Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

A third of U.S. adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine

According to a new nationwide government survey, 36 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 years and over use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

27 May 2004

Alcoholism tends to run in families, suggesting that addiction may be related to genetics

The gene the researchers investigated manufactures a protein called CREB, or cyclic AMP responsive element binding protein, which is known to regulate brain function during development and learning.

27 May 2004

Good evidence that genes play an important role in causing schizophrenia

There is good evidence that genes play an important role in causing schizophrenia. The disease prevalence is higher among blood relatives than non-related people and males are affected more frequently than females.

26 May 2004

Bipolar disorder, one of the illnesses that will be studied and treated at the new Mood Disorders Centre of Excellence

Imagine suffering frequent, extreme and disabling mood swings that won’t go away despite years of different treatments and diagnoses.

26 May 2004

Funding worth $1 million for depression-related research

A University of Melbourne research project called DIAMOND will share in Victorian Government funding worth $1 million for depression-related research.

26 May 2004

Discovery of gene linked to alcohol dependency

Alcoholism tends to run in families, suggesting that addiction, at least in part, has an underlying genetic cause. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a gene linked to alcohol dependency.

26 May 2004

In the years between adolescence and adulthood, about three men die for every woman

In the years at the dangerous border between adolescence and adulthood, about three men die for every woman, according to a new University of Michigan study of the ratio of male to female mortality rates in 20 nations, including the United States.

25 May 2004

Florida to be focus of Federal effort to address mental illness stigma

Florida will be the focus of a three year effort to let the public know that mental illness can be felt in almost every community, that treatment is available, and that recovery can be expected, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced today.

24 May 2004

Significant symptom relief reported in clinical trial patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Solvay Pharmaceuticals unveiled this week results from a six-month study of both male and female patients and from a subgroup analysis of males with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea predominance (IBS-D).

24 May 2004

Data from Indiana youth health survey released

Indiana State health officials today released data from a 2003 health survey of Indiana youth in grades 9 through 12 that assess whether teens are engaging in certain risk behaviors.

23 May 2004

WHO to tackle heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety as well as diseases

The World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has raised global public health to a new level, by resolving to take more action to prevent death and illness resulting from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety, and lack of access to health services as well as from diseases spread by viruses, bacteria and other dangerous microbes.

22 May 2004

World health officials adopt global health strategy

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health was today endorsed by Member States at their annual Health Assembly in Geneva. The strategy addresses two of the major risk factors responsible for the heavy and growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which now account for some 60% of global deaths and almost half (47%) of the global burden of disease. NCDs include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers and obesity-related conditions.

22 May 2004

Nicotine remains one of the most addictive drugs ever used

Nicotine-the main ingredient in tobacco products-remains one of the most addictive drugs ever used. Still, nearly 72 million people have used nicotine in the United States, according to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

21 May 2004

Nearly a quarter of all violent crimes are committed by people who seriously misuse alcohol or drugs

Nearly a quarter (23%) of all violent crimes are committed by people who seriously misuse alcohol or drugs, finds a study from Sweden in this week's BMJ.

20 May 2004

Patients with leukemia or lymphoma who undergo hematopoietic-cell transplantation and survive can expect full recovery to take 3-5 years

Patients with leukemia or lymphoma who undergo hematopoietic-cell transplantation (HCT) and survive can expect full recovery to take 3-5 years, according to a study published in the May 19 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

19 May 2004

A new synthetic chemical may provide framework for future drugs to treat brain-based ailments

A new synthetic chemical may provide the framework for future drugs that can treat a variety of brain-based ailments, ranging from overeating and drug dependency to neuropathic pain.

19 May 2004

Study helps to visualize how brain develops with age

The brain's center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature, a new study graphically reveals. The decade-long magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of normal brain development, from ages 4 to 21, by researchers at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shows that such "higher-order" brain centers, such as the prefrontal cortex, don't fully develop until young adulthood.

18 May 2004