Some people faint at the sight of blood, but me?
I like blood.
It keeps me alive and healthy.
And I’m not a vampire, those rumors are totally unproven.
And now there’s another reason blood makes me happy.
Hey gang, Julian here for DNews!
Researchers have developed a test for diagnosing depression.
Well, they already had a series of questions they’d ask and would diagnose you based
on your responses.
But now there’s an objective test and this time it’s your blood that has the answers.
The test measures the levels of nine different RNA, which are large macromolecules that are
synthesized from your DNA and are vital to how your genes are expressed.
Researchers used a small sample size of 64 patients total, half of them had been diagnosed
with depression and the other half were a control group.
Just from the varying levels of each type of RNA, researchers could tell who had been
diagnosed and who hadn’t.
More than that, about 40% of the depressed subjects had a different levels of these RNA
from the other 60%, and as it happens, all of them have successfully responded to cognitive
behavioral therapy.
So it’s possible we can determine who will benefit from working with a therapist for
months with a simple blood test.
But even those patients still have much higher levels of 3 biomarkers than the control group,
which could explain why most people have relapses into depression even after successful therapy.
Granted the sample size needs to be expanded before we can say with any certainty that
this is definitive.
But it is a step towards expanding our understanding of depression, and more importantly, it may
help change the way we as a society think about it.
It’s estimated that in the US about 10% of adults suffer from depression, and yet
it’s still something people feel ashamed to seek help for.
Instead of getting real care, they try to fight it on their own and sometimes it ends
tragically.
But if there is concrete evidence that some people are hard-wired to be depressed, maybe
those who need it most will be willing to seek help.
There’s no reason that suffering from mental illness should be any less acceptable than
a physical one.
Heck, sometimes it’s even trendy to claim to have a physical disorder, like there’s
no evidence that non-celiac gluten intolerance exists, and yet my orange juice this morning
proudly advertised it was gluten free.
If you’re living gluten free and don’t believe me, Tara has an excellent video on
the subject that you can find here.
And, to end on a lighter note, let’s talk about what makes you happy.
Let us know the one surefire way you brighten your day in the comments.
Like for me it makes me happy when people subscribe…
I know, I know, shameless plug.
I’m Julian, and this is DNews.
Thanks for watching.