Category Archives: depression

depression, Music, Parkinson's, Research, Reviews , , Leave a comment

Searching for the secret chord…

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These came out of a search, so might have been previously covered in a post:

This review covers music performed in groups and is not directly related to Parkinson’s: Collaboration and improvisation

Music performance is inherently social. Most music is performed in groups, and even soloists are subject to influence from a (real or imagined) audience. It is also inherently creative. Performers are called upon to interpret notated music, improvise new musical material, adapt to unexpected playing conditions, and accommodate technical errors. The focus of this paper is how creativity is distributed across members of a music ensemble as they perform these tasks

This article does cover Parkinson’s – singing as a way to help with vocal issues and depression. Positive results, but not a randomized control type experiment, so conclusions are tentative:

Individualized singing program

Here’s an interesting experiment in which participants are asked to improvise music which reflects varied feeling states. Not sure how the results can be applied, except that creating music or dance/movement to express emotions is probably of benefit to the brains of people with Parkinson’s, regardless of the strength of the research.
Effects of music making

This study has gotten some wide distribution – on how musicians (people who play an instrument) react more quickly than people who do not. This article digest is from Science Daily (January 2017)

Play an instrument?

“fine” as they say on the sheet music.

depression, diet, Exercise, Parkinson's, Research , , , , Leave a comment

Teamwork helps

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An open access article:

Multi-disciplinary approach for rehab to improve QOL

From the abstract:

Results:Patients reported higher functional status (d=0.37,p<0.001), general self-efficacy(d=0.28,p<0.01), and quality of life (d=0.32,p<0.001) at three weeks follow-up, comparedto their baseline scores. The regression analysis showed that having a better initial functionalstatus (β=−0.26,p<0.05) and lower quality of life (β=0.51,p<0.001) were associated withmore improvements in quality of life.
Conclusion:The study suggests that actual functioning in persons with Parkinson’s diseaseis a better predictor of improved quality of life than self-efficacy beliefs and that those whohave lower levels of initial quality of life benefit more from rehabilitation.

The program was only three weeks long, but was inpatient and apparently intensive:

The multidisciplinary rehabilitation program had a duration of three weeks and was an inpatient program. Upon arrival, participants were awarded a primary contact to ensure a unified team working toward goals set by the participant him/herself. The multidisciplinary team consisted of 10 different professions, such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, doctors, neurologists, nurses, sports educators, cognitive behavioral therapists, and nutritionists. Commencing the multidisciplinary rehabilitation program, participants were assessed by the relevant professional/s and typically had close follow-up the first week with individual and group-based exercise

 

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Nostalgia can be good for you

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Contrary to what had been thought for many years, psychology as a science has within the last few years done research into nostalgia, and has found that it can be positive in its results.

It has been so good, in fact, that the University of Southampton in the UK has created a Nostalgia Center.

And to do research, they’ve created a Nostalgia scale for measurement.

some other overlapping research involves music and nostalgia

At UC Davis, they study how music and nostalgia interact.

It’s all good.

 

depression, diet, Research Leave a comment

Diet as medicine for depression

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Medscape reports on a new study from Australia which apparently shows that eating healthy can be good for the mood as well as the pocketbook.

Two researchers, Felice Jacka and Michael Berk, led a consortium of Australian Institutions based at the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. Over 3 years, they recruited several hundred patients with moderate to severe depression and entered 67 into a 12-week parallel group trial. The treatment group received seven 60-minute sessions of dietary counselling. The parallel control group received a matching social support protocol. All but nine of the 67 participants were receiving another active treatment—either psychotherapy, medications, or both. . . .

… participants were implored to increase consumption of foods in 12 food categories. The food categories, as you may guess, included whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, and lean meats, chicken, and seafood, and to decrease consumption of foods that are correlated with a higher risk for depression: empty carbohydrates, refined starches, and highly processed foods. . . .

. . . The outcome was quite robust. The researchers found a statistically significant 7.1-point difference on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) in favor of the treatment group, which was their primary outcome. The researchers extrapolated that there was a 2.2-point reduction in the MADRS for every 10% adherence to the healthier dietary pattern.. . .

. . . They developed that pattern, which they called the Modified Mediterranean Diet, or the Modi-Medi Diet, by combining recommendations from the Australian government and the Greek government, and data from an earlier analysis by Felice Jacka and her colleagues[2] that determined which dietary factors played the largest role in fighting depression with diet. . . .

source of quoted excerpts:  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/875236