Psychie blog

home renovations

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 16:11:56 +0000

Platinum Group provide quality home extensions in Ireland

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bf cheated and broke up with me after 6 1/2 years

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:52:35 +0000

My now ex bf have been together for 6 1/2 years, thick and thin. We’re best friends too. We started dating when I was 20 and him 19. We’ve always relied on eachother for anything. I moved to college and graduated a year ago, him he still has about another 6 months left. Things were fine up till about month ago. In our college group of friends, he started coming home real late (we share a place for close to a year) course students life that’s how it is sometimes..but he started hanging around this one chick in our group, she broke up with her ex and started flirting with everyone in the group

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Good Foods Boost Moods

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 13:55:10 +0000

New research reveals that some common foods enhance moods with a striking similarity to valproic acid, a widely used prescription mood-stabilizing drug.

“Molecules in chocolate, a variety of berries and foods containing omega-3 fatty acids have shown positive effects on mood. In turn, our studies show that some commonly used flavor components are structurally similar to valproic acid,” said Karina Martinez-Mayorga, Ph.D., leader of the research team, which presented its findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Valproic acid, which is sold under brand names such as Depakene, Depakote and Stavzor, is used to smooth out the mood swings of people with manic-depressive disorder and related conditions, she said.

“The large body of evidence that chemicals in chocolate, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, teas and certain foods could well be mood-enhancers encourages the search for other mood modulators in food,” she added.

While people have recognized the mood-altering properties of food for years, Martinez-Mayorga’s team is looking to identify the chemical compounds that moderate mood swings, help maintain cognitive health, improve mental alertness and delay the onset of memory loss.

Her study involved the use of techniques associated with chemoinformatics ― the application of informatic methods to solve chemical problems ― to screen the chemical structures of more than 1,700 food ingredients for similarities to antidepressant drugs and other agents with reported antidepressant activity.

She noted her team plans to move from analyzing the database to actually testing the flavor/mood hypothesis experimentally. The end result may be dietary recommendations or new nutritional supplements with beneficial mood effects, she said.

“It is important to remember that just eating foods that may improve mood is not a substitute for prescribed antidepressive drugs,” Martinez-Mayorga cautioned.

She added that eating specific foods and living a healthful lifestyle can generally boost moods for people who don’t require medication.

Karina Martinez-Mayorga, Ph.D., who described research done while working at the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, is now with the Chemistry Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Source: The American Chemical Society

Strawberries dipped in chocolate photo by shutterstock.

Prozac May Have Antiviral Properties

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 12:45:28 +0000

The antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) appears to have antiviral properties, especially against human enteroviruses — a group of more than 60 viruses that includes poliovirus.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles discovered the unexpected property while conducting laboratory tests on cell cultures.

Although immunization has kept poliovirus under control around the world, other enteroviruses remain a primary cause of certain types of meningitis, encephalitis, conjunctivitis, and several other diseases.

Second only to the common cold virus, enteroviruses cause an estimated 15 million infections each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Currently there are no treatments for enterovirus infections, and physicians can only offer supportive care and allow an infection to run its course.

An effective antiviral would be able to prevent millions of sicknesses annually, said the UCLA researchers. Vaccines are most effective if the immune system is taught to recognize and attack a virus. But enteroviruses have so much genetic variety that it would be too difficult to create a vaccine to prevent them.

So, in search for antiviral properties, the researchers turned to high-throughput screening (HTS), a method that allows scientists to test tens of thousands of chemical compounds in a single day using robotics.

The group recruited Dr. Robert Damoiseaux, the scientific director of UCLA’s Molecular Screening Shared Resource (MSSR), who specializes in HTS. Together they tested a collection of approved drugs and other chemical compounds and discovered several compounds that restrain enterovirus production.

Surprisingly, fluoxetine stood out from the crowd. In a series of follow-up tests, the researchers found that fluoxetine interferes with the growth and replication of coxsackieviruses, a prominent subtype of enteroviruses.

The researchers repeated the experiment on several kinds of coxsackieviruses with recurring success. Without the ability to reproduce, these invading viruses simply would die off.

Yet even with all this evidence, taking Prozac may not be the best way to clear a viral infection.

“We do not yet understand the mechanism of action, and we do not yet have any proof of antiviral effectiveness in humans or animals,” said lead researcher Paul Krogstad, M.D., professor of molecular and medical pharmacology.

Also, fluoxetine is linked to an increased risk of internal bleeding, and so too are some enteroviruses. The extra risk of hemorrhaging could possibly worsen the infection.

Krogstad said his group needs to gain a better understanding of how, exactly, fluoxetine stops viral reproduction. Overall, these findings could open the door to new drugs that target viral replication without the side effects of Prozac.

Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

Prozac pill bottle photo by shutterstock.

Self-Confidence

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 10:50:50 +0000

Hello…

I’m 19 years old and I’m a university student.

I have a problem with my personality.

For me, it’s difficult to make a friend. Until now, I never trust a friend so I always make distance with my friends. I don’t know. I never know the real reason why I become like this. In my heart and mind, sincerely, I wanna make lots friend. But in fact, I can’t. I have no self confidence and always afraid for making faults or do some unusual things. I like to do everything by myself..

I always prioritize my prestige. I choose to hide under shell and do nothing because I’m afraid to know what

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depression

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 07:51:00 +0000

Hi I have a dad that yells and my family cant take it and I am scared because of it.

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Help with my bipolar husband

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 07:45:21 +0000

I have been with my husband for almost 7 years. We both have Bipolar he has bipolar 1 and I have bipolar 2. I knew getting into this relationship it would be work but I married him anyways. We fought a lot and while later I was pregnant with my first child, my husband ended up having an affair with a girl from work. I finally found out and I was devastated. We did end up staying together and ever since then I have been trying to get over this problem of his. He is always mad at me and always yelling at me.We had a second child and she is completely attached to him and he is with her too.He le

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Just moved to Tennessee and its not going well.

psychieblogger — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 01:34:35 +0000

I just moved to Tennessee roughly 3 weeks ago. I’m coming from a town of 5,000 people – my high school class being 120 people. My new school is much larger – my class is around 500 people. I’m coming in as a senior and I don’t deal with change well. I also don’t like being around a lot of people. I’ve pretty much taken care of the most nerve-wracking parts of the school day. I have study hall in the library and eat lunch in the hall outside the band room. But I’m still really anxious both before and during school.

This whole move has been really hard to get through. I can’t continu

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I think I might be schizophrenic…

psychieblogger — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 21:53:21 +0000

I am 16 year old girl who was raped as a child by my mother’s boyfriend. My mother did nothing about it and went on to marry him.

I currently live with my dad and step mom, and although they aren’t the best parents, they’re better than the alternative.

About two years ago, I was given a psychiatric evaluation and it came back with a result of major depression.

For a while I believed I was misdiagnosed and thought it was bipolar. I had depressive episodes as well as times that I can only describe as the way a person would act if someone put a gun to their head and told them “be happy or

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Finding the Right Therapist

psychieblogger — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 20:18:55 +0000

Hello. I’m looking for better questions to ask myself and/or a prospective therapist so that the client/patient relationship will be one of healing for me instead of hurtfulness hurled towards me. I cannot name here where I have sought treatment; but I am getting so frustrated with myself plus the way things are going in finding a therapist who can help start my thinking to go in the right direction out of any Major Depressive episodes I fall into. Because of too many allergic reactions to previous meds, Psychiatrists will not even attempt putting me on anything anymore. When I asked my l

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Psychie blog

home renovations

bf cheated and broke up with me after 6 1/2 years

Good Foods Boost Moods

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Prozac May Have Antiviral Properties

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Self-Confidence

depression

Help with my bipolar husband

Just moved to Tennessee and its not going well.

I think I might be schizophrenic…

Finding the Right Therapist