The Weary Christian
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      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

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      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

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      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

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      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

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      NEW STUDY: How the brain unlearns fear

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      STUDY: Stressed mice adopt anorexia-like behaviors

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      Why you might feel more anxious at night

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      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

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      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Health News

      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

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      Study: Why so many disorders are linked

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      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

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  • Depression
    • Depression

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Depression

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Depression

      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

      Depression

      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

      Depression

      STUDY: Vagus nerve stimulation can help relieve severe…

  • Anxiety
    • Anxiety

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Anxiety

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Anxiety

      NEW STUDY: How the brain unlearns fear

      Anxiety

      STUDY: Stressed mice adopt anorexia-like behaviors

      Anxiety

      Why you might feel more anxious at night

  • Book quotes/Video
    • Book quotes/Video

      Keller: On Peter and identity

      Book quotes/Video

      Voskamp: It’s all about where you look

      Book quotes/Video

      “Remember Me”

      Book quotes/Video

      What a relief

      Book quotes/Video

      Staton: What’s your “because?”

  • Health News
    • Health News

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Health News

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Health News

      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

      Health News

      Study: Why so many disorders are linked

      Health News

      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

  • Interviews
    • Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Dr. Terry Powell’s gripping account of depression

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Therapist Michael Schiferl explains religious scrupulosity and…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Rocker Matt Sassano shares battles, urges transparency…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Dr. Brian Briscoe tells Christians that antidepressants…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Pastor Scott Sauls on anxiety, depression, and…

  • About

The Weary Christian

THE WEARY CHRISTIAN

LIVING WITH FAITH AND DEPRESSION

  • Depression
    • Depression

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Depression

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Depression

      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

      Depression

      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

      Depression

      STUDY: Vagus nerve stimulation can help relieve severe…

  • Anxiety
    • Anxiety

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Anxiety

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Anxiety

      NEW STUDY: How the brain unlearns fear

      Anxiety

      STUDY: Stressed mice adopt anorexia-like behaviors

      Anxiety

      Why you might feel more anxious at night

  • Book quotes/Video
    • Book quotes/Video

      Keller: On Peter and identity

      Book quotes/Video

      Voskamp: It’s all about where you look

      Book quotes/Video

      “Remember Me”

      Book quotes/Video

      What a relief

      Book quotes/Video

      Staton: What’s your “because?”

  • Health News
    • Health News

      STUDY: How music-mindfulness can help depression, anxiety

      Health News

      STUDY: Chronic pain associated with higher rates of…

      Health News

      STUDY: Eating citrus fruits can reduce risk of…

      Health News

      Study: Why so many disorders are linked

      Health News

      STUDY: Lycopene can help ease depressive symptoms in…

  • Interviews
    • Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Dr. Terry Powell’s gripping account of depression

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Therapist Michael Schiferl explains religious scrupulosity and…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Rocker Matt Sassano shares battles, urges transparency…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Dr. Brian Briscoe tells Christians that antidepressants…

      Interviews

      INTERVIEW: Pastor Scott Sauls on anxiety, depression, and…

  • About
STUDY: Scientists discover another, potential neurological cause of anxiety disorders
AnxietyHealth News

STUDY: Scientists discover another, potential neurological cause of anxiety disorders

January 23, 2024

A new study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, has found a major link among anxiety disorders, testosterone, and the brain receptor Tachykinin receptor 3 (TACR3).

If you want some light reading, you can jump into the study, “Interplay between hippocampal TACR3 and systemic testosterone in regulating anxiety-associated synaptic plasticity.“

If you’d like a concise explanation on this site, sorry – as Jeff Probst would say – I’ve got nothing for you, as a trained-nothing.

BUT, if you’d like a wonderful breakdown of the study, read Judy Siegel-Itzkovich’s piece in the Jerusalem Post.

Re: the role of testosterone:

Knafo discovered male rodents exhibiting exceedingly high anxiety levels had notably lower levels of a specific receptor called TACR3 in their hippocampus. The hippocampus is a brain region closely associated with learning and memory processes. TACR3 is part of the tachykinin receptor family and responds to a substance known as neurokinin.

This observation aroused the researchers’ curiosity and was the basis for an in-depth investigation into the link between TACR3 deficiency, sex hormones, anxiety, and synaptic plasticity.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/mind-and-spirit/article-783197

Continue reading more on the study…

… and take heart from this key take-away:

Importantly, the study revealed that deficiencies stemming from TACR3 inactivity could be efficiently rectified through testosterone administration, offering hope for novel approaches to cope with challenges related to anxiety associated with testosterone deficiency.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/mind-and-spirit/article-783197

Now, if you’re a regular reader of this site, you know the drum I’m going to beat on here.

This is yet another of piece of the overwhelming evidence that mental health diseases are actually physical diseases and that they are not, absolutely not, a reflection of spirituality.

So no matter how technically challenging it is to read stuff like this for lay-lay-lay people like me, I’ll keep trying to post these studies because they’re not only of utmost importance for the potential, future relief of many, but also for the destigmatization of this condition in the church.

Find a psychiatrist here.

Find a therapist here.

[Photo: Public domain, By Jawahar Swaminathan and MSD staff at the European Bioinformatics Institute – http://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe-srv/view/images/entry/1myu600.png, displayed on http://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe-srv/view/entry/1myu/summary, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5862064]

Christian Heinze

Christian Heinze is a former writer for The Hill and editor of The Weary Christian.

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The Weary Christian mission:

First off:

 

In the United States, find a psychiatrist here.

In the United States, find a therapist here.

If you’re in the United States and having thoughts of harming yourself or others, please call the National Suicide Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

If you’re in the UK, get urgent help here.

Canada, here.

Australia, here.

New Zealand, here.

South Africa, here.

France, here.

Germany, here.

Portugal, here.

Mexico, here.

India, here.

The Philippines, here.

Singapore, here.

South Korea, here.

 

The Weary Christian goal…

 

a) reduce the stigma surrounding depression, anxiety, OCD, and other conditions in the Christian community.

 

b) have uncomfortable but honest conversations.

 

c) Reduce the stigma surrounding antidepressants, antipsychotics, and other meds God has given us as gifts.

 

And…

 

d) Sometimes (tons of times), we all feel really, really depressed in our journey. Hopefully, this site makes you feel less alone.

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