264 Million.

Everywhere I Look. I Still Can’t See.

When The Mist Clears…..

According to the World Health Organisation, 264 million people are affected by depression.

In this post, I include research information from the N.I.D.A.and also W.H.O. I also write about the English Premier League.

The initiative that they are implementing with clubs up and down the country to get the conversation started!!

It’s both interesting and intriguing to look at the landscape that has been created by mental health.

A decade ago I think that this information and content would not be appreciated or taken notice of.

Back then everyone didn’t seem to want to engage with this.

Everywhere I looked people acted like nothing was there not anything to see. The stigma blanket hid it all away from sight.

THE WISE BRI’S.

THE MENTAL HEALTH WARRIORS BREAKFAST CLUB.

If a team in the English Premier League drew all its games indicating it was equal with all other teams, could it still be relegated?

You are essentially trying to say that because your team, I’m going to use Bournemouth hypothetically, have remained unbeaten but have not won a single game out of 38 played.

This would give Bournemouth a season-long total of 38points. Which is what some teams have totalled and been able to stay out of the fight with relegation. To answer your question simply. Your hypothetical team “Bournemouth “ would be relegated if the team on the same total of points had a better positive goal difference in the goals scored or goals for column.

Over the past 23 seasons, the 18th-placed team, the highest to go down, has averaged 35.6 points. So your team would I more than a fair chance of survival.

West Bromwich Albion’s 34 points in 2004/05 make them the team with the lowest total to remain in the Premier League.

The exception to the rule.

The mythical 40-point barrier was not enough for West Ham United in 2002/03. The Hammers went down despite accruing 42 points, the highest for a relegated side.

Only two other teams have finished in the bottom three with 40 points: Sunderland, in 1996/97, and Bolton Wanderers the following season.

Mind Matters: Drugs and the Brain.

How effective are medications to treat opioid use disorder? via @NIDAnews.

Opioids via @NIDAnews: Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin as well as pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others. These drugs are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain. So far in the research that I have been doing, I have found absolutely nothing on the medication being positive or helpful to patients who are suffering.

Submitted by NIDA on February 4, 2020.

Addiction is a complex disorder having many causes — not only biological but also social and economic. Consequently, many forces are needed to address it, both within and outside of healthcare. NIDA’s portfolio includes research to develop and deliver effective prevention and treatment interventions as well as this, better integrate the many systems that must work together to end the opioid crisis and the stimulant crises (cocaine, methamphetamine) that are developing in its wake. Essentially from one addiction, this leads to another problem for users.

An insight into what NIDA is trying to do to make a difference.

In 2019, researchers at NIDA-funded Yale University made significant strides toward understanding biological predictors of addiction and relapse. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and machine learning, Sarah W. Yip and colleagues found that functional connectivity among several brain regions predicted chances of achieving abstinence in patients receiving treatment for cocaine use disorder.

Their results, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry last February, could lead to new approaches to treating cocaine addiction by intervening directly in those pathways.

Genetic approaches are also yielding important insights in this area. An analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) published in Nature Genetics last January identified hundreds of gene loci associated with tobacco and alcohol use and related health conditions. Genes involved in dopaminergic, nicotinic, and glutamatergic signalling were among those identified.

Another partially NIDA-supported GWAS study published in Nature Neuroscience in July identified an association between expression of the gene for the cholinergic receptor nicotinic α2 subunit with cannabis use disorder in brain tissue from a large Icelandic sample.

NIDA-supported basic science is also shedding important light on opioids and the brain’s opioid signalling systems. Research published in June in ACS Central Science provided new insights while raising new questions about the drug kratom.

Its active ingredient mitragynine acts as a weak partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor (MOR), but new findings by a team that included researchers at Columbia and Memorial Sloan-Kettering found that the drug’s analgesic properties are significantly mediated by a metabolite produced when mitragynine is consumed orally, called 7-hydroxy mitragynine.

In mice, at least, this compound seems to provide analgesia but with fewer respiratory-depressing and reward-associated side effects than other opioids such as morphine. These findings point toward the potential of this drug in pain research as well as the need for further research on the pharmacology of kratom’s constituents, their toxicity and potential value in the treatment of OUD.

Although the MOR system is most commonly associated with pain and pain relief, other receptors are also involved.

One important dimension of pain is the negative effect commonly associated with it, and NIDA-supported research published in Neuron in March found that the kappa-opioid signalling system, specifically in cells located in the shell of the nucleus accumbens, is involved in processing pain-associated negative affect.

This discovery could perhaps provide new targets for treating the emotional distress associated with many pain-associated syndromes.

Translating addiction science into new treatments and treatment tools is another area where NIDA is having an impact. For example, in the past few years, NIDA has been extremely successful in winning interest in biotechnology investment in devices and other products to address the opioid crisis and addiction more generally.

Historically, addiction is a market that has scared away pharmaceutical companies and investors, who viewed it as small and risky and one that would not lead to the recovery of investment. However, NIDA’s medication development program expansion along with NIDA’s Office of Translational Initiatives and Program Innovations (OTIPI) are turning this around.

OTIPI uses a wide array of funding mechanisms to support startups in developing or adapting devices, apps, and other technologies in ways that can better deliver treatment to people with substance use disorders and related conditions.

NIDA science continues to contribute knowledge to help guide policy. One example is from our annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which in 2019 showed steep increases in the use of vaping devices both for nicotine and for marijuana among teenagers.

The survey also revealed that a large proportion of teens vaped because they liked the taste. When these vaping data (along with those of the National Youth Tobacco Survey) were released last November, it prompted the makers of the popular Juul devices to pull their mint-flavoured products from the shelves, and it prompted the FDA to finalize their enforcement policy on flavoured vaping (e-cigarette) products.

The new scientific knowledge and innovations generated by our Institute in 2019 and the unprecedented investment in large-scale, coordinated studies through HEAL leave us poised to make considerable scientific progress in 2020 toward effective strategies for addiction prevention and treatment. As the ABCD study has already begun, these new research programs will generate vast troves of data that promise new opportunities for collaboration and an accelerated pace of discovery.

Facts and research result’s courtesy of N.I.D.A.

Mental disorders.

Mental disorders comprise a broad range of problems, with different symptoms. However, they are generally characterized by some combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behaviour, and relationships with others. Examples are schizophrenia, depression, intellectual disabilities and disorders due to drug abuse. Most of these disorders can be successfully treated.

Depression and associated mental disorders can have a profound effect on all aspects of life, including effectiveness in school, productivity in work, relationships with family and friends, and an individual’s ability to participate in the community.

Research also shows strong relationships between depression and physical health, including tuberculosis and cardiovascular disease. Depression affects all types of people — young and old, rich and poor — in all countries. Women are more likely to have depression than men.

Depression is a common mental disorder affecting more than 264 million people worldwide. It is characterized by persistent sadness and a lack of interest or pleasure. It can also disturb sleep and appetite; tiredness and poor concentration are common. Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to the global burden of disease. The effects of depression can be long-lasting or recurrent and can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function and live a rewarding life.

The causes of depression include complex interactions between social, psychological and biological factors. Life events such as childhood adversity, loss and unemployment contribute to and may catalyze the development of depression.

Psychological and pharmacological treatments exist for moderate and severe depression. However, in low- and middle-income countries treatment and support services for depression are often absent or underdeveloped. An estimated 76–85% of people suffering from mental disorders in these countries lack access to the treatment they need.

W.H.O works with the Member States and partners to reduce the burden of mental disorders like depression. The World Health Assembly has passed several resolutions relating to the prevention and treatment of depression, including in a May 2013 resolution calling for a comprehensive, coordinated response to mental disorders at the country level.

W.H.O has developed brief psychological intervention manuals for depression that may be delivered by lay workers. An example is Problem Management Plus, which describes the use of behavioural activation, relaxation training, problem-solving treatment and strengthening social support.

The manual Group Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) for Depression describes group treatment of depression. Finally, Thinking Healthy covers the use of cognitive-behavioural therapy for perinatal depression.

W.H.O’s mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) focuses on helping countries to increase services from health workers who are not specialists in mental health. This allows gaps in service to be filled and broaden the overall capacity of a country’s health care system.

This work includes brief psychological interventions as well as antidepressant medicines for moderate and severe depression.

The mental health GAP program focuses on scaling up of non-specialist services to respond to this urgent public health need.

I hope that one day when the mist does clear, that a beautiful picture of clarity and contentment can emerge. The stigma blanket that shrouds the silence should never again be able to have the negative effects & ramifications.

Credits to the National Institute on Drug Abuse =N.I.D.A.“lead the nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction”. Also the World Health Organisation.

Brian Anthony Cumberlidge.