PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Depression and negative thoughts

2011-06-03
(Press-News.org) We all have our ups and downs—a fight with a friend, a divorce, the loss of a parent. But most of us get over it. Only some go on to develop major depression. Now, a new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests part of the reason may be that people with depression get stuck on bad thoughts because they're unable to turn their attention away.

People who don't recover from negative events seem to keep going over their troubles. "They basically get stuck in a mindset where they relive what happened to them over and over again," says Jutta Joormann, of the University of Miami. She co wrote the new study with Sara Levens and Ian H. Gotlib of Stanford University. "Even though they think, oh, it's not helpful, I should stop thinking about this, I should get on with my life—they can't stop doing it," she says. She and her colleagues thought people with depression might have a problem with working memory. Working memory isn't just about remembering a shopping list or doing multiplication in your head; it's about what thoughts you keep active in your mind. So, Joormann thought, maybe people who get stuck on negative thoughts have problems turning their mind to a new topic.

Joormann and her colleagues recruited 26 people with depression and 27 people who had never had depression. Each person sat in front of a computer and was shown three words, one at a time for a second each. Then, they were told to remember the words either in the order they were presented or in backward order. The computer then presented one of the three words and they were supposed to respond as quickly as they could whether that word was first, second, or third in the list. The faster they were able to give a correct answer, the better they were at thinking flexibly.

People with depression had trouble re-ordering the words in their head; if they were asked to remember the words in reverse order, they took longer to give the correct answer. They had a particularly hard time if the three words had negative meanings, like "death" or "sadness."

"The order of the words sort of gets stuck in their working memory, especially when the words are negative," Joormann says. She also found that people who had more trouble with this are also more likely to ruminate on their troubles. She hopes that these findings point towards a way to help people with depression, by training them to turn their minds away from negative thoughts.

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Jutta Joormann at jjoormann@psy.miami.edu.

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Sticky Thoughts: Depression and Rumination are Associated with Difficulties Manipulating Emotional Material in Working Memory" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ASCO: Emerging trends in radiation therapy for women over 70 with early stage breast cancer

2011-06-03
Patterns of radiation usage in breast conserving therapy for women 70 years and older with stage I breast cancer are changing: more women are opting for radioactive implants and those with estrogen positive tumors are opting out of radiation therapy, according to an abstract being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital researchers on Saturday, June 4. The abstract (#6094) received an ASCO Merit Award. In another abstract (#1037), the researchers report that women with estrogen negative tumors ...

GEN reports on advances in novel protein kinase inhibitor development

GEN reports on advances in novel protein kinase inhibitor development
2011-06-03
New Rochelle, NY, June 2, 2011—Biotech scientists are working on novel protein kinase inhibitors that are targeting a host of conditions ranging from atherosclerosis to neurodegenerative diseases, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). Recent developments in the protein kinase inhibitor field include innovative paradigms for drug development, improved inhibitor profiling and selectivity strategies, and the expansion of disease targets (e.g., Alzheimer disease and traumatic brain injury), according to the June 1 issue of GEN (http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/kinase-inhibitor-obstacles-falling/3674/). "Protein ...

Tesco Real Food Reveals Biggest and Best English Strawberry Crop in Twenty Years

2011-06-03
Tesco Real Food has announced that Britain's spring heat wave has led to the biggest and best quality English strawberry crop for 20 years growers have reported. The glut of English strawberries - considered by experts to be the best in the world - will result in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in UK retailers bringing in imports. Experts say that Britain's warmer than usual March and April heat wave produced perfect growing conditions resulting in the crop being at least two weeks earlier than usual and the extra sunshine has also increased sugar levels making ...

Scottsboro Hotel Lets Guests Book Now and 15% Savings During The Great Getaway

2011-06-03
The Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel Scottsboro is now offering the perfect summer package. The Great Getaway package includes offering guest an additional 15% off Hampton's Best Available Rates for guests who book their stay now through August 22, 2011. Visits must take place by September 5, 2011. Among other Scottsboro Alabama Hotels, The Hampton Inn & Suites is the premier place to stay in the area. The property's features and amenities include: - Complimentary high speed Internet access - Free hot breakfast - Fitness center and outdoor pool - Boat slip parking - ...

In the lab and clinic, VCU Massey develops a new therapy for blood cancers

2011-06-03
Richmond, Va. (June 2, 2011) – Clinical researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center have successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial evaluating a combination of the drugs Bortezomib and Alvocidib in patients with relapsed or refractory blood cancers, paving the way for a Phase II clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of the new therapy. Reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the study determined the maximum tolerated dose with acceptable side effects for this novel drug combination. The trial represented the first time a proteasome inhibitor such ...

Use of clot-busting drug for US stroke patients doubled from 2005 to 2009

2011-06-03
CINCINNATI—In a review of nationwide hospital databases, University of Cincinnati (UC) emergency medicine and neurology researchers have found that the rate of treatment with the standard therapy for acute ischemic stroke patients has doubled since 2005. Their paper, "Recombinant Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator Use for Ischemic Stroke in the United States," is published online ahead of print in the journal Stroke. The study estimates between 23,800 and 36,000 U.S. patients received rtPA treatment in 2009—up from between 10,800 to 12,600 in 2004. Since its approval ...

Developmental disease is recreated in an adult model

2011-06-03
(Cincinnati, OH) – An IRSF funded study published today in the journal Science has shown that the childhood disorder Rett syndrome, can be reestablished in adult animals by "switching off" a critical disease causing gene in healthy adult animals. The gene was "switched off" in adult mice by use of a sophisticated genetic trick, resulting in the appearance of behaviors typically seen in Rett syndrome. The leading author Christopher McGraw, MD/PhD student, carried out the study in the laboratory of Dr. Huda Zoghbi, a renowned neuroscientist based at Baylor College of Medicine, ...

Business Monitor International Reveals Report on Dry-Bulk Shipping Sector

2011-06-03
Business Monitor International has announced the launch of its special report on the dry-bulk shipping sector called 'Dry-Bulk Shipping in Troubled Waters as Glut of Vessels Soaks up Demand'. The shipping industry analysis report provides an in-depth overview of the challenges that the global dry-bulk shipping sector faces in 2011, with a particular focus on the sector's ability to tackle its current overcapacity crisis. The dry-bulk shipping sector's woes are expected to continue for some time to come, as dropping rate have already lead to Korea Line Corp filing ...

Microstructure-induced biomechanical responses of dragonfly wing veins

Microstructure-induced biomechanical responses of dragonfly wing veins
2011-06-03
Wang's research team discovered the sandwich microstructure of dragonfly wing veins [Wang et al. Compos Sci & Technol, 2008; 68: 186-192] and recently revealed the organic junction between these longitudinal veins and membranes of the dragonfly wing [Chen and Wang et al. Chinese Sci Bull, 2011; 56: 1658-1660]. Based on observed microstructural model and previously reported model about the main longitudinal veins and membrane, in which the former is based on the tubular model with sandwich structure in thickness of tubular, and the latter is based on the sample tubular model ...

British Airways Launches Luxury Sale

2011-06-03
British Airways is cutting its fares by up to 29 per cent in business class and up to 60 per cent in its First Class cabin in its Luxury Sale for bookings made between May 26 and June 21, 2011. Over 80 destinations are included in the sale based on various travel dates from June 9 to December 31, 2011. Customers can enjoy savings of up to 29 per cent on business class flights to Grenada and up to 24 per cent on business class flights to Kingston in Jamaica. Great value holiday packages are also available including holidays to Jamaica at the 4.5* Hilton Rose Hall Resort ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

QUT scientists create material to turn waste heat into clean power

Major new report sets out how to tackle the ‘profound and lasting impact’ of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world

Major report tackles Covid’s cardiovascular crisis head-on

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

[Press-News.org] Depression and negative thoughts