Different But The Same?

This post is inspired by a research talk I went to a few days ago, which in basic terms was to do with the relationships between eating disorder (ED) symptoms and emotional processing difficulties.  As you might expect intuitively, there was found to be a greater incidence of emotion processing difficulties amongst ED patients than that their healthy counterparts.  There were some other interesting findings, but the thing that really got me thinking was something not covered by the researchers… 

An explanation of correlations - in case you don't know!!

Allow me to explain!  When introducing the research and talking about the methodology, the researcher mentioned that one of the things they had measured was depression symptoms (using the Beck Depression Inventory, or BDI), but that since there was so much data she wouldn’t be discussing this in her short 30 minute presentation!  Naturally this disappointed me slightly, as someone with a very keen interest in depression.  So, once the talk was over and it was time for questions from the audience, I couldn’t help but ask how the BDI data had been used.  She explained that they had looked at the correlations between this and the various forms of emotional processing difficulty, in the same way as they had correlated these with ED symptoms.  BUT… “Did you look at the correlation between depression and eating disorder symptoms?” I asked!  “No” was the answer, but I got thinking about what the outcomes might be if they did…

What I’m thinking is this: although I’m purely speculating at this point, I think it’s fairly likely that there would be correlations between depression symptoms and ED symptoms.  In fact, in the study I have been talking about, a higher number of anorexia patients suffered from depression than healthy controls.  What I would like to know is what are the relationships between specific ED symptoms (for example, weight concern and eating concern) and depression?

Could depression and eating disorder symptoms be, to an extent, 'different but the same'?

Why am I so interested to know this?  Well, given the general in-my-opinion-too-high levels of weight and eating concern in Western society today, and the also-too-high depression rates, I feel this type of information could be very useful in combatting and preventing these types of problems.  

If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll already know that I have strong feelings about some of the things that should be happening to combat problems with body image and mental health.  If what I’ve suggested about the links between the two is true, this brings a whole new level of importance to combatting these problems!  (I realise I have made a swift shift from eating disorder symptoms to body image in the general population, but I think it’s fair to say that many people who wouldn’t necessarily be classed as having an eating disorder do experience high levels of weight and/or eating concern). 

If my claim that depression and ED symptoms are correlated is substantiated, this would mean we should be working towards interventions that aim to tackle both issues simultaneously; and given the high incidence of both, this could be extremely beneficial!  How we do this is a different question altogether, but as I’ve eluded to in previous posts, I think that schools and the media have very significant roles to play.  

Food for thought!

I realise this is all a bit woolly as it’s based on my own speculations to an extent – I do plan to try and find some relevant research literature and will be sure to do a more evidence-based post when I do! – But in the meantime, I hope you’ll agree, it certainly gives us some (excuse the pun) food for thought! 




 
Links:

Information about the Beck Depression Inventory:

http://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/tools/beck-depression.aspx 

Feeling The Moment

Is it just me, or is the world becoming far too reliant on technology and social media these days?!  
 

I have to admit, I’m guilty of it myself: I love my social media, updating my status when I’m out & about and showing off about all the fun I’m having (!), and get very annoyed when my mobile internet doesn’t work!  But it seems that people of the Western world are coming to 'need' their smartphones, tablets and various other gadgets a little bit too much.  I refer to two examples and how these show that an over-reliance on technology is becoming a bit of a problem…

 Firstly, whilst I can’t for the life of me remember who it was, I very distinctly remember someone telling me about a time they had been travelling on a bus around school leaving time and had therefore been on the bus with a number of teens going home.  Apparently these kids spent the entire journey pretty much in silence, then, when one of them was getting off, he turned to the others and said “Facebook tonight yeah?!”.  So they’ve just spent 20 minutes sat with each other not interacting, and instead they’re going to chat online when they get home?! Madness!  It seems that if things don’t change soon, people are going to end up losing  the ability to communicate face to face.  Worrying isn’t it?!

 This reminds me of one of the first iPad adverts, which I’ve put a link to below.  The gist of this ad is that ‘we’ll still do all the things we do now, but the way in which we do them will never be the same’.  In some cases, fair play, but one of the examples given is going to meetings -  Apple, this is not a good thing! – I personally feel that talking to someone via a screen just isn’t an acceptable alternative to interacting face-to-face, but maybe I’m just overreacting?  What do you think? 

I've also noticed on some adverts that people seem to be playing musical instruments on the iPad - a bizarre and surely inadequate alternative to the real deal I think!

Anyway, onto my second example, which comes from a conversation I had with a friend a while back that has always stuck in my head: she was telling me how her younger brother seems to always ‘need’ to have about 5 apps running on his phone all at once, and struggles concentrate properly on a single task, such as having a regular conversation.  As well as demonstrating the problem of a loss of face-to-face communication, there is something else that concerns me about this.  

Is social media slowly making us lose the ability to interact face-to-face?

For a bit of context, I’ll just explain that I was recently reading some information about DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy).  DBT is essentially about learning skills to change behavioural, emotional and cognitive (thinking) patterns in a way that helps you to cope with life’s problems and challenges.  Whilst it is a therapy for people who have particular difficulties, I think we could all learn something from DBT and that some of the strategies would be helpful for anyone who wants to enjoy optimum mental wellbeing.  One of the things that struck me when I was reading about DBT was this: 

“Do one thing at a time.  When you are eating, eat.  When you are walking, walk. … When you are in a group, or a conversation, focus your attention on the very moment you are in with the other person.  When you are thinking, think…” and so on.

"When you are eating, eat." - Enjoy the moment!

This reminded me of my second example and also made me think about my own tendency to often be doing several things at once.  Our technology-saturated lives lend themselves to a craving for constant stimulation, but I think it’s fair to say that if we all slowed down a little bit and really enjoyed a moment, just sometimes, it might help us to all be a little bit happier.  Maybe!

In sum, whilst technology is great and has it’s many benefits and uses, if it continues to develop the way it is now, I fear that it will completely take over and people will lose the ability to communicate with each other face-to-face and to really enjoy experiences.  Let’s all take a little step back from it and see if we find ourselves feeling a bit more happy and relaxed!

 

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSRPWWSeJww