Depression has become a common medical issue worldwide.
Conventional treatments, generally, have not been effective in
preventing recurrence of this condition. SSRIs can take months
to provide a beneficial effect. Adverse side effects of
antidepressant medications are a further concern, based on
individual physical and mental health status. Additionally, in
order to achieve remission, the most depressed patients require
two or more different treatments. Hunter Doherty Adams, better
known as Patch Adams, is both a physician and a clown who
incorporates humor and joy as a form of alternative medicine for
patients. While at face value these methods may seem to work
simply as a means of distracting patients from their disease
condition, is there also a molecular basis to this method of
“treatment”? Meditation has longed been used to calm the mind
and the body, but the long-term effects of such practices are
difficult to evaluate. Recently, a team of investigators studied
the effects of mindful meditation on emoti