Health Expert Deborah Gray shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/18/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/18/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/18/index http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/153591/antidepressant Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:43:00 -0400 Deborah Gray It may come as a surprise to anyone who’s read my writing to hear that I was reluctant to start antidepressant treatment for my depression. While I would not call myself “pro” medication, my life has been changed by antidepressants, and I know quite a few other people who feel the same way.However, my initial reaction to my psychiatrist’s suggestion that I start antidepressants was a firm “no.” Or, that is, as... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/153591/antidepressant http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/153390/recognizing-early Tue, 29 May 2012 19:04:00 -0400 Deborah Gray When I was finally diagnosed with depression at age 27, after twenty years of suffering from one type of depressive disorder or another, it was because I was going through a major depression at that particular time. It was only the third major depression I had experienced, and all three had occurred after the age of twenty. For all their ferocity, however, I don’t feel that the major depressions did the most damage to my social life, the... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/153390/recognizing-early http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152856/ostracizing-tied Thu, 10 May 2012 18:08:00 -0400 Deborah Gray Children with special needs have always been a favorite target for bullying and teasing. It’s easy to see why - they’re different. Except for the occasional rebel, most children don’t want to be stand out from the crowd. Being different is generally not seen as a good thing. Certainly, no child wants to be different because they have special needs. In a small study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting on... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152856/ostracizing-tied http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152574/graduation-change Tue, 01 May 2012 19:01:00 -0400 Deborah Gray For high school and college seniors, this is an exciting time. So close to the finish line! All that hard work is about to pay off with a diploma and a bright, shiny new future. Woo-hoo! It's Miller Time.   Okay, so what about when Miller Time's over? Things can get a little less shiny. For many graduates, the reality of life after school, be it high school or college, is more complicated than they expected. In the best case, they adjust to... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152574/graduation-change http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152035/understanding Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:33:00 -0400 Deborah Gray "I didn't know what was the matter with me. All I knew was that I was feeling lower than a snake's belly...I remember we used to go to restaurants, and I'd say ‘Everybody's pointing at me, the cheat, the fraud, the fake.' You really believe these things! Astonishing!"   Mike Wallace, who died April 7 at the age of 93, will be probably be remembered by most people as a legendary, take-no-prisoners interviewer (according to his 2005... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/152035/understanding http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/151866/therapy-affective Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:18:00 -0400 Deborah Gray I alluded in a previous blog to my feeling that my antidepressants weren't working as well as they had been in the past. I was not severely depressed, but I lacked motivation to get things done around the house or do crafts. I noticed that I was not particularly talkative and I knew that my overall demeanor was somewhat grim.   I was discouraged, as I'm on the maximum standard dose of Wellbutrin. Where do you go from there? And why had it... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/151866/therapy-affective http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/151106/nutritional Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:06:00 -0400 Deborah Gray Last fall I started to feel that my antidepressant medication (Wellbutrin) wasn't working. I had noticed that I hadn't really been getting anything done around the house for a while, but things started to get worse. I started actually having depressed thoughts, and having more issues with anxiety. I called my psychiatrist and made an appointment to talk about adjusting my medication or trying another antidepressant.   I was scheduled to... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/151106/nutritional http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/149866/depression Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:14:00 -0500 Deborah Gray Did you know that Linda Ronstadt, Mary-Louise Parker, Oprah, Kim Cattrall and George and Barbara Bush have thyroid disease? Probably not. Thyroid problems don't make the news, at least not as often as mental health issues do. But if you believe that you have clinical depression, or have been diagnosed with clinical depression, you should make sure that your doctor rules out thyroid disease as a cause or contributing factor.   We are all... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/149866/depression http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/149773/frequently-asked Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:56:00 -0500 Deborah Gray February is just about upon us and this is frequently a time when Seasonal Affective Disorder or (SAD) is most prevalent.  There have been a lot of questions about the affectiveness and logisitcs surrounding light therapy to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder. In this sharepost I'd like to address some of the Frequently Asked Questions regarding light box therapy as a course of treatment for SAD.  1. Do I need to see a doctor to... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/149773/frequently-asked http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/148644/light-affective Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:43:25 -0500 Deborah Gray Most people with winter-onset SAD can benefit from light therapy, but in light therapy, the devil is in the details. A very basic, bottom line description of light therapy is that it consists of light entering the patient's retina from a prescribed distance for a prescribed amount of time. But distance and angle of the light, time of day the therapy is performed and amount of light need to be taken into account, tested and possibly tweaked to... http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/18/148644/light-affective