2024: Please note that Dr Miric is not taking new patients at this time.

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09 Feb 2015

What are antidepressants?

The term ‘antidepressants’ can get confusing because although antidepressants were originally marketed as treatments for depression, they have been found to work in other conditions. They are used in anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia, premenstrual syndrome, insomnia, pain relief, headaches/migraine prevention. The three main neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) they target are serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Different medications affect different neurotransmitters in the brain. Molecules of the antidepressants bind to nerve cells in the brain and affect their basic functioning. Here is a picture of a nerve cell in the brain. Put very simply, it is a […]
12 Mar 2015

Self-stigma: what you tell yourself about your mental illness

“Self-stigma is an issue for many, if not all, people with experience of mental illness. When you are struggling to fight the discrimination in your community, how do you deal with the discriminatory voice inside your head?” One area that I don’t think is spoken about enough is the internal distress and shame that someone feels when diagnosed with mental illness. I’ve seen quite a few patients lately who are depressed and anxious due to many reasons. Frequently, one of their big areas of concern is the fact that they have a mental illness and what that implies about themselves. […]
12 Apr 2015

Women and Depression – 6th World Congress on Women’s Mental Health

This blog post is a brief review of the ‘Depression’ topics at the 6th World Congress on Womens Mental Health, which recently held in Tokyo, Japan. Women are twice as likely to develop depression compared to their male counterparts. Depression in women was covered in detail at the Congress. Some of the topics covered were working women and the problems that they have – with the dual responsibility of work and family. One of the Japanese professors Prof. Toshiko Kamo presented a fascinating talk on Women’s Mental Health in Japan, showing how women move through different psychological stages in their […]