Why won't my head shut up?

All I want to do is get on with my work, but it won't leave me alone.

Mount Fuji, very pretty, not a cure for depression

First of all, I must credit my Uncle with the spotting of this, ta muchly old stick.

A Guardian article claims in its headline that "Looking at Mount Fuji 'can cure depression'". The article starts by saying that a famous Japanese photographer has noticed that people enjoy looking at his photographs of the mountain.

A further comment from Dr Toshiaki Goto (we don't know a doctor of what though) is quoted as saying

Looking at the sun rising over Mt Fuji could provide a rush of adrenalin in the morning

and

Seeing a photo of the afternoon sun near Mount Fuji is likely to produce a substance called acetylcholine ... which leaves the viewer feeling relaxed.

Fortunately, we have the inevitable 'but some people disagree' line that passes for journalistic integrity these days.

"As a doctor, I don't think it's possible to say that merely looking at a photo of Mt Fuji will clear up any health problems," Kazuo Sakai, a doctor at a mental health clinic in Tokyo, told the magazine.

I have no doubt that the photographs are excellent, and provide enjoyment. I have no doubt that the sight of the sun rising over Mount Fuji is wonderful and can trigger lots of jolly chemicals that give short term relaxation and pleasure. I have probably experienced many similar experiences myself.

What irritates me is the Guardian peddling the myth that depression is nothing more than a passing fit of the blues that can be whisked away with a little short term buzz. The implication being that anyone claiming to be depressed should buck themselves up, look at some pretty pictures and stop leeching from the benefits system. In some ways I wish it were true, of course, I know that they are talking rubbish.

Mount Fuji is a gorgeous mountain though.

No news is bad news

I have yet to hear anything regarding my job, which can only mean that I haven't been successful.

I feel pretty awful. Upset that I didn't get the job. Worried about having to continue with my current job and the stresses it causes. Irritated with myself for failing to get a job which I am more than capable of doing, which I would love to do, which I could do much better than I do my current one. Frustrated that whenever I try to do something to improve things I fail miserably.

Thankfully the Lovely Lady Duck has been giving me plenty of support. At least I am only morose about my uselessness, and disheartened about my future rather than anything more severe. I wish I could be even better than that for her though.

Ho hum, back to it all.

Job update - interview

The interview for the job that I applied for was on Friday. I prepared myself quite well, giving plenty of thought to the questions that I thought I would be asked, and my answers to them.

The panel was very friendly and weren't too vicious in their questioning (I love working in the Public sector, the interview would have been much more vigorous and intimidating in big business). Overall I felt I handled the questions fairly well, and didn't go to pieces as is my eternal fear. In retrospect, I think that some of my answers tended to over emphasise the wrong areas. I think I underplayed the specific skills that I could bring to the role.

There were only two other candidates being interviewed. This is where my biggest concern lies. Such a small list for a role with a relatively large responsibility leads to me to two possibilities. Either there were very few suitable candidates who applied, or there was one very strong candidate, or more likely an applicant from within the service who is the automatic winner.

The first option probably helps me. The second leaves me high and dry, as happened the last time I had an interview. Then, one of the other applicants had done the job as maternity cover a year or two in the past. Whilst my feedback was very positive, and I believe the manager when she told me that I made the decision much harder than anticipated, there was still no way I was going to get the job.

I have no problem with that, it would have been absurd for the job not to have gone to the person who had already done it. I was beaten by a better candidate, plain and simple. However, it frustrated me that I still had to be put through the grinder in the first place.

Now all I can do is wait. The panel were deciding Friday afternoon. I didn't hear anything on Friday, so that lowers my hopes of being offered the post, but they may have decided to leave it until Monday morning. Time to wait and see.

I really want this job, I can't help thinking that it would be much better for me and my health.

Second-hand items

As you will note from the links on the right hand side, I make use of second-hand options such as Green Metropolis, Amazon Marketplace, and E-bay. I feel that buying second-hand is a positive thing. It reduces waste by encouraging people not to throw things away, and also by reducing the market for new items, and reducing the need for wastefully large print runs which can end up destroyed untouched.

I also try to be as strict as possible about not illegally copying material, be it CDs, games, books, or essays. Whilst I am happy to accept the disgusting greed of the music industry and the poor treatment of the writing and recording artists, I still feel that stealing music (for example) is not only illegal, but probably does have a negative knock-on effect on the artists themselves.

I realised the contradiction in these positions the other day. I try to buy items second-hand. This means I am usually buying from an individual who bears no relation to the original source of the book or CD in question. No royalties will be paid to the author of the book, there will be no boost up the charts for the musician.

From the point of view of the artist, I may as well have acquired an illegal copy. The sole direct beneficiary of my second-hand purchase is the existing owner. In some cases, for example Green Metropolis, there are additional benefits to the second-hand purchase, such as a portion of my money going towards other beneficial projects.

So what is more important to me, the reduction of waste by buying second hand, or supporting the artist for their work?

How are games developers paid?

Whilst ruminating on the issue of artists being paid for second-hand sales of books and CDs, I started to think about how games developers are paid.

As I understand it (and I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong, I really don't know that much about it), a musician or band will be contracted by a record label to produce a set number of works, and be paid an amount for that contract. They may also receive a share of royalties or gig income.

Similarly, an author will be contracted by their publisher to write a novel, or multiple novels, be paid for that contract and possible share royalties.

In both fields there will also be the small, independent artists who will carry their own publishing and management costs, and the profit they turn from sales and gigs is what they earn.

In games, there are the small independent developers who operate in much the same fashion. They design and write the games, and what they can sell is their income.

There are also the development teams maintained by the major publishers. Do they operate on a similar contract basis? Publisher X offers a development team a contract to produce a specific game. Are the developers paid direct salaries, do they receive an amount from the project coffers, do they receive a share of royalties?

This is all just idle wondering, but could it have an effect on the way games are developed? Has it had an effect on the way that books are written and music composed?

How to deal with hoaxes?

I have never been very good at dealing with people. I lack empathy, and communicating causes me anxiety. Even the thought of the most basic of small talk can frighten me to the point of avoiding it (and then seeming rude and cold).

I was in the office kitchen this morning, brewing a nice cup of Keemun, when I notice a new piece of paper on the kitchen noticeboard. It extolled four unknown properties of mobile phones, and suggested that people spread it to their friends. A couple of the claims didn't ring true for me, so I checked and it seems that it is a regurgitation of a well know hoax come urban myth.

So what do I do? I don't want my friends and colleagues being taken in by this. As a matter of principle I don't want anyone falling for mindless rumours, particularly ones that run against common sense. I don't know who put it up, but even if I did, how would I approach them?

Applying for jobs

As I mentioned in my recap of my last down swing, I am applying for a new job. I applied for two posts, and so far have been offered an interview for one.

The process has raised the issue of how I deal with my health when dealing with employers.

When I was assessed by the Occupational Health team of my University, the report stated that I may be considered to be disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). During certain periods I think that this would have been fair, including the point at which I saw Occupational Health. However, is it valid in the periods when I am feeling fine, or only mildly troubled by the depression? According to the guidance on the Direct.Gov website

People who have had a disability in the past that meets this definition are also
covered by the scope of the Act.

During the application process, this comes up at several points. In the initial application, there is an equal opportunities (EO) form collecting data concerning all of the the usual areas, gender, age, race, disability. This is almost always stated as being for EO monitoring only, and separated from the main application. Here, I have no hesitation in declaring myself disabled. Whilst I many doubt that definition, I won't have to defend myself over it, and it would only be a marginal exaggeration if not true.

All of the posts I have applied for are at my current institution. When offered an interview, a personal details form is sent. This asks for information about current salary, but also about your sick record and details of disability.

My sick record since October 2006 isn't very good. I have had three extended periods of being signed off and 27 days dotted here and there individually. The form asks for the number of days that I have had off due to sickness in the last two years, but to exclude those relating to a disability. the form also asks whether I have a disability that would have an effect upon my ability to perform the role, and if any adjustments would be required.

Writing this post has cleared my mind on one of these issues at least. The most difficult issue that I struggled with was whether or not to record all of my sick leave related to my depression. I think now I see that the answer is no. I think it is fair to say that in my worst periods, I do fall under the DDA. Thus, at those points I could be defined as disabled, and that sick leave can be left undeclared.

However, this still leaves the other questions. Do I have a disability that can effect my ability to perform in the role to a satisfactory level? Well, sometimes I am so bad that I am not in work, so yes. But in my better periods I can still feel unable to do certain tasks (telephones for example) because of my anxieties. Can adjustments be made? I am lucky that in my current post I have colleagues who are very understanding of my situation, and will take my phone calls for me. That isn't a permanent solution though. Of course, one of my aims in applying for new jobs is getting away from a role in which I am the first point of contact for a primarily customer service based office. Would my anxieties be as problematic if my job didn't involve those responsibilities?

Of course there is then the interview. 'Is there anything else that you would like to add or ask?'.

A few months ago I applied for, and was interviewed for a job. I didn't get it, but fortunately it was in a team that live in the same office as us. The manager of the team was able to give me detailed feedback in person, and I raised that issue (I hadn't mentioned my illness). By coincidence, the team was the University's EO office, so it was rather up the manager's street. She was certain that I shouldn't have mentioned anything at interview. I think I agree with her, but it still leaves me feeling guilty. I try to be as honest about things as possible, and this is a major part of my life, and can have a large impact on my suirroundings, including job performance and colleagues. It seems wrong not to be as up front about it as possible.

Music and games again

As I mentioned in my first post on this topic, I was interested by games such as Guitar Hero long before Audiosurf came along. Now a copy of Guitar Hero III has dropped into my lap. It is rather quite fun indeed. I feel many hours of playing coming on, although maybe I won't be dedicating as much time to is as I intend to with Audiosurf. The selection of songs is great, being largely seventies and eighties rock and metal, with a light dabbling of rocky blues.

I have already started investigating purchasing a second controller, and an adapter so that I can play Frets On Fire on my PC.

Talking of new controllers, I think my trusty old Logitech mouse is finally dying, so a new one is in order to keep my Audiosurf performances at their best. Currently I am considering the Razer Krait and the Speed-Link Styx.

Symptoms: Anger

During my teenage years, there were a handful of occasions when I lost my temper with other people [1]. On each occasion, I did things of which I am deeply ashamed, and which could have caused physical pain, quite apart from the mental trauma. On one occasion it was only by pure luck (or rather my incompetence at throwing) that this was avoided. I had never lost my temper with other people. I may have been short, or rude, but never angry.

I could grow easily frustrated, and vent that frustration in physical actions, usually hitting a desk or wall, or throwing something across the room. I never did those things in the presence of other people though.

After these incidents, I made a determined attempt to control my temper. At University, I flared up at some one once, and very rapidly brought myself down again. Although I could still grow frustrated, the frequency of my expressions dropped. It was more than that I had developed better control over my anger, although that was the case; I had also relaxed a lot more and was less prone to those feelings in the first place.

My return to York, after graduation and nine months back in Southampton living with my Mother, saw a deepening of my depression after a relatively stable period in my final year at University and the months afterwards. I think I remember that my frustrations were growing at the same time, but I don't know how accurate that memory is. Either way, once I had been put on to medication (Cipralex) for the first time, I am sure that I grew frustrated much less easily, and was much more relaxed.

In the last few months, I have been finding that I grow irritated much more easily, and that I have been exhibiting many more signs of my frustrated behaviour. Small things can trigger this, where they haven't done for many years. Fortunately, I have yet to come close to the depths of anger that I have felt in the past, and I fervently hope that this remains the case. I am worried about this change though.

I don't know if this is related to me ceasing my Fluoxetine, whether I am going through a more depressed phase and the moment and this influences it, or whether it is another external factor. Maybe I just getting old(er) and grumpy(er).

I don't think that my temper and frustration is a direct symptom of my depression. It is just an aspect of my temperament. There may be some indirect link though, maybe when I am more depressed, I am less relaxed and more prone to outbursts; maybe the other way around, if I am tense and frustrated, this can fuel or seed a depressive episode. I am more certain that my shame of my behaviour, that my fear of every returning to such actions and feelings, and my fear of the consequences are very deep rooted. These thought processes almost certainly have not helped my state of mind at times.

Despite that, I don't ever want to lost that fear if it stops me behaving in such a fashion again.

[1] It was always my Mother. I love my Mother dearly; this was nothing more than unfortunate circumstance.

More musical games

Last night, the Lovely Lady Duck and I went to the house of our friends. They introduced us (after tasty Sainsbury's burgers) to the joys of PaRappa the Rapper.

PaRappa is a rhythm action game released for the original PlayStation in the mid 1990s. The standard controller is used for input. As with other rhythm games, you have to press certain buttons in time with the music, in this case rapping.

As an experience, it was surreal and amazing. My first attempt with controller in hand led to fits of giggles as a moose dressed in a police uniform attempted to teach me to drive. The bright graphics style, the insane characters, crazy lyrics, and rather giggly friends made this an evening to remember (although I think the resident kitten was less impressed).

Purely as a game, I was less impressed. Feedback between actions and game response seemed random at times. Developing an effective style was very hard, and some things have only made partial sense after reading through the Wikipedia page linked to above. But, it was one of the very first games of its kind, so there were likely to be crinkles to iron out. The drastic shortness did seem like a bit of a bonus, given the difficulty of some songs.

I do now have a drive to explore more rap style music, hopefully We7 will oblige.

Introduction: Pole to Polar

At the request of the author of Pole to Polar, here is a link and introduction to the blog. Written by Seaneen, a lass of a not too dissimilar age to me, the blog focuses on her experience of bipolar disorder/manic depression, and helps to educate people about it. Posts are usually informative and interesting.

Go and read it.

Depressive period - recap and conclusion

As promised, and never delivered, a continuation of my post describing my recent depressive period. To recap events:

• Felt awful on Monday and onwards through the week. I didn't go to work.
• On Thursday, decided it was unlikely that I would want to go back that week, so made an appointment with a doctor as I need a sick note if I am away from work for more than four days.
• The doctor was a locum rather than my usual GP. She was very nice, told me to start taking my fluoxetine again, and fed me the serotonin hypothesis.
• I asked to be signed off. She offered two weeks. I wasn't sure about so long, but she convinced me that I could always go back earlier. I agreed.
• I gave the sick note to my manager. She told me I wasn't allowed back until my sick note ran out, unless I was signed back on again by a doctor.
• The first week signed off, I was still feeling fairly low. In isolation, I probably would have been at work, but as the end of a severe bout, being off was probably sensible in the longer term.
• The second week signed off, I was pretty normal. I didn't bother trying to get an appointment with my doctor to sign me back on, the receptionists at the health centre would have laughed me off the phone.
• Back at work now and feeling fine.

The extra (and possible unnecessary) second week probably did me good, but I can't help feeling guilty about being off when I didn't really need to be.

The time off did give me some time to think things through again, and maybe come a little closer to some conclusions this time. I think, as much as I love my job, the customer facing aspects really aren't my strengths, they do cause me stress and worry sometimes, and I don't perform very well at them. So I am looking for an alternative job. I won't be rushing into the first thing that turns up, and I will only be applying for posts that I think will suit me. There would be no point jumping from one stressful role to another.

Crossover

Before I met the Lovely Lady Duck, the most important thing in my day to day life was music  It is still the case that offered a choice between my music collection (and suitable audio equipment) and most human company, it would be the music that came to the mythical desert island.

Music can have a dramatic effect upon my emotions.  It can powerfully affect me, invoking various feelings.  Some pieces have brought me close to a state of euphoria.  Also I find great intellectual interest in listening to music and understanding the histories and development of the musicians.

Although I prefer to listen to music in a state as close to that intended by the composer as possible, I find interest in experiencing different ways of listening; mono rather than stereo, really bad speakers, with earplugs in, and so on.  Different experiences can give different, and wider understandings of the music.

Another of my favourite activities is playing computer games.  I have been intrigued by games such as Guitar Hero, or the open source alternative, Frets on Fire, but have never managed to try them out.  All of a sudden there was a flood of coverage on gaming websites about Audiosurf.  The constant positive comments nagged me into submission; I submitted and purchased Audiosurf on Steam.

Wow.  I am not going to bother explaining the game mechanics, I am getting too excited.  Wahoo!  Why I find this game so wonderful:

• Fun, action game play that shockingly hasn't got frustrating (yet).
• A wide variety of styles, different modes, different intensities, but a standard core game.
• Trippy graphics that are trippy.  Wahoo!  Trippy.
• My music defines the game.  I can pick and choose what I want to play based on my choice of music.   I can be competitive with other people about something the really matters to me.  Wahoo!

For a long time there has been a conflict between music and games.  I dislike listening to my music whilst playing games as the sound effects and incidental music can spoil my listening.  Very few games lose nothing with the removal of sound (one reason for the vast amount of Civ that I played).  Audiosurf is my saviour.  A great game, that interacts with my music, and which doesn't disturb it.  Wahoo!

Depressive cycle

After a couple of really good weeks, I have been on a depressive cycle again.  The Lovely Lady Duck has been a great support and she gives me much strength.  I have also been trying to think about what is happening to me as much as possible so that I can overcome my problems in the short term, and predict and fight future occurrences.

Work seems to be the major factor at the moment.  I read a blog named Crazy Nurse.  The author has also been having some problems with her mental health, and recently posted about the relation this has to her work.

Its odd that even when I think I don't care, I do care about my job. I think I gain self worth from my job.

The last few days, I have been feeling exactly the opposite.  I have been feeling no emotional attachment to my job, I care very little that i haven't been going in.  I love my job, I enjoy the work, and the principle of the role is exactly what I seek; yet my desire to do anything has dribbled away.

I have a number of ideas about why this is:

• At present, we are having a very quiet period.  Not very much is happening, and most of my tasks involve working on long term projects that have no definite goal or sense of urgency.
• In general, the role doesn't tax me much.  I enjoy the administration tasks, and take pleasure in completing them, but sometimes I have to make things difficult for myself to gain any real satisfaction.
• I feel quite strongly (at the moment) that the rest of the team could do very well without me.  During these quiet times I don't think that my absence would be noticed from a work perspective.
• I still really don't like having to talk to people on the phone.  As one of the major parts of my job is acting as first point of contact for the Unit, this causes problems, which I then go on to feel increasingly guilty about.

To reiterate, I do love my job.  When I am feeling well, I enjoy doing it, and helping people in a concrete fashion is a wonderful thing.  I am worried that it is increasingly triggering some episodes of my depression though.

Something else that Crazy Nurse said also rang true for me:

Plus hospital is kind of an escape, a time out where I can lie around and I am not expected to do anything and by the time I am discharged whatever it was that was stressing me out always seems lessened.

Being ill has often felt like an escape for me.  In the past, where a down period has been triggered by worry about a particular issue that I feel that I can't face, I hide.  These last few days have been different.  As stated above, I have been disconnected from my job.  A part of my reaction has been, why should I go to work when there is so little that I can achieve?  In reality, this has led to me moping and sleeping a great deal, and feeling very guilty about not being in work because I do know that there is plenty that I could and should do.

(Time to change to the second CD of the B Minor Mass, and close this post.  Follow up to come.)

Fluoridating MPs

A missive that I sent to my MP, Hugh Bayley, using the excellent Write To Them service.

---

Dear Mr Bayley,

I noted last week that the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson MP, is
leading a drive to encourage the fluoridation of water supplies. Two
parts of his statements seemed important to me. Firstly, he suggested
that there is strong evidence that the fluoridation of water is of
benefit to dental health. Secondly, he encouraged debate of the issue
at a local level.

In 1999 the Department of Health commissioned a systematic review from
the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) at the University of
York into the efficacy of fluoridating drinking water supplies. This
review was 'unable to discover any reliable good-quality evidence in
the fluoridation literature world-wide'[1]. The CRD has been at pains
to make its findings known, and to ensure that they are understood. In
fact, it released a statement asking that the relevant decision makers
make themselves aware of the contents of the report. The full text of
the statement and report can be found on the CRD website at
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/fluoridnew.htm.

Given the results of the review, commissioned by the Department of
Health, I am surprised that the Minister is supporting this initiative.
As my MP, I was wondering if you would be able to find out why this is
so, especially given the recent emphasis placed by many members of the
government on making evidence based decisions. Clearly, this policy is
in conflict with the existing evidence.

In addition, as the Minister suggested asked that debate occurs at a
local level, I would like to add my voice to those asking that the York
water supplies are not fluoridated, if for no other reason than it
seems foolish to waste public money on a project that has no shown
benefit. If of course any future well-conducted studies were to show
benefits of water fluoridation, I would happily change my position.

Yours sincerely,
LSNDuck

[1] CRD, October 2003: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/fluoridnew.htm

Doom 3 - a rant

Following on from my celebratory Doom 3 post, I shall also vent a little frustration at the game.

Doom 3 is an excellent combination of emotive experiences, well designed story telling, great gun action, and big scary demons trying to eat your face. What more could you want? It a first-person shooter (FPS). The concept of the genre is to take people (usually), give them big guns, and things to shoots at. Some FPS games focus entirely on giving an environment for humans to fight each other (UT, TF2). Some prefer to focus on frantic, unending player vs computer action (Serious Sam, the original Dooms). Certain games attempt to tell a story, set a scene, envelop the players in a world (Half-Life, Doom 3). The premise is the same. People. Big guns. Things to shoot.

Doom 3 does the shooting very well, it does the atmosphere very well, it does the story well enough to support the atmosphere. Then, at a handful of moments in the game, things are ruined. There are jumping sections. There are jumping sections that require considerable precision to get through. There are jumping sections where if you fail to have this ultimate precision, you not only die, but cannot progress further in the game.

During the game, I died around half a dozen times in combat (because the game was easy, not because I am that good). There was a section in the penultimate level which required you to jump down a passageway between four platforms that retracted into the walls. After ten minutes or so of endless death, I decided to create a save game each time I managed to progress safely down one platform. Even with the four separate saves, one for each platform, I spent twenty minutes of frustrating load-jump-die-reload. My poor computer didn't know what to do with itself. I spent more time watching the loading screen than attempting to jump between platforms.

I want to play an engrossing game (with lots of guns and nasty demons to kill) that involves me, that draws me into its world, that lets me kill things in a violent fashion. I do not want to have my involvement in the situation completely destroyed by constant reloading. A certain amount of acrobatics (in game) can be a good thing, it can progress a story, it can develop atmosphere. To make those sections require such a high level of ability that only the most highly skilled players or those willing to put up with endless repetition and blind luck, is absurd. Make it hard, but give alternative routes. Make it linear, but keep it to a reasonable difficulty level.

If I want to have to complete pixel-perfect tests of precision and repetition, I would play Tomb Raider, or more likely dig out my Master System for some 8-bit platform action (which usually ended up with me punching something).

Doom 3 is an excellent piece of design, and I love it to bits. The frustration of the poorly considered jumping segments to the game has marred it.

Doom 3 - completed

The posting date is correct, this is February 2008. I appreciate that Doom 3 is old news. However, I have completed a computer game from start to finish. Wahoo! Why is this so unusual for me?

• I have an attention span that can either be completed obsessive, or more often very limited. Obsessiveness tends to occur with open ended games rather than those with definite goals.
• I grow frustrated easily, which is a problem if a game starts to become difficult.
• I am easily distracted by new shiny toys.

So to complete a game with a definite end point is an achievement for me. Why do I think I managed it with Doom?

• The game is quite short and easy.
• The game design and flow is (mostly) excellent. I found the story, atmosphere, and situation engrossing. There was a high emotional attachment to events, mostly fear and tension, but also reward and satisfaction based.
• There is a clear escape from reality in the game, and there is no other human relying on my actions.
• I was almost forced to play in short bursts because of the intense emotions that the game produced.

I have been planning some posts linking why I play games, which games I play, my depression, and connections between them and wider contexts. I think Doom has given a small overview of the conclusions those posts will reach.

Doom 3 itself then? Probably vying with Unreal Tournament 2004 as my favourite FPS game. Doom probably beats UT to it, as I prefer the story elements to the straight forward multi-player emphasis.

Response from the Green Party

At the end of November, I wrote to the Green Party explaining why I had decided not to renew my membership. The text of my e-mail can be found in my previous post.

I was surprised to receive a response from the membership secretary of my local party. He said:

Sorry to hear you're not renewing your Green Party membership. I agree with your point about scientific illiteracy and also that there are ways to reduce quantities of paper we send.

York Green Party also has a supporters' scheme, where for £5 a year you can remain a supporter. The quantity of literature you receive is much reduced, but it means you are still kept in touch with regarding news and events.

I am glad that at the local level there are options to reduce the large amounts of paper sent out by the party. It is also heartening to see a positive response to my comments concerning the level of scientific literacy within the Green Party.

Although I won't be rejoining in the near future, some of my confidence is the common membership of the party is restored.

Depression and Omega 3, a follow up

Before Christmas Henry North London, the writer of the Musings of the Medic blog suggested the use of Omega 3 fats(commonly found in certain fish and food supplements) for assisting with depression. I asked for some references, and Henry kindly provided a link to an article which cited a study (link to the abstract on PubMed).

This study was unfortunately not of much use. First, it wasn't looking at depression, but at anger disorders. Secondly, the study looked at two cases, both pre-pubescent boys. A sample size of two is not large enough to draw any form of conclusion, however well designed and run the study is. The article which cites this study seems to have, will good intentions no doubt, jumped on the bandwagon without applying any critical thought to the study.

A wider search on PubMed reveals a large number of papers on omega-3 and depression. Overall, it is very inconclusive. The handful of papers relating to actual studies are of very small sizes, or of a nature that can indicate possible correlations, but not causations.

One study offers more firm conclusions, indicating that a low dose of Ethyl-Eicosapentaenoate (an omega-3 fatty acid) can offer short term benefits over and above placebo in long term depressed patients. However, the study only covered twelve weeks, and was still fairly small (n=70). The conclusion of the freely available full text states "Its position in the treatment spectrum will be established only by further trials."

There seem to be some positive indications for the use of omega-3 fats in the treatment of depression, but large long-term intervention studies need to be carried out before anything like a firm conclusion can be drawn.