Omega-3 Is Not the Bullet
A new study of heart patients suffering from depression is in itself depressing — at least if you were excited about the potential of omega-3 fatty acids to life your spirits. From the New York Times:
The patients were randomly assigned to a combination of sertraline, an anti-depressant, and either omega-3s or a corn oil placebo. After 10 weeks, there was “absolutely no difference” in depression remission rates between the 59 patients taking omega-3s and the 56 patients taking the placebo, said Robert M. Carney, lead author of the study, which appeared in the Oct. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“It was very disappointing,” he said.
The trial was launched because patients with heart disease are at greater risk of dying if they are depressed, Dr. Carney said. Depressed patients are known to have low levels of omega-3s, which are a risk factor for heart disease, as well.
Now, with any study, there are multitudinous caveats. It’s a small sample. They had lower levels of omega-3s to begin with. Perhaps there were other factors (i.e., physical illness) that superseded the treatment of depression, yadda yadda.
And there has been other research to suggest omega-3s are useful for depression. USA Today broke down a different study in 2007:
The omega-3 fatty acid in some fish may be a “brain food” that helps ward off depression because it increases gray matter in three areas that tend to be smaller in people who have serious depression, a study suggests today.
The increase could help explain why past studies have found that the omega-3 acid DHA reduces symptoms of depression. The richest sources of DHA are fatty fish and fish-oil capsules.Researchers gave magnetic resonance imaging tests to 55 adults. Participants also reported everything they ate for 24 hours on two randomly selected days, says study leader Sarah Conklin, a neuroscientist at University of Pittsburgh Medical School. She’ll report her findings at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Budapest.
The more DHA a person consumed, the more gray matter there was in three areas of the brain linked to mood: the amygdala, the hippocampus and the cingulate, Conklin says. Seriously depressed people tend to have less gray matter in these areas, she says.
For every yes in research, there’s a no. It’s really frustrating for people looking for answers. That’s why it’s best to just go with your gut: Try what feels right and if it works for you, great. If it doesn’t work for you, move on to something else. But remember: There is no magic bullet — oily or otherwise.
liz | 2:52 PM | alternative treatments, depression
“For every yes in research, there’s a no. It’s really frustrating for people looking for answers. That’s why it’s best to just go with your gut: Try what feels right and if it works for you, great. If it doesn’t work for you, move on to something else. But remember: There is no magic bullet — oily or otherwise.” — Liz Spikol
Four decades as a support person, caregiver and researcher of numerous articles and studies and what it still comes down to is I fully agree with Liz’s thoughts stated above. One week the information states, “Yes” only to be followed shortly thereafter with a “No” and vice-versa and so on and so forth as I continue my readings while sadly chuckling to myself.
The key to remember when reading these various research papers and especially the news media reporting, in my opinion, is the wording and words such as “May, we/I believe, in our/my opinion, it appears, seems to be, further studies are suggested” etc, etc.
One of these days, if I’m alive to see it one of these researchers will finally present definitive and quantitative number(s), answer/statement/test result/research paper or exclamation to that he/she/they have found “it” whatever that might be.
Until then as Liz states, “Try what feels right…” or that which I’ve stated for over four decades in reality is the “Trial and Error Approach to Wellness.” If only there was a “magic bullet”.
Warmly,
Herb
VNSdepression.com
When I viewed your YouTube videos I attempted to reach you through your employment email address with no result.
I observed that you do not have Cubicle Level Protection.
There is a simple problem discovered because it caused mental breaks for office workers. You can read my scratch pad/psychology project at VisionAndPsychosis.Net.
If it is the source of your symptoms avoiding exposure is free. There is no medicine or treatment. It will not interfere with any treatment you now have. (Move your desk so that there can be no detectable movement in peripheral vision. Directly behind is a safe area. Turn your back to any movement in the room.)
When my wife had a psychotic break thirty days after her office was changed eliminating Cubicle Level Protection I was stunned to learn it is unknown by any one in medicine or psychiatry.
Doctors could not distinguish her episode from serious mental illness. It sounds so bizarre and impossible most refuse to believe it is possible. I wrote a simple demonstration so you can experience subliminal sight and habituation in peripheral vision.
Repeating: This problem was discovered and solved forty years ago.
I found a program that can heal most disease and my son, Jesse, and I are testimonials. I published Jesse’s story in Ezine Articles and the web site, http://www.cureadhdbipolar.net. Jesse was cured of bipolar, schizophrenia and ADHD and I had several medical problems myself.
Fatima
As someone who believes she was helped in recovering from depression in part through omega-3, my first instinct is to remind people that when it comes to nutritional support, the body needs time to process and utilize the supplements. The time frame of the study might not have been sufficient to see what effect the omega-3 might have had over a longer period.
I once suffered mental health symptoms in part because of a severe B12 deficiency; after starting B12 shots,I felt some improvement pretty fast but it definitely took months before I really felt better. Nutrition as *part* of a mental health program isn’t designed to be a magic bullet; it’s slow by nature.
Omega 3 is a great supplement for anyone to take for overall health, and I hope no one would discontinue its use just because it didn’t “cure” their depression. And certainly if a patient is found to be deficient in omega-3s, s/he should continue supplementing even if no conscious effect is felt. Their body will thank them.
I take Omega-3, about 6 grams a day, and I have to admit, I don’t really notice any positive benefits for my mood. It’s possible that I’m taking the wrong brand, or that I haven’t been taking it long enough (2 months), or some other something, but being that it’s a food, and it also has other benefits to my health, I really don’t mind taking it. I’ll probably keep taking it for another 4 months or so, and then re-evaluate.
I just want to add that I reject the naive notion of a magic bullet. Mental health problems are complex in origin and nature; why should their alleviation be simple? I personally found relief in a combination of multiple nutritional approaches, psychotherapy, and a short course of a low dose of medication. I am not sure that any one of these alone would have helped as much.
Just another magic medication? [Omega-3 is available as the prescription medication Lovaza.] Sadly so much hope has been placed on the development on a new medication or the use of an existing one at the expense of addressing current needs. It is one thing to speculate on what will be and another to rely on the same speculation. Afterall, we live and too often suffer in the present and find that treatments that work are currently inaccessible.
Recently, I attended a meeting where a man stood up and stated that schizophrenia would be cured in four years. His statement was met with puzzled expressions and mumbling. I reminded the audience that what he said had actually been conditionally represented in a 2003 Press Release NAMI SEES CURE FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA POSSIBLE IN 10 YEARS, which includes, “NAMI takes seriously the statement of Dr.Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) that with the right investments, scientists are within reach of finding a cure for schizophrenia in the next ten years,” said NAMI national executive director Richard C. Birkel, PhD.
We can hope for the best, hope for something magical but we shouldn’t rely on the magic being realized.
As a therapist and healer, I am always looking for ways to help my patients feel better. I agree with some of the above comments. Depression is complicated, and likely not to be “fixed” by a magic bullet.
To be honest, I struggle with the medical approach to treating depression and anxiety, where the focus is on eliminating these feeling states, rather than seeing them as naturally occurring parts of our human experience. I’m not voting for people to stay in states of suffering, but I think our culture and medical science is geared toward seeing these difficult and vulnerable feeling states as unacceptable, and we are taught by figures of authority that emotional parts of us are bad and need to be eliminated. There is no place for self-love and acceptance in the allopathic approach to mental health. Doctors and therapists immediately seek to alleviate the “bad” feeling without taking the time to explore the origin of the emotional wound that is causing the depression and anxiety to get out of control in the first place. Take a pill, or reframe your experience to see the positive in your situation. The message, ultimately, is that “you are not acceptable as you are, and if you take this pill, or reframe your experience to find the positivity in your situation, then you will be fine”.
Let’s be clear that I am not anti-medication. If you are looking into an abyss and there is no way out, then by all means take something to help you clear the fog and begin to do the work to heal your core wounds, so that when depression or anxiety does hit, you experience it as just a part of you that is like a child begging for attention and love, and not like a part of you is the root of all evil needing to be exorcized and surgically removed. My approach may seem counter-intuitive, as I do encourage my patients to connect deeply with their anxiety and depression, and I sit with them and compassionately feel into their experience. Many fear that by giving energy and legitimacy to these difficult feelings, that they will becoming stronger and rage out of control. What I have discovered is that the opposite is true. By fully acknowledging the darkness, and giving my patients the experience that I am being with them in this space, something very powerful happens. Depression and anxiety are like neglected children inside of us. When they are ignored, pushed away, or maligned, they act out and can take over our lives. When they are held, listened to with compassion, and related to as acceptable parts of our humanity, they become less in need of running the show, and the healthier adult parts of us can be free to act in the world from a motivational place of self-love, instead of from fear and self-loathing.
I think what this also shows is how hard it can be for people who are suffering with a variety of medical and psychological issues. I happen to be a heart patient as well and my depression definitely took a turn for the worse when I was diagnosed. My anxiety as well. Didn’t yet know I was bipolar but when I found out, I had several psychs decline to treat me because of the heart complications and the possible interactions with bipolar meds.
Liz
Where are you? Your fans miss you. I look forward for my “Liz fix” once in a while…
I’ve been on fish oil for 3-4 yrs, eww, fishy burp every day. Still depressed…
I cherish my years before bipolar depression, back in my teens and twenties, when things got done, decisions were taken… There is a quality of life issue. Life is much better when you don’t have to deal with depression.
Looking forward to your next post.
Tess is right, Liz. Could you just check in every once in awhile to let us know you’re doing well?
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