We live in a world filled with material wealth, live longer and healthier lives, and yet anxiety, stress, unhappiness, and depression have never been more common. What are the driving forces behind these interlinked global epidemics? In this series, Professor Mark Williams (Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at Oxford University) and Dr Danny Penman discuss the recent scientific advances that have radically altered our understanding of depression and related disorders. Also discussed is the latest treatments and therapies that are offering hope to those suffering from depression. Professor Williams co-developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a treatment for anxiety, stress and depression that is at least as effective as drugs at preventing new episodes of depression. It's now one of the preferred treatments for depression recommended by the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The same technique, based upon an ancient form of meditation, can also help us cope more effectively with the relentless demands of our increasingly frantic world.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Depression is a global public health issue—one battled not only at home and in the clinic, but also in the workplace. In the United States alone, major depressive disorder is associated with an annual loss of 225 million workdays and more than $36 billion. While treatment should be designed to relieve depression symptoms, it should also help patients recover their social functioning, which includes their capacity to perform at work. Unfortunately, little information exists on how treatment duration or discontinuation affects impaired work functioning in people with depression. Now, a large-scale analysis of workers in Japan is helping researchers understand that relationship. The findings urge close collaboration between occupational health practitioners and psychiatrists in treating patients with impaired work functioning. Researchers surveyed more than 33,000 workers from 13 companies in Japan, all of them in manufacturing—an industry linked to a high overall occupational health risk..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Principles of Macroeconomics 2e covers the scope and sequence of most introductory economics courses. The text includes many current examples, which are handled in a politically equitable way. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of economics concepts. The second edition has been thoroughly revised to increase clarity, update data and current event impacts, and incorporate the feedback from many reviewers and adopters.Changes made in Principles of Macroeconomics 2e are described in the preface and the transition guide to help instructors transition to the second edition.

This module covers:Measuring the Size of the Economy: Gross Domestic ProductAdjusting Nominal Values to Real ValuesTracking Real GDP over TimeComparing GDP among CountriesHow Well GDP Measures the Well-Being of Society

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain recessions, depressions, peaks, and troughsEvaluate the importance of tracking real GDP over time

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain historical patterns of unemployment in the U.S.
Identify trends of unemployment based on demographics
Evaluate global unemployment rates

Psychology is designed to meet scope and sequence requirements for the single-semester introduction to psychology course. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of core concepts, grounded in both classic studies and current and emerging research. The text also includes coverage of the DSM-5 in examinations of psychological disorders. Psychology incorporates discussions that reflect the diversity within the discipline, as well as the diversity of cultures and communities across the globe.Senior Contributing AuthorsRose M. Spielman, Formerly of Quinnipiac UniversityContributing AuthorsKathryn Dumper, Bainbridge State CollegeWilliam Jenkins, Mercer UniversityArlene Lacombe, Saint Joseph's UniversityMarilyn Lovett, Livingstone CollegeMarion Perlmutter, University of Michigan

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Distinguish normal states of sadness and euphoria from states of depression and maniaDescribe the symptoms of major depressive disorder and bipolar disorderUnderstand the differences between major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder, and identify two subtypes of depressionDefine the criteria for a manic episodeUnderstand genetic, biological, and psychological explanations of major depressive disorderDiscuss the relationship between mood disorders and suicidal ideation, as well as factors associated with suicide

Psychopharmacology is the study of how drugs affect behavior. If a drug changes your perception, or the way you feel or think, the drug exerts effects on your brain and nervous system. We call drugs that change the way you think or feel psychoactive or psychotropic drugs, and almost everyone has used a psychoactive drug at some point (yes, caffeine counts). Understanding some of the basics about psychopharmacology can help us better understand a wide range of things that interest psychologists and others. For example, the pharmacological treatment of certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease tells us something about the disease itself. The pharmacological treatments used to treat psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or depression have undergone amazing development since the 1950s, and the drugs used to treat these disorders tell us something about what is happening in the brain of individuals with these conditions. Finally, understanding something about the actions of drugs of abuse and their routes of administration can help us understand why some psychoactive drugs are so addictive. In this module, we will provide an overview of some of these topics as well as discuss some current controversial areas in the field of psychopharmacology.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Quantum materials are opening up a realm of possibilities in materials research. Among the best known examples are superconductivity and quantum computing. But that’s only the beginning. The same properties that make these materials unique are also enabling researchers to demystify the inner workings of the human brain. So what makes quantum materials well suited for this purpose? Unlike the free-flowing electrons in ordinary conductors or semiconductors, electrons in quantum materials show correlated behavior. That in itself has been the focus of intense physics research. But the upshot for brain research is tunable electronic behavior that can mimic the electronic signaling of neurons and the synapses between them. Most importantly, quantum materials can simulate synaptic plasticity. Plasticity is the biological ability that makes learning and memory formation possible. It’s all about timing. Connections between neurons that fire within a short, milliseconds-long time window grow stronger..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This seminar aims to develop a teaching knowledge of the field through extensive reading and discussion of major works. The reading covers a broad range of topics - political, economic, social, and cultural - and represents a variety of historical methods.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Maintaining mental health during future deep-space exploration is a serious and complicated problem. Such exploration will require people to remain in closed environments for incredibly long periods. But connections between our gut microbes, the gut itself, and our brain could hold new solutions. Research has suggested that influences can travel along this microbiota-gut-brain axis. So, to identify potential mood-boosting microbes in an enclosed environment, researchers turned to the Lunar Palace 365 experiment, where the Lunar Palace 1, a closed bioregenerative life support facility, housed people for a year. The researchers identified four potential “psychobiotics” that corresponded with mental well-being, as well as three possible mechanisms for the improved mood. First, these microbes may be fermenting dietary fibers to produce short-chain fatty acids. Second, they may regulate amino acid metabolism pathways, including the one that converts tryptophan to serotonin..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"People with depression are more likely to have chronic pain, and people with chronic pain are more likely to be depressed. Those with depression also often report feeling more intense pain, which can lead to a vicious cycle that’s hard to break. Scientists, unfortunately, don’t have a good understanding of why this happens. But in a new Anesthesiology paper, researchers from China detail a brain circuit in mice that begins to explain this phenomenon -- and suggests potential treatments. The team used optogenetics and chemogenetics along with tracing methods to map out neuronal circuits when mice became depressed. In one set of key experiments, mice were restrained in a small tube for 6 hours a day. After 3 weeks of chronic restraint stress, mice began to look depressed. They ate less, showed decreased mobility during a swimming test, and displayed greater sensitivity to noxious stimuli..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Evidence-based medicine is the cornerstone of clinical practice, but it is dependent on the quality of evidence upon which it is based. Unfortunately, up to half of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have never been published, and trials with statistically significant findings are more likely to be published than those without (Dwan et al., 2013). Importantly, negative trials face additional hurdles beyond study publication bias that can result in the disappearance of non-significant results (Boutron et al., 2010; Dwan et al., 2013; Duyx et al., 2017). Here, we analyze the cumulative impact of biases on apparent efficacy, and discuss possible remedies, using the evidence base for two effective treatments for depression: antidepressants and psychotherapy.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Approximately one-fifth of people in the United States will experience clinical depression during their lifetime. This common disease has been linked to alterations in the gut microbiome. However, the mechanisms aren’t clear. In a recent study, researchers investigated whether the immune system plays a role in the microbiome–depression link. They found that patients with depression had elevated levels of certain types of bacteria that induce maturation of Th17 immune cells and the abundance of one of these species, Clostridium symbiosum, was also elevated in mice with depressive-like behaviors. Transplanting feces from humans with depression into mice lacking a microbiome reduced sociability in the mice and made them more susceptible to learned helplessness, an animal model of depression. The depressive effect depended on Th17 cells, as mice without these immune cells weren’t susceptible..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.