In other news: Losing weight may help relieve psoriasis, and a Midwest metropolis is America's fittest city.
By Erinn Connor, Everyday Health Staff Writer
Rather than automatically reaching for the prescription pad, a new study in PLOS Medicine says psychotherapy is also an effective way to treat depression.
Researchers found seven different forms of psychotherapy that help reduce symptoms, but three in particular had promising results. They are:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, where the patient’s beliefs are challenged and changed by teaching them new ways to cope with stressful situations.
- Interpersonal therapy, which addresses specific problem areas within depression.
- Problem solving therapy, where the patient’s problems are defined, multiple solutions are conjured and then the best solution is used.
The other four therapies are behavioral activation (counters avoidance and withdrawal behaviors), psychodynamic therapy (looks at past unresolved conflicts), social skills training (building healthy relationships) and supportive counseling (unstructured therapy that helps vent experiences and emotions).
“There is very strong evidence, both from formal studies and through clinically experience, that the most effective treatment is a combination of appropriate psychotherapeutic intervention well-integrated with judicious prescription of psychotropic medications,” said David M. Reiss,MD, a psychiatrist based in San Diego.
Weight Loss Helps Ease Psoriasis
People suffering from psoriasis may benefit from significant weight loss. More than five million adults have the skin disease, which causes red, inflamed patches on the skin that can be itchy or sore.
A new study looked at 60 obese adults aged 25 to 71 with mild to moderate psoriasis and found that those on a diet compared to those who kept eating normally not only lost weight but also found relief from their psoriasis. Researchers suspect that inflammation is the main cause in obesity-related psoriasis.
"No organ is its own island and therefore ongoing inflammation in the skin means inflammation in other organ systems," said Adam Friedman, MD. "This inflammation can lead to heart and blood vessel disease (high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction), diabetes, cancer."
Though obesity isn’t necessarily a cause of psoriasis, this new finding could lead to better treatments.
Specific Cells Cause Prostate Cancer to be Treatment-Resistant
Prostate cancer could become resistant to treatment due to a small group of resilient cancer cells, and targeting these specific cells could help treat it better.
"The results indicate that these persistent cancer cells somehow differ from cancer cells that respond to androgen withdrawal, and are likely to be the precursor cells that lead to advanced androgen-resistant disease,” Gail Risbridger, MD, study author and researcher at Monash University, said in a statement. “We will now investigate how to effectively target these cells.”
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, and is typically treated by depriving tumors of testosterone. But eventually this treatment doesn’t work, and researchers believe the small group of cells could be the reason why.
New treatments against these cells will likely be developed, to ensure the cancer can be completely eradicated.
America's Healthiest City For the Third Year in a Row
For the third year in a row, Minneapolis-St. Paul wins the title of fittest in America, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual rankings.
A survey called the American Fitness Index is used to measure city policies, community resources, health care access, prevalence of chronic diseases and preventive health behaviors in 50 metro areas across the U.S.
Washington D.C. came in second place, followed by Portland, Ore., San Francisco and Denver.
Minneapolis topped the list because of its abundant city parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts and dog parks. Their use of public transportation, biking, and walking to work also made them number one.
Erinn Connor is a staff writer for Health Matters with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
