by Martin Flynn
HEALING WITHOUT FREUD OR PROZAC...
The best thing for a person suffering with depression is
not psychotherapy, or even medication, but a pet.
This is the conclusion of Dr David Servan-Schreiber, author of the provocative
Healing Without Freud Or Prozac (Rodale, £12.99).
“The idea a loving relationship is in itself a physiological remedy,
comparable to taking medication, rests on sound scientific ground,”
Dr Schreiber said, “but it simply has not yet taken hold in the medical
establishment.”
He says doctors should suggest to depressed patients that they get a dog.
If a dog is too much work, a cat would do, since it does not need to be taken
out for walks.
And if a cat still seems too much, then get a bird or a fish. And if this
is still too much bother, even a house plant can help.
This may not be as far-fetched as
it appears. Recent research from Australia found pet owners displayed lower
blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride fat
levels than those without.
Research psychologist Dr June McNicholas suggests pets provide people with
“risk-free relationships”.
“It is important to know you are loved for what you are,” Dr McNicholas
says, “not just because you are rich, beautiful or famous.”
The charity Pets as Therapy (PAT) has been going for 21 years and provides
cat and dog visits to over 100,000 people in hospitals, nursing homes, mental
hospitals and
hospices every week.
“Sick patients often feel isolated, yet even the most withdrawn seem
to open up and let the barriers down when our dogs visit,” says Pets
as Therapy director Maureen Hennis.
“Similarly, severely depressed people tend to become insular and open
up a lot more when there’s a dog around. Our dogs can help to kick-start
the communication process.”
But a pet is not a panacea, warns
Dr McNicholas: “Owning a pet will only work for those who genuinely
want one.”
l Pets as Therapy: 0870 240 1239, www.petsastherspy.org
EU VITAMIN BAN ‘WRONG’
An EU plan to tighten rules on sale of vitamins and food supplements from
August should be scrapped, according to industry campaigners.
The European Food Supplements Directive will
tighten controls on the growing market in health food products, such as natural
remedies and vitamin supplements. Only those on an approved EU list will now
be sold, with extra restrictions on high-dose products.
But health food industry organisations say the legislation threatens 5,000
products and that the new law in disproportionate and unfair.
Many doctors argue that vitamin supplements, used by
around 10 million people in Britain each year, are unnecessary for healthy
people with a varied and balanced diet and can even be dangerous in high doses.
But campaigners argue that people living with HIV need extra supplements because
of the debilitating effects of the virus and to counter persistent weight
loss.
Meanwhile, the UK government’s Food Standards Agency has suggested that
doctors check patients’ diets before prescribing medications because
of potential harmful interactions. The FSA say that some powerful prescribed
drugs, including some antiretrovirals, can be made toxic by interacting with
ingredients in foods, drinks and supplements.
They point to reactions between some anti blood-clotting agents, such as warfarin
with cranberry juice, and some anti-HIV drugs with the herb St John’s
Wort, used to treat mild depression. Patients are advised to tell doctors
what drugs and supplements they are taking.
DON’T JUMP OFF THE TALLAHASSEE RIVER
BRIDGE!
Many of us find country and western music just too depressing, so
says new US research.
Speaking to the British Medical Journal, Dr Steven Stack, from Wayne State
University, Michigan, said: “We had hard data showing that cities with
a higher than
average country music radio market share had higher suicide rates.”
But African-American suicide rates were not affected by the country music
market, the study found.
TARGETING THE CANDY-COATED VIRUS
Scientists from the University of Chicago have identified
good bacteria living in humans that
trap HIV and may protect against infection.
Reporting to the 2005 American Society conference,
Dr Lin Tao said: “Every life form has its natural enemy. If we can find
HIV’s natural enemy, we can
control the spread of it naturally and cost-effectively, just as we use cats
to control mice.”
Dr Tao explained that the friendly bacteria are strains of lactobacillus,
commonly found colonising the
oral and vaginal cavities in humans. They target HIV because the virus is
coated with the sugar mannose,
which the bacteria use as a food source.
“To block HIV we need to find bacteria that prefer the unusual sugar
mannose and thus can capture it,” said Tao.
Recent searches for an HIV vaccine have failed due to high rates of viral
mutation. But the Chicago team’s research suggests that inoculating
the major
mucosal surfaces with the HIV-capturing bacteria may provide
a safe and cost-effective method for preventing the spread of HIV.
