Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Advances in treatment of borderline personality disorder

An editorial in the January 2006 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry concludes that mental health professionals should be optimistic about improvements in the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD).

10 Jan 2006

Talking about postnatal depression

Ongoing media and community campaigns have helped to destigmatise, and inform about, a wide range of mental illnesses. However new Macquarie University research into postnatal depression has revealed that the identification and uptake of treatment for this disorder remains a serious problem among sufferers.

10 Jan 2006

New research reveals a protein involved in lifting depression

Paul Greengard, Ph.D.,a Nobel Laureate researcher says that mice deficient in a protein, called p11, display depression-like behaviours, while those with sufficient amounts behave as if they have been treated with antidepressants.

9 Jan 2006

Quality of care for acute myocardial infarction in elderly patients with alcohol-related diagnoses

Older Americans with alcohol problems do not get worse treatment than their sober peers when they are hospitalized for a heart attack, according to new research on Medicare patients across the country.

6 Jan 2006

Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teenagers has skyrocketed

Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teenagers skyrocketed 250 percent between 1994 and 2001, rising particularly sharply after 1999, when the federal government allowed direct-to-consumer advertising and looser promotion of off-label use of prescription drugs

6 Jan 2006

Researchers uncover new toxic mechanism in ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease

Exactly how ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease - damages motor neurons is one of medical science's lingering mysteries. At least six mishaps within cells appear to contribute to the death of the nerves that enable muscle movement, but nothing stands out as the key problem.

6 Jan 2006

Alleviating psychosomatic symptoms through movement

A new group which could help individuals who have medically unexplained conditions to resolve their symptoms will take place at the University of Hertfordshire in March 2006.

6 Jan 2006

Research indicates birth control pill could cause long-term problems with testosterone

In the January issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, researchers have published a new investigation measuring sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) before and after discontinuation of the oral contraceptive pill.

6 Jan 2006

Genetic risk factors for depression greater in women

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that genes contribute more strongly to the risk of depression in women than in men, and that there may be some genetic factors that are operating uniquely in one sex and not in the other.

5 Jan 2006

Gulf War Syndrome more prevalent in first Persian Gulf War veterans

Comparing veterans deployed in the first Persian Gulf War and veterans deployed elsewhere at the same time has revealed veterans who served in the Persian Gulf have nearly twice the prevalence of chronic multi-symptom illness (CMI), a cluster of symptoms similar to a set of conditions often called Gulf War Syndrome.

5 Jan 2006

p11 gene may play a key role in depression

For the more than 18 million Americans who suffer from depressive illnesses, the best pharmacological treatments are those that increase levels of serotonin, the brain chemical that regulates mood, sleep and memory.

5 Jan 2006

New research indicates birth control pill could cause long-term problems with testosterone

4 Jan 2006

Guidelines needed to help care for children during emergencies

Evidence-based guidelines for the care of children in emergency situations should be developed and distributed to international relief organizations, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

4 Jan 2006

Art sessions can benefit cancer patients

Northwestern Memorial Hospital research shows that cancer patients benefit from one-hour art sessions.

2 Jan 2006

Eating disorders linked to perinatal complications

Certain complications during and immediately after birth are associated with the development of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

2 Jan 2006