If you watch the tube (as most of our patients do) then you get the impression that erectile dysfunction is just one of those Baby Boomer maladies. All you need is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor (Viagra, Cialis, etc.) and life will go on, right? Not necessarily.

How many of us take the opportunity to educate our First Time Viagra/Cialis patients that they are looking down the barrel of cardiovascular disease? That ED is a Godsend: It is a warning that, if you don't pay attention (to diet, exercise, weight), you are going to have a heart attack?More »

More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief.

Why? Because the cause of depression has been oversimplified and drugs designed to treat it aim at the wrong target, according to new research from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The medications are like arrows shot at the outer rings of a bull's eye instead of the center.

A study from the laboratory of long-time depression researcher Eva Redei, presented at the Neuroscience 2009 conference in Chicago this week, appears to topple two strongly held beliefs about depression. One is that stressful life events are a major cause of depression. The other is that an imbalance in neurotransmitters in the brain triggers depressive symptoms.More »

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a type of depression that occurs each year around the same time, usually during the fall and winter months. SAD can occur during the summer also, but this is less common. The important difference between SAD and other forms of depression, such as major depression and bipolar depression, is that the depressive symptoms occur during only one season and are absent the rest of the year.More »