammation in depression.

Additionally, scientists studying the developmental roots of mental illness have zeroed in on the body’s stress response as the likely culprit (The Beginnings of Mental Illness, The American Psychological Association; APA Monitor, Feb. 2012). Thus, it seems that inflammation not only plays a role in the symptoms of mental illnesses like depression but may also influence their onset.

What Does The Role of Inflammation in Depression Mean To You?

You need to start thinking about mental health disorders, especially depression, as not only having their roots in the body’s response to stress but also being problems of brain and body inflammation. This is good news, as you have another way to manage your symptoms besides prescribed medication and psychotherapy alone. You can make changes in your lifestyle (eating, sleeping, exercise, attitude and coping habits) that help to reduce inflammation that underlies many of your symptoms.

Inflammation Reduction Lifestyle Program

The six steps that follow make you less physically reactive to stressful changes and help you to reduce symptoms of depression that involve brain and body inflammation. You can start to make lifestyle changes that work with, rather than against, your body. You are going to befriend your body through your good habits, so that it does not seem to you like a creature from another kingdom that is always threatening your health, performance, and joy.

1. Calm Body: To lower inflammation, you need to relax your brain and body at a cellular level. Just laughing, socializing, playing tennis or golf isn’t enough, as any activity that requires that your mind and body be alert involves brain and body arousal. This means that stimulating chemicals and hormones, like the immune system’s cytokines are chronically circulating through your system. Only deep breathing can help to tone down the fight-or-flight response to stress and diminish these chemicals, so that the calming and anti-inflammatory nerve transmitters and hormones can come out. Thus, you need to set aside times in the day where you treat yourself to exercises that involve deep breathing.  Muscle relaxation, visualization and deep breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and even a good nap are excellent ways to restore well being. Deep rest and relaxation is vital to keeping your immune system in proper working order. Even 10 minutes two to three times per day can do much to restore your nervous system to calm.

2. Contemplative Mind: Much of our daily stress has to do with the way we think about the things happening to us. We tend to dramatize experience by emotions and value statements that do little more than give us anxiety and stress. A meditative mind is just as important as a calm body.

Mindfulness practice reduces stress by focusing your attention, so that do not dramatize what’s happening or ruminate on stressful thoughts, and it also lowers your reactivity to stressful situations that activates the fight or flight response and kicks your immune system into high gear. Just like the stress management techniques that relax the body, mindfulness suppresses the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Mindfulness practice not only protects the immune system, but over time can help it to recover.

At the very least, a practice of mindfulness can stop a stress response from carrying itself out. There’s an abundance of research showing the benefits of mindfulness on physical and mental health (Mindfulness and the Immune System on Early Stage Breast Cancer; Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation; Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Loneliness and Immune Function; Mindfulness Meditation has Positive Health Benefits; and Mindfulness Practice Helps Fibromyalgia Patients). Also, take a look at my  articles on mindfulness for more understanding of its benefits on well being (Become Mindful: Take Charge of Your Life; What You Say To Yourself Matters; and Strengthen the Empathy Muscle).

3. Anti-Inflammatory Diet. Some foods inflame the brain and body, while other foods lower inflammation. If you have physical or mental disorders that involve inflammation, it’s especially important for you to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Dr. Andrew Weil is a leading authority on the topic. He maintains that by”following an anti-inflammatory diet, you can help counteract the chronic inflammation that is a root cause of many serious diseases, including those that become more frequent as people age.” You can learn how to select and prepare foods that do not stress your body. Dr. Weil gives you an anti-inflammatory food pyramid and anti-inflammatory vitamin advisor. But, there’s a lot of information available on the web that you can find on the subject matter (15 Top Anti-inflammatory Herbs and Spices; What You Need to Know About Inflammation.

Additionally, over-eating can lead to too much brain and body inflammation. The accumulation of lipids (fat) in the body in the form of white adipose tissue in the abdomen is now known to activate immune mechanisms (Eating Ourselves To Death, National Center for Biotechnology Information). One primary source of inflammation in depression involves adipose tissue (fat tissue) that is a rich source of inflammatory factors (adipokines, chemokines, and cytokines). Not only can fat increase depression, but depression in turn influences the inflammatory capability of fat tissue (Inflammation in Depression: Is Adiposity the Cause?, National Center for Biotechnology Information). By maintaining a healthy weight, you will do much to lower inflammation related to symptoms of depression.

4. Exercise. There’s a large body of research that shows the benefit of exercise on depression. Exercise stimulates your body’s anti-inflammatory abilities and keeps your blood circulating at its optimum level. This may underly the lift in mood that often accompanies an exercise regimen. Some advocates of exercise emphasize exercising to reduce whole body inflammation rather than to lose or maintain weight (GeneSmart.com). This is especially good advice for those of you struggling with a mental health disorder, as many of you have sensitive immune systems that too little or too much exercise can activate.

Start off slowly, and work your way up until you are getting 20 to 30 minutes of exercise at a minimum of 3 times per week. But, remember too much exercise increases inflammation and breaks down the body. It is especially critical in immune-system disorders, like allergies, chronic fatigue and arthritis disorders.

5) Social Support. You don’t need research to tell you the importance of having loving, warm, and supportive people in your life. Nonetheless, there is a vast body of research extolling the health and well being virtues of social support. The quality and quantity of social relationships affect gene expression and also inflammatory markers of the immune system. Relationship conflict and lower social support produces a pro-inflammatory cytokine response in the body. Thus, if you don’t have enough meaningful, supportive friendships, you need to find a way to get more, to reduce the stress response and the brain and body inflammation that comes with it (Social Support, Social Strain, and Chronic Inflammation; Princeton University Press; Close Relationships, Inflammation and Health).

6) Self Love. What you think about yourself affects your body. If you hate or disapprove of yourself, your body hears this message and responds in kind. Eating well and exercising isn’t enough. You have to appreciate and value who you are to create an emotional state that is friendly to your body.  Thus, give yourself a break. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Self-love is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Learn to accept yourself for who you are with your strengths, talents, weaknesses and flaws. See my Seven Step Prescription for Self-Love for steps you can take to start to love yourself more. But, if you need professional help here, don’t hesitate to see a therapist.

One thing has become very clear to me, in treating people for many years. You cannot easily understand or adequately treat a mental health condition, without a full assessment of one’s physiology and lifestyle habits. If you don’t approach depression, anxiety, addiction disorders, and anger and stress conditions through lifestyle, as well as prescribed medication and psychotherapy, you lessen the effectiveness of treatment and recovery.

Thus, get into good relationship with your body starting today. Treat your mental health condition through a whole lifestyle. The good news is that you may not have to take as much medication for the problem or may be able to forgo medication altogether.

Secondhand Smoke is More Damaging For Teen Girls Than Boys

2013-05-02

By Alexandra Sifferlin

Even non-smokers can experience health hazards from cigarette smoke, and the latest study suggests the dangers may depend on your gender.

About 46,000 non-smokers in the U.S. die from heart disease and 3,400 are claimed by lung cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society. The most likely culprit? Second hand smoke, which studies have linked to increased risk of dementia, high blood pressure, and genetic changes. Now, scientists  report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) that teen girls may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of such passive exposure. The researchers from the University of Western Australia studied a cohort of 1,057 teens born between 1989 and 1992, and collected information on smoking in the children’s homes from the time their mothers were pregnant to the time the kids were 17. The researchers also collected blood samples to measure the teens’ cholesterol levels at the end of the trial. Over the study period, 48% of the children were exposed to secondhand smoke in their home.

When the scientists compared these cholesterol readings to the adolescents’ smoking exposure, they discovered that teenage girls who grew up in homes where smoking was present were more likely to have lower levels of good HDL cholesterol, which helps to protect against heart disease by clearing cholesterol from the blood. “Assuming causality in these relationships, there are strong public health implications concerning the need to avoid children, particularly girls, being exposed to passive smoking in the household,” the authors write.

Why would girls be especially at risk? The study wasn’t designed to determine what made passive smoke exposure more hazardous for girls over boys, but the researchers do not believe hormones made a difference, since the vast majority of the participants were past puberty. Cigarette smoke may pose particular problems for women’s hearts, however, since previous research showed that smoking leads to a 25% higher risk of heart disease risk among women compared to men. The findings are enough to prompt further research into gender-based differences in the reaction to the components in cigarette smoke — and sufficient to bolster efforts to reduce all children’s exposure to smoking.

Study: Porn May Not Be Such a Bad Influence on Sexual Behavior

2013-04-26

By Katy Steinmetz

Studies have linked porn consumption to sexual aggression, problems with intimate relationships and losing one’s virginity at an earlier age. But the influence of sexually explicit material on some risky behaviors may be more modest than previously thought.

In a new study from the Journal of Sexual Medicine, four Dutch researchers argue that previous studies on the subject have been too narrowly focused when it comes to drawing a connection between X-rated materials and negative outcomes. Such research has often asked some form of the same question: whether what people see will affect what people do—and the results didn’t paint porn in a flattering light. The latest study found that the connection may be less significant than other studies have suggested, though the work still provided plenty of support for the anti-pornography contingent.

Continue reading Study: Porn May Not Be Such a Bad Influence on Sexual Behavior →

Depressive Thinking Can Be Contagious

2013-04-25

Pushing Teens to Change Their Eating Habits Could Backfire

2013-04-24

By Alexandra Sifferlin

Parents who exert too much control over what their children eat may not be doing their adolescents any favors when it comes to controlling the youngsters’ weight, according to the latest study.

Researchers report in the journal Pediatrics that pressure from parents to clean plates or to restrict eating high-calorie foods such as sweets and sugared sodas may not help teens to maintain a healthy weight.

Continue reading Pushing Teens to Change Their Eating Habits Could Backfire →

Oh, The Guilt! Why You Blame Yourself For Everything When You’re Depressed

2013-04-23

Alice G. Walton, Contributor

Anybody who’s been depressed can tell you that feelings of guilt and self-blame can be overwhelming. In fact, the tendency to blame oneself excessively (and inappropriately) is a key factor in depression. Over a century ago, Sigmund Freud suggested that depression was fundamentally different from “normal sadness” in that very factor. Now, a new study shows exactly why he was right: The brains of depressed people have a “gap” in the communication between two key areas, which may explain why depression is so hard to overcome, and relapse so common.

In depression, excessive self-blame is often accompanied by the equally maladaptive tendency to overgeneralize. That is, depressed people often have a knack for (erroneously) generalizing specific situations to reflect their own self worth in a larger sense: For example, the authors say that a depressed person might think to him or herself, “If I fail at sports matches, it means I am a total failure.” Exactly how people make the leap from specific, external situations to general, internal ones has been a mystery until now.

Continue reading Oh, The Guilt! Why You Blame Yourself For Everything When You’re Depressed →

Surprising Differences Between the Male and Female Brain

2013-04-16

By Lisa Collier Cool

It’s not as simple as Mars vs. Venus, but scientists have identified intriguing differences in how men and women think that influence emotions, memory, business success, and even longevity.

In the largest brain imaging study ever conducted to compare male and female brains, Daniel Amen, MD, and other researchers analyzed imaging scans of 26,000 people. They discovered that women showed increased blood flow in 112 of the 128 brain regions they studied, indicating that on average, women’s brains are much more active than men’s.

The most striking difference between the sexes was that women have a much higher level of activity in the prefrontal cortex, an area that’s sometimes called “the brain’s CEO” because it governs planning, organization, impulse control, and learning from mistakes.

In the soon-to-be published study, men’s brains showed greater activity in regions associated with visual perception, tracking objects through space, and form recognition. However, these gender differences don’t mean that one sex has a mental edge over the other—just that their brains are wired differently.

“Even when men and women succeed at the same task, they tend to call on different strengths and areas of the brain to achieve this result,” says Dr. Amen, author of Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex (Harmony, 2013).

Here’s a closer look at some gender differences Dr. Amen and other researchers have identified—and how we can use them to our advantage.

Men Have Bigger Brains, But It Doesn’t Make Them Smarter

On average, men’s brains are 8 to 10 percent bigger than women’s brains. While that may not seem surprising, given that men’s bodies tend to be larger overall, even after correcting for body weight, it’s been estimated that men have about 4 percent more neurons than women do.

But before men jump on these findings as proof of brain superiority, scientists point out that these size differences aren’t distributed uniformly in all brain regions. In a study using MRI scans, Dr. Jill Goldstein at Harvard Medical School found that compared to men, women have larger volume in both the frontal cortex (the inner CEO) and the limbic cortex, involved in emotional responses.

“This may explain why women tend to be less impulsive and more concerned with emotions than men are,” says Dr. Amen, who theorizes that a bigger and more active frontal cortex suggests that women are wired for leadership—and may actually be better bosses than men.

Consider the intriguing result of a recent study in which teams of men and women were assigned tasks that involved brainstorming, decision-making, and solving visual puzzles. Teams were given collective IQ scores based on their performance.

Conventional wisdom would infer the team made up of people with the highest individual IQ scores (thus the highest total IQ) should emerge victorious. However, the collective IQ scores were based on how they completed the assigned tasks as a team. And the teams with the highest collective IQs were those with more women, Harvard Business Review reports.

The Most Surprising Facts About Testosterone

Women Have Better Memories, Worse Sense of Direction

Dr. Amen’s research shows that women have greater activity in the brain’s hippocampus. “Guys, if you wonder why your wife or girlfriend never forgets anything, here’s your answer: The hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps store memories.”

In a 2008 study, Swedish psychologists found significant sex differences in several types of memory, favoring women in all almost all of the areas studied.

Specifically, women excelled at recalling words, pictures, objects, and everyday events. They also outperformed men on such tasks as recalling the location of car keys or remembering faces (particularly those of other women).

However, the psychologists also found that men have the edge in a type of memory called visuospatial processing. For example, the study results suggested that a man would be more likely to remember how to find his way out of the woods.

There’s quite a bit of scientific evidence that men have a keener sense of direction than women do, adds Dr. Amen. “Overall, men are better at getting from point A to point B, but are also less likely to realize it if they take the wrong turn. That’s why men are famously reluctant to ask for directions: They don’t realize they’re lost.”

Women Live Longer, But On Average Men Are Happier

Studies suggest that women have greater self-control and levels of what Dr. Amen terms “appropriate worry.” For example, women tend to take better care of their health, visit the doctor more often, and behave less recklessly.

Women also have lower rates of substance abuse, anti-social personality disorder, and ADHD. And they’re 14 times less likely to go to jail—and even get fewer traffic tickets than men do.

“These points are actually quite fascinating,” says Dr. Amen, “because appropriate worry about negative consequences could be a key factor in why women outlive men. In one large study, researchers found that those with a “don’t worry, be happy” attitude—i.e. young men with motorcycles—died earlier from fatal accidents and preventable illness.”

However, the dark side of women’s higher level of worry is that they are more prone to anxiety disorders and depression, which strikes women at nearly double the rate it does men, according to the Mayo Clinic. At some point in life, about 1 in 5 women develops clinical depression.

One reason why women may be more vulnerable is that men’s brains, on average, produce 52 percent more serotonin, according to a recent study by University of Montreal researchers. This feel-good brain chemical has been dubbed “the happy hormone.”

Dealing With Stress at a New Job

By Rheyanne Weaver

Getting a new job can cause the most wonderful feeling in the world, especially in the current economy, but sometimes new changes can also add additional stress.

If you feel a little stressed at your new job, experts have some suggestions to help you make a smooth transition.

Ramani Durvasula, a clinical psychologist and author of “You Are Why You Eat,” said in an email that it is normal to be stressed when you start a new job, because there are many reasons to be stressed.

“Expectations are high, the economy is tough, it is a time of proving oneself, of learning a new routine, meeting new people, learning new personalities, mastering a new schedule,” she said. “All of this while managing the responsibilities of day to day life.”

Stress is not the only mental health side effect of starting a new job.

“Some people may report pronounced anxiety, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, problems concentrating, and in people with preexisting conditions such as depression, may even report a worsening of those symptoms,” Durvasula said.

Stress and anxiety in small amounts aren’t necessarily detrimental, though.

“If you aren’t feeling them, I would wonder if you aren’t taking it seriously,” she said. “Stress and anxiety are ways of your system saying slow down, something is coming around the bend. You can use these signals to be mindful, to be organized in your new job.”

There are other ways to succeed at your new job while also enduring some stress along the way.

“Make sure you communicate so you are clear on the expectations laid out for you, and so you don’t make mistakes in your assumptions,” Durvasula said. “Take the time to learn about your new coworkers and team around you. Get to know the place you work in.”

Here are a few ways she suggests relieving some of your new job stress:

• Make sure you get enough sleep
• Eat well and exercise
• “Organize life as much as possible (especially the night before) so mornings aren’t chaotic.”
• “Turn to others for help when possible during the transitional phase. Let your support network know you are going through a transition so they can be there for you.”
• “Make some pleasurable time for you.”
• “Use those weekends well to give yourself mini-breaks and take care of you so you have the energy to manage the transition.”

Here are some ways Durvasula suggests to make your mental health a priority during this time of transition:

• Give yourself a break.
• Don’t be your own worst critic.
• Be mindful and think about how you react and respond to situations.
• “Even if time is tight, you can still take five minutes to breathe or meditate.”
• “If you are in therapy, this is a good time to continue it so you have a place to discuss fears and feelings.”
• “Self care is critical.”

Lisa Bahar, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said in an email that stress at a new job can be useful because it motivates employees and makes them work more effectively. A new job can also relieve anxiety once you master new skills and pay your bills, along with meeting new people.

“The positive is that the individual finds meaning perhaps and purpose, feels valued, is engaged in life and not excluded, is needed and feels as though there is worth to their life, that they can offer a skill that others value which engages them in a way that may have gone stagnant due to lack of employment,” Bahar said.

But sometimes it can have the opposite effect.

“Anxiety related to expectations and learning a new task can be challenging to deal with, as well as depression of feeling inadequate,” Bahar said. “On the other hand, the opportunity can relieve these symptoms if the individual has a strong social, spiritual and family support.”

She said there can also be some struggles with social anxiety, because for some people it takes more time to get adjusted and comfortable working with new people.

Bahar added that the best way to cope with stress is to be your own cheerleader. Engage in self-care and give yourself positive affirmations that you are doing well. She said to also make sure to take your lunch and breaks, and leave work on time.

“Continue and don’t impulsively leave the job, make sure you start what you finish, give yourself plenty of affirmations, acknowledge your accomplishments, smile gently and remind yourself you are valued no matter what,” she added.

Bahar also stressed that even if your job isn’t what you were expecting it to be, give yourself some time to adjust properly before you start looking elsewhere.

Google Searches Reveal Seasonal Trends in Mental Illnesses

2013-04-12

By Maia Szalavitz

It’s easy to appreciate the seasonality of winter blues, but web searches show that other disorders may ebb and flow with the weather as well.

Google searches are becoming an intriguing source of health-related information, exposing everything from the first signs of an infectious disease outbreak to previously undocumented side effects of medications. So researchers led by John Ayers of the University of Southern California decided to comb through queries about mental illnesses to look for potentially helpful patterns related to these conditions. Given well known connections between depression and winter weather, they investigated possible connections between mental illnesses and seasons.

Using all of Google’s search data from 2006 to 2010, they studied searches for terms like “schizophrenia” “attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),” “bulimia” and “bipolar” in both the United States and Australia.  Since winter and summer are reversed in the two countries finding opposing patterns in the two countries’ data would strongly suggest that season, rather than other things that might vary with time of year, was important in some way in the prevalence of the disorders.

“All mental health queries followed seasonal patterns with winter peaks and summer troughs,” the researchers write in their study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. They found that mental health queries in general were 14% higher in the winter in the U.S. and 11% higher in the Australian winter.

The seasonal timing of queries regarding each disorder was also similar in the two countries. In both countries, for example, searches about eating disorders (including anorexia and bulimia) and schizophrenia surged during winter months; those in the U.S. were 37% more likely and Australians were 42% more likely to seek information about these disorders during colder weather than during the summer. And compared to summer searches, schizophrenia queries were 37% more common in the American winter and 36% more frequent during the Australian winter. ADHD queries were also highly seasonal, with 31% more winter searches in the U.S. and 28% more in Australia compared to summer months.

Searches for depression and bipolar disorder, which might seem to be among the more common mental illnesses to strike during the cold winter months, didn’t solicit as many queries: there were 19% more winter searches for depression in the U.S. and 22% more in Australia for depression. For bipolar, 16% more American searches for the term occurred in the winter than in the summer, and 18% more searches occurred during the Australian winter. The least seasonal disorder was anxiety, which varied by just 7% in the U.S. and 15% in Australia between summer and winter months.

Understanding how the prevalence of mental illnesses change with the seasons could lead to more effective preventive measures that alert people to symptoms and guide them toward treatments that could help, say experts. Previous research suggests that shorter daylight hours and the social isolation that accompanies harsh weather conditions might explain some of these seasonal differences in mental illnesses, for example, so improving social interactions during the winter months might be one way to alleviate some symptoms. Drops in vitamin D levels, which rise with exposure to sunlight, may also play a role, so supplementation for some people affected by mood disorders could also be effective.

The researchers emphasize that searches for disorders are only queries for more information, and don’t necessarily reflect a desire to learn more about a mental illness after a new diagnosis. For example, while the study found that searches for ‘suicide’ were 29% more common in winter in America and 24% more common during the colder season in Australia, other investigations showed that completed suicides tend to peak in spring and early summer. Whether winter queries have any relationship at all to spring or summer suicides isn’t clear yet, but the results suggest a new way of analyzing data that could lead to better understanding of a potential connection.

And that’s the promise of data on web searches, says the scientists. Studies on mental illnesses typically rely on telephone or in-person surveys in which participants are asked about symptoms of mental illness or any history with psychological disorders, and people may not always answer truthfully in these situations. Searches, on the other hand, have the advantage of reflecting people’s desire to learn more about symptoms they may be experiencing or to improve their knowledge about a condition for which they were recently diagnosed. So such queries could become a useful resource for spotting previously undetected patterns in complex psychiatric disorders.  “The current results suggest that monitoring queries can provide insight into national trends on seeking information regarding mental health, such as seasonality…If additional studies can validate the current approach by linking clinical symptoms with patterns of search queries,” the authors conclude, “This method may prove essential in promoting population mental health.”