Mood News.

Byline: Lois B. Morris

75% of airborne pollen, which may worsen mood in allergy sufferers, occurs in spring. --Directions in Psychiatry

Depression and Allergies

M ost people are familiar with the term "seasonal affective disorder"--the tendency to feel depressed in the winter because of lack of sunlight. Now researchers suspect that a similar condition afflicts some people in the spring because of a surprising culprit: tree pollen. Alvaro Guzman, a psychiatrist at the Mood and Anxiety Program of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and other investigators analyzed surveys of 845 men and women. Two thirds of the participants reported mood difficulties in the spring, when pollen counts, specifically from trees, spike. And in a study of patients with mood disorders, increased allergy symptoms during high-pollen periods were associated with greater severity of depression. The research seems to fit with previous evidence that suicide rates peak in late spring and that a family history of allergies is a predictor of depression in women. Guzman and his colleagues believe that airborne allergens "produce inflammation in the respiratory airways, and inflammation triggers depression in vulnerable individuals."

Body Delusion

People who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are convinced that at least one aspect of their appearance is hideous--even despite repeated cosmetic surgery, in many cases. Now, research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has found that people with BDD process visual information differently than others do. People with and without the ...