Mental Disorder News and Research

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Controversial activities of pro-anorexic bloggers may have benefits

A groundbreaking new research study from Indiana University suggests there may be benefits to the controversial activities of "pro-ana" bloggers, the online community for people with eating disorders.

20 Aug 2012

Analysis shows inconsistency in research incentives for prisoners

When members of the public participate in research studies, they are often given incentives - such as cash or gift cards for food - as compensation or reimbursement for their time and effort. Not so for Canada's prison population. A new analysis shows that there is inconsistency in how and when incentives are used for research participants under criminal justice supervision.

18 Aug 2012

Prenatal antipsychotic exposure linked to reduced neuromotor performance

Infants with prenatal exposure to antipsychotics show significant reductions in neuromotor performance compared with other children, US researchers report.

17 Aug 2012

How the entertainment industry relates to mental illness

The shift in television characterizations might be a result of pressure from groups such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which sends out monthly newsletter alerts praising or panning entertainment portrayals of mental illness. Or maybe it's the fact that more than one-fourth of Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder every year. No doubt, a lot of Hollywood insiders can relate. The more accurate portrayals might even be because creative folks are getting tired of the same old stories.

17 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 16, 2012

In this Kaiser Health News video, Insuring Your Health columnist Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about what you can do when insurance only covers a portion of an ambulance bill.

16 Aug 2012

Acute stress modifies DNA methylation and activity of certain genes

Acute stress alters the methylation of the DNA and thus the activity of certain genes. This is reported by researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Basel, Trier and London for the first time in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "The results provide evidence how stress could be related to a higher risk of mental or physical illness", says Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt from the Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the LWL University Hospital of the RUB.

16 Aug 2012

Epigenetic factors involved in treatment-resistance to schizophrenia drugs

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine may have discovered why certain drugs to treat schizophrenia are ineffective in some patients. Published online in Nature Neuroscience, the research will pave the way for a new class of drugs to help treat this devastating mental illness, which impacts one percent of the world's population, 30 percent of whom do not respond to currently available treatments.

13 Aug 2012

State roundup: Calif. officials near deal on workers' health costs

Hopes for a last-minute agreement to overhaul the state's $11-billion workers' compensation system are growing as the end of the 2012 legislative session approaches.

10 Aug 2012

Longer looks: Waking up to the need for sleep

Among the more than 11,000 dearly departed inhabitants of Southeast Portland's Multnomah Park Cemetery, friends Eric Cordingley and David Anderson have their favorites: a reputed French madam, a young Norwegian institutionalized for being gay, and Louis Napoleon Lepley -- or, as they call him, "Louis the cannibal." Intriguing as their individual stories may be, together they help tell a bigger, darker tale

10 Aug 2012

Prenatal antipsychotic exposure linked to reduced neuromotor performance

Infants with prenatal exposure to antipsychotics show significant reductions in neuromotor performance compared with other children, US researchers report.

8 Aug 2012

Creatine may fight major depression in women

Women battling stubborn major depression may have a surprising new ally in their fight—the muscle-building dietary supplement creatine.

7 Aug 2012

Highlights: Report finds Mass. Medicaid managed care doesn't reduce fees; Calif. delays nonprofit status requirement for adult day centers

Insurers that contract with the state to manage the care of low-income Medicaid patients are expected to save money, in part by negotiating lower prices with health providers. But a new report by the state inspector general found that the plans pay higher fees to many hospitals and doctors than the traditional Medicaid program pays for the same services.

3 Aug 2012

Goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth continue to be met

A new report on the Synar Amendment program - a federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors—shows that all the states and the District of Columbia have continued to meet their goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth (those under 18). The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which sponsors the Synar program, shows that the average national retailer violation rate of tobacco sales is down to 8.5 percent, the lowest level in the history of the program.

3 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 3, 2012

Today's headlines include reports on a Capitol Hill hearing during which House GOP lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's health care subsidy ruling.

3 Aug 2012

Mild mental health problems increase risk for death

Even mild psychologic distress increases the risk for death, the results of a large meta-analysis show, raising questions about the treatment of subclinical depression and anxiety.

3 Aug 2012

PTSD prevalent in serious mental illness patients

Post-traumatic stress disorder is common among patients with serious mental illnesses, and is associated with an increased risk for suicide attempts, Spanish researchers report.

2 Aug 2012

NICE commissioning targets unveiled

NICE has released the full menu of Commissioning Outcomes Framework indicators that it is proposing CCG performance should be judged on from 2013.

1 Aug 2012

New Oxford University Press book on hypochondria

The "hypochondriac" is a complicated figure, often treated with scorn and derision, resented for making excessive demands on attention and health care resources.

31 Jul 2012

Researchers identify anxiety as important risk factor for long-term sick leave

Long-term sick leave is a burden for individuals and society at large, yet very little is known about the underlying reasons for it. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, in collaboration with Australian and British institutes, have identified anxiety as a more important risk factor than previously thought.

31 Jul 2012

Study examines link between early-onset mental disorders and adult household income

Mental disorders that emerge in childhood and adolescence, including attention-deficit disorder, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, constitute significant challenges to cognitive, emotional, and social development.

31 Jul 2012