Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures

Researchers have found provocative evidence that the brain dysfunction that underlies epilepsy may also determine whether people are at risk for suicide. The study, published online October 10, 2005 in the Annals of Neurology, also suggests that depression and suicide may have different brain mechanisms.

10 Oct 2005

Prozac helps learning and memory in people with Huntington's disease

People with Huntington's disease have progressive motor problems, cognitive deficits (dementia) and psychiatric symptoms (the most common is depression) that usually start to appear in mid-life. There is no cure and death usually results within 10 to 20 years of symptom onset, or faster in the childhood-onset form of the disease.

9 Oct 2005

Reflexology popular amongst women receiving chemotherapy

Researchers at Michigan State University are finding that many women who are receiving chemotherapy while in the late stages of breast cancer are turning to a complementary therapy known as reflexology to help them cope.

9 Oct 2005

New information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of susceptibility to autism and schizophrenia

Two New Jersey research teams are reporting discoveries about the biological nature of psychiatric disorders that may bring them closer to the ultimate goal of finding cures for complex diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.

9 Oct 2005

New set of guidelines for treating the mental health needs of incarcerated youth

Although as many as 65 to75 percent of juvenile offenders have one or more psychiatric disorders, most juvenile correctional facilities do not have the resources to serve them.

5 Oct 2005

Mental disorders were diagnosed in roughly one-half of emergency visits by young people treated for episodes of deliberate self-harm

Young people visiting an emergency department following an episode of deliberate self-harm are diagnosed with a mental disorder about half the time, according to a study in the October issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 Oct 2005

Sharper picture than previously available of major depressive disorder

Findings from the largest survey ever mounted on the co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders among U.S. adults afford a sharper picture than previously available of major depressive disorder (MDD) in specific population subgroups and of MDD's relationship to alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and other mental health conditions.

3 Oct 2005

First direct clues about how the brain alters the state of consciousness during sleep

In the human brain, cells talk to one another through the routine exchange of electrical signals. But when people fall into a deep sleep, the higher regions of the brain - regions that during waking hours are a bustling grid of neural dialogue - apparently lose their ability to communicate effectively, causing consciousness to fade.

3 Oct 2005

Nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence

Associate Professor Athina Markou, Ph.D., who is in the Scripps Research Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences Department at Scripps Research’s La Jolla Campus, and Paul Kenny, Ph.D., a former Research Associate in her laboratory, report in an upcoming issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology that nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence.

28 Sep 2005

Alternative ways to manage chronic pain

Yoga, massage or plain old exercise? It could be just what the doctor ordered to minimize pain from chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, neck pain, low back pain or fibromyalgia, according to the September issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.

28 Sep 2005

Hair loss and self-confidence

Hair loss in women or female pattern baldness can have devastating psychological effects on sufferers, two Monash University researchers have found.

28 Sep 2005

Patients with panic disorder have nearly double the risk for coronary heart disease,

...and those also diagnosed with depression are at almost three times the risk, according to new research.

27 Sep 2005

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome use over 50 percent more health resources than people without the disorder

Even though there are definitive guidelines to diagnose IBS through simple blood tests, many IBS patients have additional procedures and surgeries that rarely result in relief or any additional diagnostic findings.

27 Sep 2005

48 percent of adults in the U.S. have inadequate health literacy

Health problems that place limitations on daily activities and result in pain that interferes with normal work activities were more common among older individuals with poor health literacy, according to a study in the current issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Sep 2005

Discovery of molecule that causes transverse myelitis

Hopkins researchers have discovered a single molecule that is a cause of an autoimmune disease in the central nervous system, called transverse myelitis (TM), that is related to multiple sclerosis.

26 Sep 2005

Delaying having children defies nature and risks heartbreak

...say experts in the British Medical Journal. If women want families and room for manoeuvre they are unwise to wait till their 30s.

26 Sep 2005

Tests of cognitive function are the best way so far to predict whether healthy elderly people will develop Alzheimer's

Although Alzheimer's disease begins long before symptoms appear, early diagnosis of Alzheimer's has so far been elusive. And given that there is no cure for the disease, benefits of early detection remain questionable.

26 Sep 2005

Men who experience a downward social shift are four times more likely to experience depression

Women were twice as likely to be downwardly mobile but generally avoided the depression and poor psychological wellbeing that researchers found in men in the same position.

26 Sep 2005

Peer victimization may lead to psychological problems

The long-term effects of teasing or harassment by their peers on pre-adolescent children - specifically, depression and anxiety - are related, in part, to the level of victimization at the end of fourth grade, as well as to how much that harassment increased or decreased between fourth and sixth grade, according to a study published in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development.

26 Sep 2005

PET brain scans of a brain chemical messenger system may prove sensitive enough to help plan brain surgery for epilepsy

When drugs fail to control epilepsy, brain surgery is often the only remaining therapeutic option. However, identifying the correct spot for surgery has traditionally required a separate preliminary -- and inherently risky -- surgical procedure.

26 Sep 2005

Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures

Prozac helps learning and memory in people with Huntington's disease

Reflexology popular amongst women receiving chemotherapy

New information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of susceptibility to autism and schizophrenia

New set of guidelines for treating the mental health needs of incarcerated youth

Mental disorders were diagnosed in roughly one-half of emergency visits by young people treated for episodes of deliberate self-harm

Sharper picture than previously available of major depressive disorder

First direct clues about how the brain alters the state of consciousness during sleep

Nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence

Alternative ways to manage chronic pain

Hair loss and self-confidence

Patients with panic disorder have nearly double the risk for coronary heart disease,

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome use over 50 percent more health resources than people without the disorder

48 percent of adults in the U.S. have inadequate health literacy

Discovery of molecule that causes transverse myelitis

Delaying having children defies nature and risks heartbreak

Tests of cognitive function are the best way so far to predict whether healthy elderly people will develop Alzheimer's

Men who experience a downward social shift are four times more likely to experience depression

Peer victimization may lead to psychological problems

PET brain scans of a brain chemical messenger system may prove sensitive enough to help plan brain surgery for epilepsy

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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