Psychosomatic Medicine News and Research

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Psychosomatic medicine (PM) is a newly licensed subspecialty in the field of psychiatry; it is also known as consultation-liaison (C-L) psychiatry. C-L psychiatry provides knowledge, practice, and instruction in the relation between mental and physical illness. This field is associated with services like diagnosis, therapeutics and research of illnesses in this area. Hence it connects psychiatry and other medical specialties, so that physicians and psychiatrists can discuss how to best manage patients with psychosomatic illness.

Hostility plus depression elevates risk for heart disease

Researchers led by Jesse Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, report that hostility and depression appear to act together in a complex way to elevate inflammatory proteins in the human body, possibly putting hostility plus depression on the list of risk factors for heart disease along with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and smoking.

12 Feb 2008

The biopsychosocial model thirty years later

The dominant model of disease today is, as 30 years ago, still biomedical, with molecular biology being the basic scientific discipline.

22 Jan 2008

Exercise as effective for depression as drugs

A study of adults suffering from depression has found that regular exercise is just as effective as medication for improving symptoms.

20 Sep 2007

Shutting up in domestic row not good for women's health

In a new study which examines behaviour, heart disease and mortality in the context of marriage, U.S. researchers have found that suffering in silence can be detrimental to a woman's health.

21 Aug 2007

Neurological reason for doing mindfulness meditation

Talking with a therapist or friend, writing in a journal, help us to feel better! A new brain imaging study by UCLA psychologists reveals why verbalizing our feelings makes our sadness, anger and pain less intense.

23 Jun 2007

Veterans with extreme mixed handedness and high combat exposure five times more likely to have PTSD

A recent study conducted by investigators with the Geisinger Center for Health Research shows a clear link between combat veterans' use of both hands for common tasks and the likelihood that they will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

24 May 2007

We need to balance out our intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids

A new study suggests that people whose diets contain dramatically more of one kind of polyunsaturated fatty acid than another may be at greater risk for both clinical depression and certain inflammatory diseases.

3 Apr 2007

Combination of depression, anxiety, hostility and anger increases risk for heart disease

Frequent bouts of depression, anxiety, hostility and anger are known to increase a person's risk for developing coronary heart disease, but a combination of these "negative" personality traits may put people at especially serious risk, according to a study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

20 Nov 2006

Women's health policy highlights

Highlights recently released from journal articles on women's health issues

24 Aug 2006

Hyperactive girls more likely to develop heart problems later in life

Hyperactive girls are more likely to develop hints of heart problems later in life, according to a new Finnish study that tracked 708 kids into young adulthood. However, it's not clear if there's a direct cause-and-effect link.

21 Jul 2006

Lower income, education lead to greater stress levels

People with low incomes are more likely to be under stress than their wealthier peers

23 May 2006

Anxious fathers make caesareans more painful for mothers

Fathers who are anxious during a caesarean operation may increase the pain experienced by the mother after the delivery of their baby, according to new research published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

25 Jan 2006

Slower reaction times and poorer memory associated with greater risk of dying in young and old people

The finding in younger subjects is especially surprising, given that prior research linking higher mortality with poorer cognitive function in the elderly was attributed to degeneration of the brain due to aging.

23 Jan 2006

Do medical specialties reflect the current clinical needs of patients?

In an editorial opening the 2006 Jan issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics Giovanni A. fava (University of Bologna) criticizes the current subdivision of clinical medicine in subspecialties.

23 Jan 2006

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

Heart attack patients run an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder

This may lead to a vicious cycle, with the PTSD associated with heart disease harming the patient's future cardiac heath, according to the study in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

26 Sep 2005

Aggressive public health efforts to control hypertension may help preserve cognitive abilities as well as cardiovascular health

Not only does high blood pressure adversely affect mental functioning, but the correlation appears to be stronger among African-Americans than among whites, researchers report in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

26 Sep 2005

Heart disease patients face greater risk of PTSD

Heart attack patients, and most likely those with other forms of heart disease, run an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, says a new research review done in Denmark and the Netherlands.

22 Sep 2005

Heart attacks can be triggered by physical exertion and emotional stress

Philip Strike and Andrew Steptoe of University College London, in a review published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, of dozens of studies done between 1970 and 2004 have come up with compelling evidence that indicates that people with a history of heart disease, can trigger heart attacks, some of them fatal, by physical exertion and emotional stress.

23 Mar 2005