Psychiatry News and Research

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Psychiatry is the treatment, study and prevention of mental disorders.

Menopause and insomnia could make women age faster

Two UCLA studies reveal that menopause--and the insomnia that often accompanies it -- make women age faster.

26 Jul 2016

Brain activity and response to food cues in severely obese women differ from lean counterparts

The brain's reward centers in severely obese women continue to respond to food cues even after they've eaten and are no longer hungry, in contrast to their lean counterparts, according to a recent study by a multidisciplinary team at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

22 Jul 2016

Study reveals evidence of categorical and dimensional models of ASD in the brain

A study in Biological Psychiatry provides a new understanding of brain alterations in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that may help researchers and clinicians better define the disorder.

22 Jul 2016

New technology allows researchers to temporarily shut down brain area to better understand function

Capitalizing on experimental genetic techniques, researchers at the California National Primate Research Center, or CNPRC, at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated that temporarily turning off an area of the brain changes patterns of activity across much of the remaining brain.

22 Jul 2016

Scientists receive grant to examine brain mechanisms underlying social stress in males and females

The Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Georgia State University has received a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate the neurochemical mechanisms underlying social stress in males and females.

22 Jul 2016

Adults with pain could be at higher risk of developing prescription opioid use disorders

What do we really know about the relationship between the experience of pain and risk of developing opioid use disorder? Results from a recent study - the first to directly address this question -- show that people with moderate or more severe pain had a 41 percent higher risk of developing prescription opioid use disorders than those without, independent of other demographic and clinical factors.

22 Jul 2016

New CBIT therapy can help lessen frequency of tics

When Dr. Laura Duda goes into an elementary school classroom, she can usually spot one or two children who have a tic - a rapid, involuntary movement or sound such as sniffing, blinking their eyes or scrunching their faces.

21 Jul 2016

Study highlights effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic drug in treating children with TD

A meta-analysis of clinical trials evaluating the effectiveness of aripiprazole for the treatment of Tourette's disorder (TD) in children and adolescents showed a significantly greater overall improvement in total tics and tic severity from pretreatment to post-treatment for the aripiprazole compared to the placebo group.

21 Jul 2016

Researchers identify stress mechanism in the brain that appears to act as social switch

Meeting new people can be both stressful and rewarding. Research at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, reported today in Nature Neuroscience, suggests that a molecule involved in regulating stress in the brain may also help determine how willing we are to leave the safety of our social group and strike up new relationships.

21 Jul 2016

NYU Langone launches Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Family Support Program for caregivers

Two new grants from the New York State Department of Health will enable New Yorkers with Alzheimer's diseaseand dementia, and their families, to get the most comprehensive care and support services available in the New York City area.

20 Jul 2016

Researchers study impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents with anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric conditions affecting children and adolescents. While antidepressants are frequently used to treat youth with anxiety disorders, sometimes, antidepressants may be poorly tolerated in children who are at high risk of developing bipolar disorder.

20 Jul 2016

Noninvasive brain stimulation may curb cravings for appetitive foods

Available research suggests that noninvasive stimulation of a specific brain area can reduce food cravings—particularly for high-calorie, "appetitive" foods, according to a review in the Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

20 Jul 2016

Researchers identify how sensory nerve receptors work together to transmit itch signals

Researchers have found how sensory nerve cells work together to transmit itch signals from the skin to the spinal cord, where neurons then carry those signals to the brain. Their discovery may help scientists find more effective ways to make itching stop.

20 Jul 2016

Buprenorphine implants could be effective option to treat adults with opioid dependence

While buprenorphine has long been used to treat adults with opioid dependence, its efficacy can be hindered by lack of adherence to daily, sublingual (beneath the tongue) doses of the medication.

19 Jul 2016

Risk of suicide among OCD patients much higher than previously thought

Patients with OCD are 10 times more likely to commit suicide, contrary to what was previously thought. In a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, is also shown that the main predictor of suicide in OCD patients is a previous suicide attempt, which offers opportunities for prevention.

19 Jul 2016

Alterations in genomic region linked to risk of ASD have distinctive effects on cognition, study reports

A new study in Biological Psychiatry reports that variations in 16p11.2, a region of the genome associated with risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have distinct effects on cognition. The findings highlight the diversity of people with ASD.

19 Jul 2016

UNSW launches inaugural Australian Mental Health Prize

“As all clinicians know, one in five Australians will experience mental health issues in any given year, with sixty-five per cent of people not accessing treatment to support them with this lived experience” says UNSW Professor Philip Mitchell, Head of the University of New South Wales School of Psychiatry.

19 Jul 2016

New research shows how toxic Alzheimer's protein spreads through the brain

A toxic Alzheimer's protein can spread through the brain--jumping from one neuron to another--via the extracellular space that surrounds the brain's neurons, suggests new research from Columbia University Medical Center.

19 Jul 2016

Duke University study provides new mechanistic understanding of OCD

A single chemical receptor in the brain is responsible for a range of symptoms in mice that are reminiscent of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a Duke University study that appears online in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

17 Jul 2016

JAD announces recipient of 2016 Alzheimer Award

The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease is pleased to announce that Mark W. Bondi, PhD, ABPP/CN, Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego and Director of the Neuropsychological Assessment Unit at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2016 Alzheimer Award presented by the journal in recognition of his outstanding work on the development of a novel and promising method of staging preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on number of abnormal biomarkers that is predictive of progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD.

15 Jul 2016

Psychiatry News and Research

Further Reading

Menopause and insomnia could make women age faster

Brain activity and response to food cues in severely obese women differ from lean counterparts

Study reveals evidence of categorical and dimensional models of ASD in the brain

New technology allows researchers to temporarily shut down brain area to better understand function

Scientists receive grant to examine brain mechanisms underlying social stress in males and females

Adults with pain could be at higher risk of developing prescription opioid use disorders

New CBIT therapy can help lessen frequency of tics

Study highlights effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic drug in treating children with TD

Researchers identify stress mechanism in the brain that appears to act as social switch

NYU Langone launches Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Family Support Program for caregivers

Researchers study impact of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents with anxiety disorders

Noninvasive brain stimulation may curb cravings for appetitive foods

Researchers identify how sensory nerve receptors work together to transmit itch signals

Buprenorphine implants could be effective option to treat adults with opioid dependence

Risk of suicide among OCD patients much higher than previously thought

Alterations in genomic region linked to risk of ASD have distinctive effects on cognition, study reports

UNSW launches inaugural Australian Mental Health Prize

New research shows how toxic Alzheimer's protein spreads through the brain

Duke University study provides new mechanistic understanding of OCD

JAD announces recipient of 2016 Alzheimer Award

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