Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article is confirmation of what my doctor has been telling me all along: managing anxiety can be a physical problem, not a brain problem.
Our typical understanding of depression and anxiety is that it’s a brain issue. One you treat with drugs, and maybe with therapy. The thing is, in the US we live in a profoundly unhealthy culture. We sit all day instead of doing active things on our feet. We eat large amounts of things that have little or no nutrition. In our homes and offices, we breathe air polluted with car exhaust, printer particles, and mold.
If all these factors weren’t in the picture, yeah, anything still occurring would be a brain issue. But that’s not how it is. So we have studies like this, showing that you can manage anxiety with exercise. This was a larger study, almost 300 people, which helps establish its credibility for showing a pattern. Like me, the participants typically had chronic anxiety and had suffered from it for at least a decade.
I’ve talked about the importance of movement for living your best life in the past. This is actually why, when I went job hunting earlier this year, I opted for physical jobs. I started out throwing boxes for UPS, which is excellent exercise. Now I’m doing a bit lighter of work processing envelopes. But I’m still feeling and doing far better than before. Managing my anxiety has never been easier.
It’s like the exercise burns off the energy I’d use for worrying and stressing about stuff. I’m just calmer and happier every day because I have that movement in my life.
Having movement in your job isn’t the only way to manage anxiety, mind. Some jobs, like administrative ones, simply don’t allow for that. So instead you can go for walks, do hobbies that get you moving and outdoors, or even opt for things as simple as standing desks. All without needing medication and having to manage the side effects that come with it.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article about processed food is horrifying to me on multiple levels. Just recently I wrote a piece on eating well to look and feel better. Autistic people often have fragile internal body processes. So what you put into your body as fuel makes a huge difference in how well you feel. If you eat poorly, it can cause depression, anxiety, difficulty focusing or sitting still, low or spiky energy levels, tiredness, malaise, etc. Or it can make those things much worse if you’re already prone to them.
I had an unpleasant object lesson in the importance of avoiding processed food about a week ago. I ate a friend’s homemade bready-cakey thing as a test. I’m honestly unsure of precisely what went into it, but I’m going to assume at least white flour and white sugar, because I developed a headache that lasted 24 hours, my depression worsened (and I started having boomerang memories), I had trouble focusing and kept missing things in my daily life, and I felt tired and vaguely ill. It was really horrible. The symptoms slowly went away as I went back to eating my usual diet of whole foods and vegetables, thankfully.
Defining
So what is processed food? Especially, our main offender in this article, what is ultraprocessed food?
Mostly, they’re ready-to-eat items, like fast food, desserts, most breakfast cereal, candy, TV dinners, and pastries. Pop/soda/Coke and juice also count. You could also define processed food as, “stuff that doesn’t look like the food it’s made from.” These foods have no nutritional content to speak of. They’re simply vehicles for calories, with little or no fiber, vitamins, or minerals. And they’re often loaded with sugar, salt, and saturated fat. No wonder obesity is such a problem. And no wonder sugar addiction plagues most of the US population.
As the article points out, processing is not necessarily an evil. And you don’t necessarily have to stop eating all processed foods to feel better. But having them be more then 2/3s of your diet is definitely bad. And, I will point out that while this article focuses on children, those children will grow up to be adults who will then choose foods based on what they like. While many of my friends have opted to eat healthier now that their bodies punish them for eating poorly, it’s a much harder transition than if they’d been eating well to begin with.
Generally speaking, it’s best to minimize eating processed foods and instead choose whole grains, whole fruits, and fresh or frozen vegetables. I’ve spent the last few months trying that diet, and I think I’ve never been healthier in my life. My skin has never been softer and nicer. My brain has never been so clear and easy to live in. And I’ve never been so well emotionally and mentally balanced.
It’s really nice. And exceptionally important because I’ve been having some rather difficult life circumstances that necessitated getting new jobs and handling some difficult changes in life.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
The old chestnut of a saying goes, “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” The fundamental thinking about people has been in line with this saying: that once you grow up, you’re pretty much stuck like that. It’s a lie. Old dogs can learn new tricks. Older people can learn new things, and do all the time. It may be harder to find the motivation to learn as you age, but the capability remains. In psychology, we call this ability of the brain to grow and change “neuroplasticity.”
Train Metaphor
Interestingly, it seems that depression reduces the ability to grow and change. You can get stuck, mentally and emotionally. Like a train on a track, but there’s a great pile of rubble across the tracks so you can’t go forward.
Movement, it seems, acts as metaphorical rubble-clearing equipment for the train. Without it you might have been revving your metaphorical engine in the same thought processes, hoping to push through the rubble. As you exercise, you reduce the size of the metaphorical depression rubble pile. But your brain also becomes more able to find new paths through it or around it.
Maybe it’s just me being a nerd, but I think that’s really cool. You can literally become better at adapting to the changes life throws at you, just by going for a walk. Or picking up Ring Fit Adventure and playing it every day. Or going geocaching or playing frisbee. For me, it’s foraging for wild food and flowers. Movement (or exercise) can be as varied as your interests, and all of it fights depression and anxiety. No pills needed.
As a lifelong sufferer of depression, that’s news I love.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article presents a theory about the meaning of depression. I’ll personally limit it to the kind of depression people typically experience for a few weeks or months. This type of depression only receives a diagnosis sometimes. It’d be major depressive disorder, typically. It’s common for normal people to have a few bouts of it in their lifetime. It’s a normal emotional pain reaction to major life changes or significant conflicts. For the theory, this type of depression fits the bill. But once you move out of that realm and into chronic issues and modern toxic lifestyles, the theory falls apart.
The main focus of this article is on the ills of anti-depressants. That’s a pretty typical topic for Mad In America. This theory outlines a fairly minor aspect of the ways anti-depressants can screw you over. Other articles have described the complex biochemical malfunctions they can cause, the withdrawal problems, the increased risk of being suicidal, or their frequent ineffectiveness for treating depressive disorders. This article suggests something different for the meaning of depression: that it serves an evolutionary purpose, and removing the pain also removes the incentive to deal with what’s causing the pain.
The Theory
I’ve previously heard depression described as mental/emotional pain, so this theory wasn’t as surprising to me as it might be to a general audience. And again, I have to stress: we’re talking about the kind of depression that happens due to life circumstances: situations like losing a job you were really invested in, a major conflict with your life partner, or losing a family member you were close to. These events cause significant emotional distress and pain, and depression is a reasonable and normal response.
This kind of depression has a triggering event. Think of it like breaking a bone. As the body processes the injury and begins healing, you’ll experience a lot of pain. You might go to a doctor to have the bone set. Perhaps you get a cast, to keep everything still so it heals properly. The healing might take weeks or months. For this kind of depression, seeing a therapist and taking the time to process the event is roughly the same. And again, healing might take weeks or months. In both cases, this is quite normal.
But what if, when you broke the bone, you went to the doctor and they handed you an opioid prescription? They don’t give you a cast or set the bone. You simply complain of pain and they give you something to dull the pain so you don’t have to feel it. That’s more or less what this theory suggests: that professionals are anesthetizing mental/emotional broken bones instead of treating them.
We could extend the metaphor and suggest that some forms of chronic depression are caused by a person hobbling around with crookedly-healed metaphorical mental/emotional bones. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Limitations
But I’m not willing to say “this is the only explanation for depression.” We live in a world that peddles nutrition-less food to us at every opportunity. Plastics, which are used everywhere, harbor bacteria and toxins that get into our bloodstreams and accumulate over time. The air is choked with pollution. Our lifestyles have become sedentary rather than active. Lazy and corrupt industries dump their waste chemicals into our drinking water. The fact is, our environment is toxic.
Living in a toxic environment also causes distress and malfunction. But, it’s not an emotional problem. It’s a biochemical problem. Your body isn’t designed to live in the mess we find ourselves in. But sometimes we experience bodily suffering as depression and anxiety disorders.
Saying “well if you’d just deal with your emotional problems you’d be fine!” is far, far too simplistic to be correct. Not in the world we live in. But it’s an interesting theory for the meaning of depression, and it might be correct in some circumstances. I do strongly recommend finding a therapist you can trust and be honest with, if you’re depressed. From personal experience, it’s exceptionally helpful.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article is paywalled, but the highlights and abstract tell all you need to know: depression reduces motivation. Depression is a common issue for autistic and other neurodiverse people. Also, I read those sections and immediately said, “Oh look, it’s me.” So here we go.
This article is the results of a research review. In this case, the researchers looked over 43 studies done by others in the past. The hope of these research reviews is to find an overall pattern in the results. If they do find one, they can then say “this thing is (probably) true.” So they did in fact find a pattern. According to the results, people with depression, especially the specific symptom of anhedonia, were less interested in working toward rewards. Or more succinctly, depression reduces motivation.
Anhedonia is a complicated medical word that basically means “the inability (or reduced ability) to feel pleasure.” It’s a common side effect with some forms of depression, and it’s something that typically describes me. Imagine something you love doing. Maybe it’s eating a favorite food, or reading a favorite book, or rock climbing, or writing fanfiction. Now imagine being excited to do that thing, getting everything ready to do it, looking forward to how good you’ll feel while you do it… and feeling nothing as you do this thing you love. It’s still the same delicious food, or the same wonderful book, the rock wall is just as high and challenging as it always is, and the characters are still exactly as you remember them. You just feel… nothing.
Imagine feeling nothing every time you do that favorite activity. Or feeling sad because nothing’s stopping you from doing the activity, it’s just not fun anymore. You’d stop caring so much about that activity, right? Because the enjoyment isn’t there, it’s just not as important to you. Kind of sad, isn’t it?
Now imagine that’s how you feel whenever you do things you love. Or used to love. That’s anhedonia. It’s also my life.
Understanding that, it’s probably easier to see why depressed people are less likely to try new things, or work towards rewards or positive changes in their lives. The intrinsic (internal) motivation just isn’t there. The accomplishment you feel on completing a task isn’t there. So why try? Why sacrifice your already limited energy for an outcome you know won’t make you happy?
That’s the reality for people like me. Depression reduces motivation. The specifics may vary. A person might experience pleasure while eating sweets, but not when biking (despite that they used to love biking). Or some days biking might make them happy, and other days it doesn’t. It’s different for every person.
This is, by the way, why I’m overweight. Food is still pleasurable, but most other things are not. Therefore, snacks! And typically junk food, unfortunately. I’m doing a lot better about it now, and I feel better as a result, but the anhedonia is still a reality I live with.
It can be hard to want to try a new organizational system, or put up with changes to my routine, or simply handle daily life when everything is so joyless. This is part of why. I hope this makes sense to you.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article suggests a therapy for ADHD that involves zero drugs. Based on my own experience, I’ll expand it to include autism, anxiety, and depression as well. This wonderful therapy is called “movement,” and it can be free with the right strategies.
Movement. Not exercise. We’ve all heard plenty about exercise over the years, I’m sure. It’s very healthy. It’s good for everyone. You should be doing it, here’s a big dose of guilt that you aren’t. Maybe every January 1st it’s in your list of “things I need to improve on.”
The thing is, when I picture exercise, it tends to be potentially boring things, like going to the gym or using some kind of stationary indoor machine. I don’t think I’m alone in picturing these things. If you love those things, that’s great! But many people don’t. I’m one of them. Going to the gym is boring to me. I’d rather be at home playing video games.
What is Movement?
Movement is a broader category. Movement includes things like going geocaching. Geocaching includes walking, going outside, and sometimes even hiking. But the point isn’t really the movement, it’s the fun of exploring, finding the cache, and being part of a larger community that does this activity.
Movement is dancing to your favorite songs, or playing frisbee golf at a local park with your friends. Movement is yoga classes with a buddy, joining a community sports team, or cleaning the house. It’s taking your bike instead of your car or public transit to places. Or playing active games with your kids. Even playing an instrument counts.
The study talks about the benefits of daily exercise for young ADHD boys, mainly. Kids need to move. They’re bursting with energy. Restraining them in school seats for hours is bound to result in unhappy and unfocused kids. This is honestly common sense. It boggles my mind we need to be told that exercise helps ADHD kids.
As I understand it, though, the focus of school has shifted from teaching subjects well to “achieving high test scores.” One after another, school districts have sacrificed the fine arts and hands-on classes, like music, painting, shop class, recess, and home economics, to funnel more money into those apparently all-important test scores. This was actually already happening two decades ago when I was in school. It’s only gotten worse since.
Why Movement?
Well, quite frankly, because I have less energy to spend being anxious when I have movement in my life. Movement burns off the extra energy, calming me down and letting me focus on what I want to pay attention to. I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating.
Right now I work a job that keeps me active for at least 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. While it definitely takes a toll on my body, mentally I’m calmer, happier, and more focused. I have no doubt the same is true for the ADHD kids in the study. And it could also be true for you, if you find a form of movement that you enjoy for its own sake.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! Each week I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article describes a non-invasive form of attention training that looks promising for helping autistic people manage ourselves better and get higher grades in school. This wouldn’t be the first study to delve into autistic attention patterns. Their secret weapon to make it interesting? Video games.
I’m always a bit skeptical when I see the headline, “this new treatment will help autistic people!” You immediately have to ask a lot of questions. For example, “what exactly is this treatment targeting?” “Who benefits most from this?” And unfortunately, that always-relevant question: “where’s the money going?”
In many forms of ABA, the answers are “the autistic person’s autistic features,” “everyone around the autistic person at the autistic person’s expense,” and “insurance companies and clinic centers, in sums you could buy a car for.” Needless to say, this isn’t okay.
This article’s attention training, though? For the moment, the answers look like “the autistic person’s ability to focus,” “everyone, including the autistic person, at least academically,” and, because this is an experimental treatment, “research-focused universities, if any money at all is involved.” Relatively speaking, those are pretty good answers.
It’ll be worth watching to see if the makers of these attention training video games sell them in any form. Because they’re fairly simple games, it wouldn’t be difficult to include them in a school therapeutic setting. Most schools in the US have computers at this point. So purchasing the video games and having them available wouldn’t be difficult. Apparently some form of this is already going on in Europe and the Middle East. But it hasn’t made its way to the US just yet.
Video Games as Training and Assessment
Personally, I would already argue that video games can teach coping, organizational, and pattern-recognition skills. And they’re a known quantity to a lot of autistic people. Saying “here, play this video game” isn’t particularly intimidating. Unlike saying, “here, take this psychological assessment.” Or “here, talk to this new person about all the difficulties you’re having in school.”
Heck, that same kind of switcheroo was pulled on me recently. I applied for a job at UPS recently. At present, they aren’t doing traditional interviews. Instead, they’ve hired another company to do their hiring processes. It was basically automated. I entered most of my personal information. Then they sent me to a different website to “play some games that will tell us about you.” You play the “games” on a smart device or a computer.
I have a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and at least three functioning brain cells. I knew they were going to run psychological tests, and they did. Including some pretty basic, obvious ones that involve sharing money to test how generous and pro-social you are. In some cases they even told you what your results meant, broadly speaking.
The “games” verified that I am a team player, am not horribly selfish, vengeful, risk-prone or -averse, or egotistical, and possess basic information processing skills. So then I entered my remaining information and chose a start date. Theoretically that would have transitioned me right into their intro training. In practicality the hiring processes and the people with boots on the ground weren’t communicating very well. But I did end up starting the job properly with only a little extra delay.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article suggests a useful approach to teaching theory of mind and associated skills to autistic people.
Theory of mind, for those who aren’t familiar, is a person’s ability to understand how another person might be feeling. It’s the metaphorical “putting yourself in another person’s shoes,” and it’s also part of empathy. It’s also the ability to recognize other peoples’ knowledge, beliefs, emotions, and intents might be different from your own.
Social skills training, including teaching theory of mind, is a common service for autistic people, especially as we get older. Such training is expensive and complicated. What if there was a way to start it young, rather than playing catch-up later?
Surprise! There is: learning two languages at once. The skills needed to learn two languages and select which one to use when talking to people translate into regular practice with both theory of mind and executive functioning. Practicing those skills makes them easier. And the constant practice means the person will become fast and efficient in using those skills. As a bonus, they now have multiple ways to verbally express themself. If you can’t think of the word you want in English, maybe you can in Spanish or Chinese.
Other Benefits
This is more difficult to make happen in the US than it would be in Europe. But it’s still quite possible. Making connections with immigrants in your area can benefit your family and theirs. One of the lessons of neurodiversity is that diversity makes life better and richer. There’s a lot to learn from other cultures. And immigrants are often very giving, hard-working community people. Trading timeslots watching the kids so others can take some time off is quite normal for them. Plus it eases the burden on everyone.
A bilingual person also has more opportunities available to them when they grow up. It never hurts these days to be able to speak Spanish, especially in the service industry. In the business world, speaking Chinese or Japanese can be very helpful for talking to business partners.
I personally think that even if you grow up monolingual, like I did, it’s worth learning another language or two. Learning about other cultures and other ways of thinking and speaking can really help you see the world in a different way. And for some autistic people, living in another country is the ticket to being treated like a human instead of a weirdo. The locals are more forgiving of mistakes. Errors are simply attribute any strangeness to the fact that you’re foreign.
That’s an experience I’ve never had, but it’s something I really wish I had.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
I think most people can agree that raising a kid is difficult. Maybe there’s a few non-parents out there that wouldn’t agree, but personally, I have no doubts. Little humans are complex things, constantly changing and presenting new challenges. Raising a child may be fulfilling, but it’s also stressful.
You’re needing to manage yourself, hopefully as a good example for your kid. Then you also have to manage your kid and make sure they don’t accidentally hurt or kill themself in any number of creative ways. Finally there’s still your life, which includes work and relationships with friends and family. All at the same time. Being a parent is stressful. This is a true fact before you mix in neurological differences and medical conditions.
Adding Autism or Other Conditions
Once you start adding in those medical conditions and neurological differences, the pressure and isolation grows. Parenthood is a fairly open club, but when your baby cries basically all the time when they’re awake, the “shared experiences” feeling starts to drop off.
The frequent trips to the doctor, to specialists, even to the hospital, take their toll. Your own health and wellbeing fall by the wayside as you desperately try to meet the needs of your child with services, professionals, and whatever other tools are at hand. There’s financial strain, often. The most common form of martial discord is arguments about money. That puts additional stress on a parent who may already be struggling with managing appointments, doctors, therapies…
Basically, I’m saying that even if your kid doesn’t have the alphabet soup diagnoses with serious consequences, like cerebral palsy, serious heart defects, and genetic disorders), it’s a really tough life.
An Egotistical (but not really) Sign
At some point in my early teens, my mother had a little sign in the kitchen that read: “Mom’s happy, everyone’s happy.” As I recall, it came with a smiley face, and an admonishment to take care of yourself. At the time, I thought it was kind of egotistical. My dad, my brother, and I were all separate people with our own lives, concerns, and emotions. It seemed an absurdity to presume that one person being happy would sometime short-circuit everyone around them.
This book might be why she had that sign…
In retrospect, it was a pretty typical autistic black-and-white reading of the sentiment. I wasn’t wrong, mind you. Someone being happy near you isn’t going to snap you out of depression or solve a chronic health problem.
However, I wasn’t entirely right either. How people act around us can tip our moods up or down. If someone (coughmeusuallycough) is stressed and upset on a regular basis, it can tip a nearby person’s mood downward. Especially if they spend a lot of time with that person. Naturally, living with someone pretty much guarantees that situation. Over time, those effects can add up.
My mother suffered major depression for most of my childhood. While I couldn’t have told you exactly what was going on, I did know she wasn’t happy a lot. I had no knowledge of diagnoses, and only the faintest sense that things could have been different. But it affected me, too. I could sense when things were worse than usual. Her mood affected the overall mood of the house, and thus my mood.
Take Care of Yourself… Even if it’s Only for Your Kids
You are a better parent, friend, role model, teacher, and employee if you take time for yourself. Self-care is sometimes talked up to being extravagant. You can book a weekend at the spa, sure. Or a vacation somewhere without the kids.
But it doesn’t have to be expensive and lengthy. It can be five extra minutes on the toilet reading a magazine. Or 15 uninterrupted shower minutes while your spouse watches the kids. A cup of tea and a few minutes of journaling before your child is awake, or after you’ve dropped them off at school or therapy.
Taking care of yourself also means getting therapy for yourself, if it will help you. It means taking time for your marriage, friendships, and family outside childcare.
I recognize this isn’t an easy suggestion to take. Time is a scarce and precious resource for autism parents. But I promise you, your kid will be happier if you do.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Welcome back to Reading the Research! I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects to share with you. Along the way I discuss the findings with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today’s article is about this new laughing gas treatment for depression. It looks to me like a new fad, to be honest, or perhaps simply a stopgap measure. Depression commonly occurs in overstressed, exhausted, or chronically ill autistic people. It’s also more and more common in the overall population. The incidence rate in autistic people is higher than the overall population, but both rates continue to rise.
I’ve had some things to say about “treatment-resistant depression” before. Very quickly, the only treatment they’re saying didn’t work was drugs. Because “throw pills at it” is the basic response doctors are giving most conditions now. There are a lot of problems with this, but I’ll spare you the rant. Suffice it to say depression can also be treated with proper nutrition, supplementation, regular movement and exercise, changing one’s diet away from ultraprocessed convenience foods, and a host of other, shockingly ignored options.
A Temporary Solution?
So, nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. I mostly recall this substance from the dentist, and even then, I don’t think I experienced it much. I mostly recall misery and anesthesia in my dental experiences. However, it didn’t take long for me to find a scientific paper warning against any use of nitrous oxide. And another that informed me that repetitive use was a poor plan, and yet another that suggested repeatedly using this gas can reduce the body’s ability to process vitamin B-12, which is important for making DNA and keeping your nerve and blood cells healthy. Insufficient B-12 can lead to megaloblastic anemia as well.
As such, I really wouldn’t expect this laughing gas treatment for depression to replace anti-depressants in the short or long term. More likely, it will come to compete with microdoses of ketamine as a stopgap measure. Like ketamine, it can be given quickly and relatively easily to a suicidal person in major distress. And like ketamine, the results are quick and last for enough time to get slower and more permanently useful measures, like therapy and social supports, into place.
Treating Depression
Please make no mistake: depression has causes. Some of them are psychological or trauma-based, but some are biochemical in nature. If you eat convenience and ultra-refined food, you will feel like trash. If your work or hobbies don’t involve much movement, that hurts your body. Chemical additives in our food, cookware, plastic items, etc. get into our systems and stay there, gumming up the metaphorical works. The burden of unhealthy environments and choices adds up, and the brain suffers. Sometimes that suffering is experienced as depression.
Will fixing your diet, adding in movement, and using safer products cure every type of depression? Of course not. It will help, though, and it’ll make the therapy and social supports more effective. And it gets closer to treating the cause of the problem than popping some pills (that often do not work) or routinely breathing a gas that we already know has significant long-term effects.
At the end of the day, we already know what treats depression best: therapy paired with a healthier lifestyle and improved social supports. Drugs can sometimes help, but they often cause as many problems as they solve. Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, is no true solution for curing depression.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter! There are links and comments on studies that were interesting, but didn’t get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
realisticautistic 