Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Journaling Depression Symptoms - January 2010 Issue of Healthcare Traveler

Every once in a while, a friend or family member will send me some interesting articles.  Today was no expection, as a family member was reading through the January 2010 issue of Healthcare Traveler, when she came came across this little bit of discovery on page 20, this is what she said, "this is an article that backs up your charting of depression."

Of course, I read it, I thought it was very interesting, and just had to share it with all you.

The article, "Depression Linked to Over Reporting of Symptoms," illistrates the importance of why those who suffer from depression should write down their physical symptoms on a daily basis.

According to the article's source, University of Iowa, "New Reasearch indicates that people who feel depressed are likely to recall more physical symptoms than they actually experience."

Psychologist Jerry Suls of the University of Iowa, who led the study, attributes the findings to depressed people tending to recall experiences differently, dwelling on and exaggerating bad aspects of a particular memory.

Reportively, 109 women participated in this study.  Each of them filled out a survey to access the level of their depression. Then each day for three weeks they reported whether they felt any of 15 distiquinshed physical symptoms.  On the 22nd day, according to the article, they were asked to go back and recall how often these symptoms occured in the past weeks.

Suls comments, "People who felt depressed made the most errors when asked to remember their physical symptoms."

Sul goes on to recommend patients to write down their symptoms as they are happening.

What better way than to use the 2010 Daily Mood Organizer or Mood journal, right?

For more on this article you can read it here.

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