Psychiatric Condition News and Research

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Hypertension linked to severity of bipolar disorders

Nearly half of patients hospitalized with bipolar disorder may suffer from hypertension, and the younger a person is diagnosed with the psychiatric condition the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure, according to a recent Michigan State University study.

11 Jun 2010

Childhood sexual or emotional abuse associated with greater body dissatisfaction in BED: JGH

Imagine stuffing yourself with a day's worth of food in two hours or less. Imagine feeling disgusted, depressed and guilty once you finally stop. Then imagine doing it again, repeatedly and uncontrollably, once a week or more for months on end.

13 May 2010

Study: Offspring of two parents with schizophrenia more likely to develop same illness

Offspring of two parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder appear more likely to develop the same illness or another psychiatric condition than those with only one parent with psychiatric illness, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

3 Mar 2010

People with body dysmorphic disorder have difficulties in processing visual input, say UCLA researchers

Everyone checks themselves in the mirror now and then, but that experience can be horrifying for individuals suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, a psychiatric condition that causes them to believe, wrongly, that they appear disfigured and ugly. These people tend to fixate on minute details - every tiny blemish looms huge - rather than viewing their face as a whole.

2 Feb 2010

Chronic insomnia may be associated with reduced cortical volume, says study

Chronic and severely stressful situations, like those connected to depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, have been associated with smaller volumes in "stress sensitive" brain regions, such as the cingulate region of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory formation.

27 Jan 2010

Addressing sleep problems could reduce the risk of suicidal behaviours

In a study presented at the World Psychiatric Association international congress "Treatments in Psychiatry," scientists found that the more types of sleep disturbances people had, the more likely they were to have thoughts of killing themselves, engage in planning a suicidal act or make a suicide attempt.

1 Apr 2009

Eating disorders should be recognized as serious mental illnesses

In the U.S. and abroad, the failure of insurers and other gatekeepers to treatment to consistently recognize eating disorders as serious mental illnesses has resulted in an ongoing heath care crisis for sufferers and their families.

29 Mar 2009

Helping someone who hoards

Even though Elizabeth Nelson was raised in an upper-middle class suburb, she felt a deep sense of shame about her living conditions growing up.

10 Mar 2009

Postnatal psychosis more common in older first-time mothers

Women who give birth for the first time after the age of 35 run a greater risk than younger first-time mothers of suffering a psychosis in the months after delivery.

10 Feb 2009

Psychological stress resulting from the traumatic stress may damage this brain

Individuals who experience military combat obviously endure extreme stress, and this exposure leaves many diagnosed with the psychiatric condition of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

19 Mar 2008

Treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, help for partners also

Most people occasionally worry about germs, strange noises in the night, or whether they forgot to turn off the oven before leaving on vacation.

14 Mar 2008

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains

People with manic depression have a distinct chemical signature in their brains, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, may also indicate how the mood stabilisers used to treat the disorder counteract the changes in the brain that it appears to cause.

5 Feb 2008

Insomnia patients often denied sleep treatment when they have mental health problems

Patients with insomnia who are diagnosed with accompanying mental health ailments often are not prescribed medication that will help them sleep - which could then make related anxiety or depression worse, new research suggests.

4 Feb 2008

AstraZeneca submits sNDAs for SEROQUEL XR for bipolar symptoms

AstraZeneca has announced that the company has submitted two separate supplemental New Drug Applications (sNDAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for once-daily SEROQUEL XR (quetiapine fumarate) Extended-Release Tablets to seek approval for the treatment of manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder and the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

3 Jan 2008

Brain abnormalities found underlying borderline personality disorder

Using new approaches, an interdisciplinary team of scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City has gained a view of activity in key brain areas associated with a core difficulty in patients with borderline personality disorder -- shedding new light on this serious psychiatric condition.

20 Dec 2007

Severely mentally ill at high risk for cardiovascular disease

A psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis writes in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that although mortality from cardiovascular disease has declined in the United States over the past several decades, patients with severe psychiatric illness are not enjoying the benefits of that progress.

17 Oct 2007

Genetic variation linked to premenstrual depression

A specific genetic variation may be tied to an increased risk for severe premenstrual depression, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Institute of Mental Health have found.

18 Jul 2007

4 percent of US adults have some form of bipolar disorder

Approximately 4.4 percent of U.S. adults may have some form of bipolar disorder during some point in their lifetime, including about 2.4 percent with a "sub-threshold" condition, according to an article in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

8 May 2007

D-cycloserine helps patients learn how to conquer their fears

The fear of public speaking is the most common among individuals with SAD, as well as in the general population. The results of the study are published in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

13 Mar 2006