Psychiatry News and Research

RSS

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

SSRIs appear to reduce depressive symptoms, fetal head growth during pregnancy

Treating pregnant women with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) appears to be associated with fewer depressive symptoms, reduced fetal head growth and a higher risk for preterm birth, but not with a delay in fetal body growth, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

6 Mar 2012

Prazosin drug shows promise against PTSD-related nightmares

Mayo Clinic researchers this week will announce the use of the blood pressure drug prazosin as an effective treatment to curb post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related nightmares.

6 Mar 2012

Dysfunctional family environment increases genetic risk for drug abuse

The risk of abusing drugs is greater - even for adopted children - if the family environment in which they are raised is dysfunctional, according to a new study conducted by a collaborative team from Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.

6 Mar 2012

Butler Hospital expands Outpatient Psychiatric Consultation Program

In a move that highlights collaboration across a health care system, three Care New England hospitals recently came together to pilot a service that is now being expanded to fill a need for mental health services in the entire region. After successfully piloting the concept at Women & Infants and Kent hospitals, Butler Hospital is expanding its Outpatient Psychiatric Consultation Program to all referring physicians in the area who may have a patient needing a consult.

6 Mar 2012

ADHD medication use more prevalent among school-age children

A new study from the Universit- de Montr-al shows an increase in prevalence of Canadian children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and in the use of medications associated with ADHD in school-age children.

6 Mar 2012

Antidepressants in pregnancy: weighing benefits and risks

There has been a debate on the use of antidepressant medication in pregnant women. Depression during pregnancy is, of course, difficult for the woman. In addition, depression that continues in the postpartum period may interfere with caretaking and bonding with the newborn.

5 Mar 2012

New depression treatment “safe and effective”

Stimulating the brain with a weak electrical current is a safe and effective treatment for depression and could have other surprise benefits for the body and mind, a major Australian study of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has found.

5 Mar 2012

High blood pressure due to stress maybe due to the immune system

If stress is giving you high blood pressure, blame the immune system. T cells, helpful for fighting infections, are also necessary for mice to show an increase in blood pressure after a period of psychological stress, scientists have found.

5 Mar 2012

Deficits in mirror neuron system contribute to social impairments in ASD

Impaired social function is a cardinal symptom of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). One of the brain circuits that enable us to relate to other people is the "mirror neuron" system. This brain circuit is activated when we watch other people, and allows our brains to represent the actions of others, influencing our ability to learn new tasks and to understand the intentions and experiences of other people.

3 Mar 2012

Researchers identify mechanism by which cannabis affects working memory

A deterioration of working memory is observed in people who consume drugs containing cannabinoid compounds found in cannabis leaves and buds. A team led by Giovanni Marsicano in collaboration with a team led by Xia Zhang, has recently identified the mechanism by which these substances affect working memory.

3 Mar 2012

Abstinence therapy safer, preferable for opioid-addicted HCPs

Many health care professionals (HCPs) have easy access to controlled medications and the diversion and abuse of drugs among this group may be as high as 10%. Controversy surrounds the safety of allowing addicted HCPs to return to clinical practice while undergoing medical treatment with opioid substitution therapy such as buprenorphine.

3 Mar 2012

Poor sleep alters immune system response to stress in older adults

Older adults who sleep poorly have an altered immune system response to stress that may increase risk for mental and physical health problems, according to a study led by a University of Rochester Medical Center researcher.

2 Mar 2012

Review highlights potential strategies for treatment of Down syndrome, AD

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic disorder in live born children arising as a consequence of a chromosomal abnormality. It occurs as a result of having three copies of chromosome 21, instead of the usual two. It causes substantial physical and behavioral abnormalities, including life-long cognitive dysfunction that can range from mild to severe but which further deteriorates as individuals with DS age.

2 Mar 2012

HDFT scan can show broken neural connections caused by TBI

A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in a report published online today in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

2 Mar 2012

IOM report identifies options that could further improve information obtained from pediatric studies

Federal laws that motivate or require drug and biologic developers to conduct pediatric studies have yielded beneficial information to guide the use of medications in children, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine. Still, studies involving children continue to be limited, especially in certain areas such as medications' use in newborns and long-term safety and effectiveness in children.

1 Mar 2012

South African researchers call for new framework to help prioritize global mental health

"For mental health to gain significant attention, and funding from policymakers globally, it is not enough to convince people that it has a high disease burden but also that there are deliverable and cost-effective interventions -- according to South African researchers writing in this week's PLoS Medicine," a PLoS press release reports.

1 Mar 2012

Digital exercises improve brain function, behavior in people with schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia who completed 80 hours of intensive, computerized cognitive training exercises were better able to perform complex tasks that required them to distinguish their internal thoughts from reality.

1 Mar 2012

Inhibitory effect of serotonin 1A receptor is extremely small in people with depression

Researchers at the MedUni Vienna have, for the first time, investigated the influence of the serotonin system on the default mode network (DMN) in the human brain and discovered that, in people with depression, the inhibitory effect of the serotonin 1A receptor is extremely small. This means, says Siegfried Kasper, Head of the University Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, that affected patients "are virtually never able to be mentally calm".

1 Mar 2012

Health care costs after self-castration significantly greater than elective outpatient surgical castration

Michael S. Irwig, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, Anton Trinidad, M.D., PhD., associate professor of Psychiatry, and Matthew St. Peter, a fourth year medical student at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, co-authored an article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine entitled, "Self-Castration by a Transsexual Woman: Financial and Psychological Costs: A Case Report."

29 Feb 2012

Tenfold increase in OARnet network bandwidth speeds will boost medical research

Following his State of the State announcement of a tenfold boost to OARnet's statewide network bandwidth, Governor John R. Kasich joined medical researchers from across the state on Feb. 27 in a video teleconference to discuss how the faster network speeds will help enhance innovation.

29 Feb 2012