Emotional Causes of Nervous Breakdowns

In layman’s terms, a nervous breakdown is when somebody just “loses his marbles.” Scientifically, it is a severe mental illness that comes with a disruption of the mental and emotional stability of a person. It can hinder normal activity, and as such requires immediate attention. However, it does not refer to a specific mental illness, and is usually used in the context of severe anxiety and depression that may result in a psychological collapse.

Sometimes we may write it off as the person just not knowing how to deal with pressures and other stresses, but if someone in your family has had a nervous breakdown, or if you are worried about having one yourself, it might help to try to understand the emotions involved in the process. Among the many negative emotions that people deal with on a day to day basis, here are the top triggers of a nervous breakdown:

1. Depression – Depression comes when a person undergoes a prolonged season of extreme stress or anxiety. It is usually visible because a person can show lethargy, weakness, extreme tiredness, continuous aches and pains, among others. But other times, depressed people can fake a smile to ward off concerned loved ones. As such it is highly important that you pay attention to non-verbal cues more than the verbal ones. If you are the one feeling depressed, it might help to detect the roots of your despondency in the other emotions listed below.

2. Problems in an interpersonal relationship – This is one of the major causes of emotional breakdowns, as everybody has the need to feel loved and to love back. Once that desire is shunned, the person sometimes does not know how to move on, especially if he has believed that the shunning partner was the only person who had ever cared for him in the first place. This is why it is extremely important for people to know that their life does not revolve around only his partner, and that there is somebody else who loves him and can even love him more than that person can. This is why many people who believe in God can reportedly move on more easily than those who don’t: it’s because they firmly believe that no matter what happens, there is somebody who loves them.

3. Emotional trauma or abandonment – Another inherent fear in every person is the fear of being betrayed or abandoned. Whether or not the person is a physical orphan, sometimes an orphan mindset can just as easily eat away at one’s emotional health. This mindset tells you that nobody is looking after you for your future, your protection, or your provision, which results in extreme worry and a nagging fear that something is out to get you. This is a very ugly feeling to have, and many people have dealt with this by choosing to believe in a Supreme Being who cares for them. When you believe that the God who sees everything is actually working for your good, you can relax and not worry anymore about being abandoned, because it turns out that somebody is always there for you and will never leave you, like so many other people may have done before.

4. Condemnation – The last and one of the greatest causes of emotional breakdowns is persistent self-condemnation. If other people were to blame for making you feel bad, you can easily run away from them, but what if it’s all in your own head? This is why condemnation is known as a silent killer; people generally feel guilty about the things they have done wrong, and unless there is an answer, they will never believe that they have been forgiven or atoned for. This is why many people who found peace from their self-condemnation talk about a God who paid the price by hanging on a tree in place of His people. It releases you and sets you free from needing to punish yourself, because you know that someone else was already punished for you. Your conscience knows that somebody must pay, and thankfully, you do not deserve to suffer anymore because somebody did pay the price.

When you understand these basic triggers that could lead to a nervous breakdown, you can try to meet the emotional demands with the suggested solutions, and spare yourself the added emotional burden.

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Brain protein that regulates body weight identified

 Washington: Scientists have discovered a brain protein that plays a role in regulating body weight.

The protein, called RGS9 2, had been previously related to the involuntary, random and repetitive body movements that are side effects of drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.

Abraham Kovoor, an assistant professor in the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy, found the new role of RGS9 2 while studying these side effects, which are called dyskinesia.

Kovoor and his collaborators found that humans with a gene variation that could reduce RGS9 2 levels had a significantly higher body mass index.

Similarly, when they examined a strain of mice in which the RGS9 2 gene was deleted, so that these mice do not make RGS9 2 protein, they found that these weighed more than the wild-type strain and the percentage of body fat was much greater.

Conversely, when RGS9-2 protein is over-expressed in rats, they found that the rats lost weight.

Because RGS9-2 is normally expressed in the brain’s striatum, a section of the brain involved in both motor control and reward responses, Kovoor and his fellow researchers thought that the weight gain could be a result of an increased reward response triggered during eating.

“You would expect more eating from the mice without RGS9-2 (because they were the ones that gained weight), but that was not the case,” Kovoor said.

“Studies with humans, rats and mice implicate RGS9-2 as a factor in regulating body weight. But we had to look at another factor other than feeding behaviour.

“Our research shows that the striatum, through RGS9-2, has a role in regulating body weight that is independent of the motivation, movement and reward responses.

“We have identified a new gene that likely regulates weight gain through metabolism,”Kovoor said.

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Marijuana affects brain functioning during visual stimuli

Washington: An Indian origin scientist and his team have found that different ingredients in marijuana appear to affect regions of the brain differently during brain processing functions involving responses to certain visual stimuli and tasks.

Sagnik Bhattacharyya, MBBS, MD, PhD, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College in London, and colleagues studied 15 healthy men, who were occasional marijuana users, to examine the effects of 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (9-THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on regional brain function during salience processing, which is how people perceive things around them.

The authors used functional MRI images to study each participant on three occasions after administration of 9-THC, CBD or placebo. Study participants performed a visual oddball task of pressing buttons according to the direction arrows on a screen were pointing, as a measure of salience processing.

“Pairwise comparisons revealed that 9-THC significantly increased the severity of psychotic symptoms compared with placebo and CBD whereas there was no significant difference between the CBD and placebo conditions,” the researchers said.

9-THC had a greater effect than placebo on reaction time to non-salient relative to salient stimuli.

This was associated with modulation of both prefrontal and striatal function by 9-THC, augmenting (increasing) activation in the former region and attenuating (weakening) it in the latter.

“Moreover, in the present study, the magnitude of 9-THC’s effect on response times to non-salient stimuli was correlated with its effect on activation in the right caudate, the region where the physiological effect of 9-THC was linked to its induction of psychotic symptoms,” they wrote.

They concluded that “collectively, these observations suggest that 9-THC may increase the aberrant attribution of salience and induce psychotic symptoms through its effects on the striatum and lateral prefrontal cortex.”

When the effects of CBD were contrasted with 9-THC and placebo with respect to the visual task there was a “significant effect” in the left caudate with CBD augmenting (increasing) the response and 9-THC attenuating (weakening) it.

“These effects suggest that CBD may also influence the effect of cannabis use on salience processing – and hence psychotic symptoms – by having an opposite effect, enhancing the appropriate response to salient stimuli,” the researchers added.

The findings appeared in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Habits to Keep the Brain Healthy

The brain is considered as the central processing unit of the human body. It is the main organ that controls the rest of the bodily parts. And since the brain is like a muscle, it needs to be exercised regularly in order for it to stay in optimum condition.

It’s true that every organ in the body has an important role to play, but besides the heart, the brain is one organ you would want to keep healthy all the time. It is through the brain that we learn, think, and remember things, and if we fail to maintain its health, we may end up with a high risk for degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. It’s a good thing that there are several things you can do to take proper care of your brain so that you don’t easily succumb to mental problems and brain diseases.

Stress is the number one cause of diseases and disorders in the bodily organs. If you want to maintain the youth and health of your brain, do your best to get rid of the stressors in your life. When you are under severe stress, hormones called cortisol rush to the hippocampus, the part of your brain that stores short term memory. When there’s too much cortisol rushing to the hippocampus, brain cells may die and result to poor learning and memory function. To avoid short term memory loss and improve your brain function, try some relaxation techniques that will help you eliminate or at least control stress. When you’re stressed, take long deep breaths to allow more oxygen to enter your brain. This encourages relaxation and helps improve your focus and concentration.

Sometimes, stress can be a result of lack of sleep. For your information, sleeping helps improve the brains health not only by reducing stress. Sleep is designed to allow damaged tissues in your body to heal. During sleep time, your body repairs the part of your brain that holds your memories together, making it an excellent activity to boost your long-term memory. Even a short nap during the day can boost the health of brain significantly. Some establishments in America allow their employees to take 20 minute power naps in the afternoon because they believe it can help improve their performance at work. This is quite true because according to studies, people who get at least 8 hours of sleep every day have sharper memories than those who only get 4-5 hours of sleep.

Speaking of sharper memory, playing brain games like scrabble, crossword puzzle, and Sudoku can richly enhance your mental ability. Whenever you spend time brainstorming or thinking hard on how you can win in Mastermind, the hippocampus in your brain generates new cells. The more mental stimulation and mental excitement you experience, the better.

Another more exciting way to improve your brain’s health is by feeding it. According to scientists, your thinking and your memory is greatly influenced by the kind of food that you eat. Since your brain is made up mainly of fat, what better way to fee it than by eating more fat? When we speak of fat, we’re referring to healthy fat or monounsaturated fat that you get from olive oil, avocado, canola oil, and nuts. If you’re not aware of it, Omega-3 that’s considered a brain food is actually a form of polyunsaturated fat. Include more Omega-3 –rich foods in your diet like tuna, sardines, salmon and mackerel. Other rich sources of Omega-3 are dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and broccoli. Alternatively, you can also improve your intake of Omega-3 by taking supplements.

Aside from monounsaturated fat, your brain also needs protein in order to function properly. Protein found in eggs, poultry, and fish increases serotonin in the brain. This chemical helps boost the feelings of the well-being of a person. In short, it acts like a “feel-good” chemical, just like endorphin. Endorphin, likewise, is a chemical released by the brain during physical activities like exercising. That makes regular physical exercise an excellent way to maintain the health of the brain as well. Each time you work a sweat by performing your favorite workout routine, you are actually promoting circulation of both blood and oxygen to the brain.

There is no question that your brain controls most of your bodily functions. By keeping it on top condition all the time, you can keep your overall health in check as well.

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What is Bipolar Affective Disorder

Mental conditions are no laughing matter, especially when you have a loved one who manifests problems in their mental health. It could be a perpetual state of depression, or a state of unpredictability in terms of mood swings and reactions to any emotional stress trigger. Among these problems, manic depression is one that is considered very difficult to understand or to treat. What people used to call manic depression is more commonly called bipolar affective disorder these recent years.

What exactly is this condition called bipolar affective disorder? Essentially, it is a mental condition in which the brain has abnormalities in its anatomy or physical structure, the hippocampus in particular, as well as its physiology, or the balance of chemicals that send a message to certain body parts. The term “bipolar” is used to refer to the extremes of moods that a person suffering from it tends to experience: he may experience moods that are too low, or depression, and moods that are too high, referred to as mania, or even both. This imbalance of moods results in impaired judgments, causing the person not to be able to operate within the normal demands of daily life.

How does a person know if he has this disorder? Generally, a medical practitioner makes the diagnosis based on symptoms. They generally rule out other conditions that may also cause the same symptoms. Then, the medical history of the patient is evaluated, which includes the record of any prior episode of mental illness. The family’s medical history is also checked to see if there is any history of mood disorders. Currently, blood tests are being studied for possible help in the future of diagnosis of this illness.

But what causes bipolar affective disorder? Science and research has not yet proven the possible causes, although they have become accepted by the general public. Heredity has been shown to be a major factor, although specific genetic abnormalities still remain to be suspicion. A chemical imbalance in a person’s brain is also suspected, perhaps linked to leaking membranes along the pathways through which the messages are delivered within the person’s brain. Another possible cause that scientists are considering is a seizure disorder in the frontal cortex of the brain; apparently, convulsions do not occur with these types of seizures because these do not contain any psycho-motor centers; instead, this area affects mood and a person’s judgment.

As of the time of this writing, an estimated 3 out of every 200 people are diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. About one to two million Americans have this condition. Interestingly, there have been no difference found between the condition among different races or ethnicity, nor have there been any difference of rate of occurrence among men and women.

How is this treated? Typically, ongoing treatment is required for most cases. The patient is usually given medication and is required to meet with a psychiatrist on a regular basis. One’s lifestyle will also need to be adjusted, if only to avoid the triggers and to avoid a relapse. This means the person will be expected to monitor his moods as well as symptoms. He will also need to practice good management of stress as well as to pace himself in order to avoid under-stimulation or over-stimulation in certain situations. The need for supportive family and friends is also found crucial, as is the stress relieving effect of hobbies.

While the disorder has currently been found to be incurable, there have been people who report the loss of symptoms through seemingly unscientific means: since the condition is related to mood and affects one’s self-image, having a proper view of one’s value seems to help tremendously. People who believe that there is a Higher Being who values them enough and is not double-minded about them seems to give them a sense of security and purpose, and greatly diminishes the occurrence of symptoms. The assurance that they are forgiven by God and not condemned anymore has also resulted in people who used to be in bondage to their condition soaring high in freedom and joy, with some no longer needing their regular medication. This gives hope to anybody who has a family member suffering from the condition, as it may appear to be affected greatly by thought processes that can be changed.

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High-fat diet ‘injures brain’

Washington: A high-fat diet, followed for even a short time, injures the brain, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine looked at the brains of rodents that were bred to become obese and found that when placed on a high-fat diet.


The animals developed injuries to the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that controls the urge to eat and sends signals to stop eating when one is full.

The researchers found signs of similar damage in the same brain area in obese people.

“Within 24 hours of switching rodents to a high-fat diet, we found injury in the hypothalamus area,” Michael Schwartz, co-author of the study, said.

“We don’t know what causes the injury and we don’t know for certain that it’s a cause of obesity, but that part of the brain does control body weight,” he said.

Schwartz and his colleagues speculated that obesity might also be linked with inflammation in the hypothalamus, “which may prevent it from responding to hormones like insulin that regulate our body weight”, said co-author Joshua Thaler.

The researchers compared rats and mice that ate a high-fat diet with those that ate a regular diet over a four-week period. Within the first week, they found gliosis, an overgrowth of cells that is a sign that the brain has tried to heal itself from injury.

They also found that though the brain’s repair effort was effective, inflammation and gliosis persisted as long as the animals remained on a high-fat diet.

Moreover, the brain images of 34 healthy people, who ranged from lean to obese, revealed a link between body weight and gliosis similar to what was found in rodents.

“There seemed to be more gliosis in people who were obese than those who were lean,” Thaler said.

Since the hypothalamus is involved in our urge to eat, the findings imply that obesity, or the eating habits that lead to obesity, “caused damage to brain areas responsible for keeping our body weight stable.”

Stephen Hammes, chief endocrinologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved with the work, cautioned that the study was mostly done in rodents.

“We don’t know if humans respond the same way as rodents, but this study is still intriguing,” Hammes said.

He also noted that the study does not show whether the “hypothalamus caused obesity, or if the obesity caused the changes in the hypothalamus.” The findings show only a correlation.

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Lingonberries protect blood vessels of BP and diabetic patients

Washington: Ligonberry has a much higher antioxidant level in certain capacities than blueberries or raspberries, and it can help protect blood vessels of people who have hypertension or have diabetic damage from too much blood sugar, a Finland researcher has claimed.

“It doesn’t lower the blood pressure, but it stops the damage,” Fox News quoted Dr. Peter Bongiorno of Innersource Health as saying.

A native of Sweden, ligonberries are found on low, evergreen shrubs throughout the forests of Scandinavia.

These tart, red berries are much smaller and juicier than their distant cousin, the cranberry.

“Lingonberries contain very high levels of certain phytochemicals, which are brilliant antioxidants, and these are the protective qualities that are in the berry that confer to us,” Bongiorno noted.

“So the same way that these chemicals protect the sun’s radiation from damaging the small fruit, when we take them in, they also protect our bodies and protect us from excessive oxidation,” he added.

Antioxidants have been proven to play a role in helping to prevent diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and macular degeneration.

Given its growing popularity, Bongiorno predicted that Lingonberries would soon be available in juices, powders and in the frozen food section of local grocery store.

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Diet patterns may keep brain from shrinking

Washington: People whose diets are rich in vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer`s disease, say experts.

Those whose diet is usually high in omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins C, D, E and B also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients, Xinhua reported quoting the study in the online issue of Neurology.


Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are primarily found in fish. The B vitamins and antioxidants C and E are primarily found in fruits and vegetables.

In another finding, the study showed that people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats.

Trans fats are primarily found in packaged, fast, fried and frozen food, baked goods and margarine spreads.

The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87.

Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant.

All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. Of the total participants, 42 had MRI scans to measure their brain volume. Overall, the participants had good nutritional status, but seven percent were deficient in vitamin B12 and 25 percent were deficient in vitamin D.

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Multiple sclerosis `linked to different areas of brain`

Washington: Scientists claim to have found evidence that multiple sclerosis affects an area of the brain that controls cognitive, sensory and motor functioning apart from disabling damage caused by the disease`s visible lesions.

A team at the University of Texas selected the thalamus of the brain as the benchmark for its research published in the latest edition of `The Journal of Neuroscience`.

"The thalamus is a central area that relates to the rest of the brain and acts as the `post office`. It also is an area that has the least amount of damage from lesions in the
brain but we see volume loss, so it appears other brain damage related to the disease is also occurring," Khader Hasan, who led the team, said.

Researchers have known that the thalamus loses volume in size with typical aging, which accelerates after age 70. The team`s purpose was to assess if there was more volume loss in patients with multiple sclerosis, which could explain the dementia-related decline associated with the disease.
"Multiple sclerosis patients have cognitive deficits and the thalamus plays an important role in cognitive function. The lesions we can see but there is subclinical activity in multiple sclerosis where you can`t see the changes.

"There are neurodegenerative changes even when the brain looks normal and we saw this damage early in the disease process," the scientists said.

For their research, the scientists used precise imaging by the powerful 3 Tessla MRI scanner to compare the brains of 109 patients with the disease to 255 healthy subjects.

Adjusting for age-related changes in the thalamus, the patients with multiple sclerosis had less thalamic volume than the controls. The amount of thalamic loss also appeared to be
related to the severity of disability.

"This is looking at multiple sclerosis in a different way. The thalami are losing cellular content and we can use this as a marker of what`s going on. If we can find a way to
detect the disease earlier in a more vulnerable population, we could begin treatment sooner," Hasan said.

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Brain dead youth`s organs harvested

Kozhikode: The organs of a 21-year-old engineering student, who had met with an accident here and declared brain dead, were harvested after his father agreed to donate them, authorities at the hospital, where the youth had been admitted, said.

Twentyone-year-old Arun George, an engineering student of Sathyabama University at Chennai, had met with an accident on December 16 at Karamoola in the city and was admitted to a private hospital. He was declared brain dead by doctors attending on him on Tuesday, hospital sources said.
His father, George, a businessman, expressed willingness to donate his son`s organs to hospital authorities.

Arun`s one kidney was transplanted on a woman, while the other was sent to Calicut Medical College.

The eyes were given to a hospital in the city while the liver to a hospital at Ernakulam, sources said.

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Saffron helps protect brain cells from diseases

Inflammation is a protective attempt by an organism to remove injurious stimuli such as pathogens, damaged cells or irritants and to initiate the healing process.

MS is characterized by inflamed brain (neurons) that have lost their protective insulation, known as myelin, The Journal of Immunology reports.

Symptoms range from mild to severe and include visual disturbances, muscle spasms, loss of sensation, speech impediment, dizziness, depression, etc, according to a University of Alberta statement.

Chris Power, from the University of Alberta, who led the research, said: "We found there is a compound in saffron, known as crocin, that exerts a protective effect in brain cell cultures and other models of MS. It prevented damage to cells that make myelin in the brain."

"This research highlights a potential treatment role for crocin in diseases involving chronic neuroinflammation - something that had not been recognized until now," concludes Power.

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