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New Center Looks At Depression in the Aging Body
The Rochester center is focused on mind-body
interactions and aging
May 19, 2005 - The newly formed Rochester Center
for Mind-Body Research (RCMBR) today launched its first three pilot
programs to explore how depression, personality and stress contribute to
disease in the aging body. The announcement coincides with the center’s
annual board meeting, research presentation day and the kick-off of a
mind-body lecture series.
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Depression in Older Adults |
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Depression
is not a normal part of aging. Yet depression is a widely
under-recognized and under-treated medical illness.
At your next
doctor's visit, BEFORE you say, "I am fine," ask yourself if you
feel:
• guilty or worthless
• nervous or "empty"
• very tired and
slowed down
• you don't enjoy
things the way you used to.
• restless or
irritable
• like no one loves
you
• like life is not
worth living
Or if you
are:
• sleeping more or
less than usual
• eating more or less
than usual
• having persistent
headaches, stomach aches, or chronic pain
These may be
signs of depression, a treatable medical illness. Talk to a
doctor or other health care professional.
More from
National Institute of Mental Health -
Click |
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See related stories on depression and senior
citizens below article. |
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In 1999, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
funded new mind-body research centers to examine how beliefs, attitudes
and stress affect heart disease and immune system failure. As part of a
second round of funding in 2004, the University of Rochester Department
of Psychiatry received a $1.42 million grant from the National Institute
on Aging (NIA), part of NIH, to create RCMBR. The new center is focused
on mind-body interactions and aging because people may be less likely as
they age to respond to blanket treatments meant to protect against the
diseases of aging. Tailored treatments are urgently needed, and
mind-body approaches may be part of the solution.
“Our mission is to better understand age-related
diseases on the way to improving the health of older Americans,” said
Jan Moynihan, Ph.D., director of the RCMBR. “Our new program of human
research, beginning with these pilot projects, has the potential to help
steer the course of mind-body research for the next two decades.”
The first RCMBR pilot study, led by Jeffrey Lyness,
M.D., associate professor of Psychiatry at URMC, will seek to explain
why patients who suffer from depression following heart failure are more
likely to die. The body’s immune response to high cholesterol,
inflammation, is gaining credence as a predictor of heart failure. Do
high blood levels of inflammatory signaling chemicals like interleukins
contribute to both depression and heart disease? Does depression predict
heart failure? Fifty patients from the Strong Memorial Hospital
Cardiology Clinic and the Highland Hospital Family Medicine Clinic will
be tested for personality traits, stress levels, depression and heart
disease.
A second study, led by Kirk Brown, Ph.D., within the URMC Department of
Clinical and Social Psychology, and Moynihan, will look at whether
behavioral training can increase the response to flu vaccines in elderly
patients. About 90 percent of those who die from influenza are aged 65
and older, despite the availability of vaccines. Part of the problem is
that fewer seniors respond to vaccine the older they get. Researchers
will attempt to bolster the immune systems of 50 local nursing home
patients by increasing “mindfulness,” or attention to what is taking
place in the present. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been
shown in past studies to strengthen immune systems.
The third pilot, led by Alice Pentland, M.D., chair
of the URMC Department of Dermatology, will examine whether stress and
lack of sleep precede bursts of psoriasis in patients in her dermatology
clinic. Psoriasis is a disease diagnosed in 4.5 million Americans where
red patches regularly appear in the skin, most likely due to a misfire
in the immune system. Patients with severe, chronic psoriasis report
that stress and sleep loss trigger flares of skin lesions. Sleep
disruptions may be more common in patients with particular personality
traits or a history of depression, suggesting a mind-body connection.
Are disease flares related to personality, stress or depression? Can
mental health treatment reduce flares?
RCMBR is a collaboration of biologists, social
scientists, and practicing physicians within the University of Rochester
Medical Center and the College of Arts and Sciences. More than 10 other
collaborating disciplines contribute to the center, including
immunology, vaccine biology, cardiology, rheumatology, neurology, family
medicine, dermatology, and clinical and social psychology. One long-term
goal is to secure funding for a dedicated mind-body building to house
both ambulatory clinics and cutting-edge research.
The center’s NIA grant has supported infrastructure
building, an influx of new researchers, a seminar series and support for
grant applications. As part of the series, RCMBR board member John T.
Cacioppo, Ph.D., Tiffany and Margaret Blake Professor at the University
of Chicago Department of Psychology, this morning delivered a
presentation titled “Social Isolation (Loneliness) and Health” in the
Class of 1962 Auditorium in the Kornberg Medical Research Building at
URMC.
“Dr. Robert Ader founded the Center for
Psychoneuroimmunology in 1993, formalizing the groundbreaking mind-body
research that the university had been conducting for decades on the
basic chemical mechanisms by which the brain impacts the immune system,”
said Paul Duberstein, Ph.D., co-director of RCMBR. “The Rochester Center
for Mind Body Research is taking the next step, and applying those early
lessons to people suffering from, or at risk for, an array of diseases.”
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