Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Latest research on men's health issues, treatments and lifestyle practices

Today, leading researchers are gathering at the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society in San Diego to present the latest research on men's health issues, treatments and lifestyle practices. New findings could help doctors identify risks and treat men's conditions more effectively.

6 Jun 2005

Childrens' mental development may be impaired by aircraft noise

A new study is suggesting that exposure to aircraft noise at schools located near major airports may affect the development of children's mental skills in an adverse way, and this applies especially to reading comprehension.

6 Jun 2005

Dutch team shows cost effectiveness of heroin prescriptions

Researchers at the University of Amsterdam say there are strong reasons to support the practice of prescribing heroin to drug misusers.

6 Jun 2005

Chemicals in Cannabis may help mentally ill

Smoking cannabis which has previously been shown to damage mental health, now according to a new study may be useful in relieving the symptoms of severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder.

6 Jun 2005

Adolescents who are lethargic, cranky and forgetful may have chronic sleep deprivation

Adolescents who are lethargic, cranky and forgetful may have a common ailment: chronic sleep deprivation. But some tired teens may actually have a medical condition such as depression, insomnia, narcolepsy or sleep apnea, warns a new report in Pediatrics.

6 Jun 2005

Consumption comes with a mental health cost

With consumption comes a cost, says report in the June 2005 issue the Journal of Consumer Research. But, this time it is not just dollars that are at stake, it may be your mental health, too.

3 Jun 2005

Loneliness and hopelessness increase risk of self-harm among older people

The aims of this study, published in the June issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, were to determine clinical factors that might help to identify those older adults with depression who are most at risk of self-harm and suicide.

2 Jun 2005

Psychiatric casualties from Iraq war - majority due to adjustment difficulties rather than combat stress

In the Iraq war, psychiatric illness among troops took the form mainly of adjustment reactions, rather than combat stress reactions, a new study has found. These adjustment reactions may have been exacerbated by heightened fear associated with non-conventional warfare.

2 Jun 2005

War is not necessarily bad for psychological health

The study, published in the June issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, was a brief longitudinal mental health screen of members of the UK's Air Assault Brigade before and after deployment in Iraq during 2004.

2 Jun 2005

Depression is more common than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among UK ex-service personnel

The war in Iraq has heightened recognition that active military service can have an adverse effect on the mental health of some military service personnel. Despite this, little is known about the psychological health or treatment experiences of those who have left the British armed forces.

2 Jun 2005

Over four percent of pregnant women ages 15 to 44 used illicit drugs during the past month

...according to new data released today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The data show that pregnant women ages 15 to 25 were more likely to use illicit drugs than pregnant women ages 26 to 44.

2 Jun 2005

Study suggests continuous NSAID treatment more effectively reduces X-Ray progression than intermittent treatment

A widely under-recognized form of arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, progressive disease targeting the spine.

2 Jun 2005

Losing weight for a better night's sleep

Significant weight loss can improve the sleep patterns of severely obese people, leading to less daytime sleepiness and better quality of life, a study by the Monash University Centre of Obesity Research and Education has found.

1 Jun 2005

Homicide-suicide among the elderly an emerging public health concern

A study by University of South Florida researcher Donna Cohen and Julie Malphurs of the Miami Veteran’s Administration Health Care System recently published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry shows homicide-suicide among the elderly to be "an emerging public health concern."

1 Jun 2005

Child's social environment may have only a modest effect on whether very young children become depressed

"Our study found that even dysfunctional family relationships and poor communication styles have a limited impact on the observed mental health of a child," Professor Jake Najman said.

1 Jun 2005

Study of compassionate care

Patients approaching the end of life can significantly reduce their depression symptoms and improve their sense of spiritual well-being according to a study published in the current issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine.

1 Jun 2005

Diagnostic test for Lou Gehrig's disease

Bowser is director of the ALS Tissue Bank and an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who is using a key piece of biomarker discovery equipment known as SELDI to find new ways to identify and eventually treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease.

1 Jun 2005

'Complicated Grief' far worse than depression and doctors want it recognised

Doctors in the U.S. are hoping that a condition they refer to as 'Complicated Grief' which goes far beyond depression, will soon be recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.

1 Jun 2005

Schizophrenia is more common in developed countries than poorer nations

The report debunks a popular textbook definition that schizophrenia will affect 10 in every 1000 people no matter where patients live. It says this rate is too high and more likely, between seven and eight in 1000 people, although this varied between sites.

31 May 2005

We have been ingrained to think that seriously large people can only make improvements in their health if they diet and slim down

Behavior change and self-acceptance trump dieting hands-down when it comes to achieving long-term health improvements in obese women, according to a two-year study by nutrition researchers at the University of California, Davis.

31 May 2005