Researchers are investigating how the emotionally soothing effect of music can augment the treatment of depression and the management of physical pain…This could make it possible, within a few years, to develop computer programs which identify pieces of music that will influence a individual’s mood (e.g. to motivate them when exercising or when studying for exams), meet their emotional needs and help them cope better with physical pain.

Approximately one-fifth of all fathers and over one third of all mothers experience an episode of depression within the first 12 years of their child being born, with the first year having the highest risk, says a British study

One established [treatment] method is called Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, or P.C.I.T. Originally developed in the 1970s to treat disruptive disorders — which typically include violent or aggressive behavior in preschoolers — P.C.I.T. is generally a short-term program, usually 10 to 16 weeks under the supervision of a trained therapist, with ongoing follow-up in the home. Luby adapted the program for depression and began using it in 2007 in an ongoing study on a potential treatment. During each weekly hourlong session, parents are taught to encourage their children to acquire emotion regulation, stress management, guilt reparation and other coping skills. The hope is that children will learn to handle depressive symptoms and parents will reinforce those lessons.

Meditation Can Improve Brain Function (PsychCentral)

15 Ways to Help Treat Depression Naturally (WebMD)

New study finds new connection between yoga and mood (ScienceDaily)

Do Pets Help with Depression and Stress? (WebMD)

The Psychology of Nature (Wired)

More college students are grappling with depression and anxiety disorders than they did a decade ago, according to research presented at the annual conference of the American Psychological Association. And with greater diagnoses of depression and anxiety has come a related rise in the number of college students on psychiatric medications.

According to Grossman and Kross, however, not  all brooders and ruminators are created equal. While American brooders showed extremely high levels of depressive symptomatology (as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, or BDI), Russian brooders were actually less likely to be depressed than non-brooders. This suggests that brooding, or ruminative self-reflection, has extremely different psychiatric outcomes depending on the culture. While rumination makes Americans depressed, it actually seems to provide an emotional buffer for Russians.

Happy? Angry? Anxious? How can we measure animal emotions? To understand how animals experience the world and how they should be treated, people need to better understand their emotional lives. A new review of animal emotion suggests that, as in humans, emotions may tell animals about how dangerous or opportunity-laden their world is, and guide the choices that they make.

• Hormones Can Affect Your Mood
• Major Depression: Many Avoid Treatment
• Talk Therapy as Good as Antidepressants
• Antidepressants Not Always Best For Depression
• More Medical Attention Helps Ease Depression

Researchers say that their work suggests that teens who use the Internet pathologically may be about 2.5 times more likely to develop depression than  teens who are not addicted to the Internet.