Psychiatry News and Research

RSS

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

Bipolar disorder in children

Children with bipolar disorder experience more enduring and rapidly changing symptoms of the disease than adults, according to a study that, for the first time, maps the clinical progression of each of the three sub-types of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents.

9 Feb 2006

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical announce availability of 2 mg Abilify (aripiprazole) tablet

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. today announced two newly available options of Abilify (aripiprazole) -- a 2 mg tablet strength and a nonrefrigerated oral solution (1 mg/mL).

7 Feb 2006

Alzheimer disease has a genetic cause in up to 80 percent of cases

"Our finding confirms the higher estimates that have been suggested previously. The important thing is that no one has had this large a sample before," Gatz said, adding the size was 10 times that of any previous study.

7 Feb 2006

Depression in the elderly is under-reported

New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene this week announced that depression in senior citizens is "a serious and under diagnosed condition."

27 Jan 2006

Continuous positive airways pressure for obstructive sleep apnoea in adults

A machine that delivers air through a nasal mask worn during sleep can reduce daytime sleepiness and other symptoms associated with sleep apnea, but apnea patients are not always happy with the treatment, according to two new reviews of recent studies.

25 Jan 2006

Working your brain hard reduces risk of dementia

Research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, provides the most convincing evidence to date that complex mental activity across people's lives significantly reduces the risk of dementia. The researchers found that such activity almost halves the incidence of dementia.

25 Jan 2006

SSRIs most effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder

A variety of medications can help reduce the core symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as reduce associated depression and disability, but selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) should be considered as first line agents as there is most evidence showing that these can be effective.

25 Jan 2006

Bidirectional behavioral plasticity of memory reconsolidation depends on amygdalar protein kinase A

When activated, a specific protein in the brain enhances long-term storage of fearful memories and strengthens previously established fearful memories, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Nature Neuroscience.

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

Safer treatment for depression

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, with the help of a team of Pittsburgh high school science teachers, have developed a wireless device that is implanted in the neck to fight depression and epileptic seizures.

23 Jan 2006

Pitt team develop wireless treatment for depression, seizures

19 Jan 2006

Increased attention should be paid to incontinence

It's a topic that is discussed so infrequently - for reasons that are easy to understand - that it may seem it isn't much of a problem. But new research shows that fecal incontinence is prevalent among U.S. women, especially those in older age groups

18 Jan 2006

Single gene may hold key to schizophrenia

By deleting a single gene in a small portion of the brains of mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the animals were affected in a way resembling schizophrenia in humans.

18 Jan 2006

Genetic cause of autism

The researchers at the U School of Medicine made the finding by tracing variations in the DNA of an extended Utah family that has a high occurrence of the disorder and whose members are descended from one couple.

18 Jan 2006

Identification of bipolar risk gene

A collaboration, led by scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, has discovered the first risk gene specifically for bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. This means that people who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the disease.

16 Jan 2006

Gene that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease

An international team of researchers, led by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, are zeroing in on a gene that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease. They have identified a region of chromosome 10 that appears to be involved in risk for the disease that currently affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans.

10 Jan 2006

Risk for depression similar in men and women

Men and women may share more similarities than previously thought when it comes to the risk factors for major depression, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.

10 Jan 2006

Specialised care for early psychosis

A new study has found that specialised care for early psychosis can achieve better outcomes than standard care.

10 Jan 2006

Risk of puerperal psychosis highest after birth of first baby

The risk of bipolar affective puerperal psychosis - a severe mental illness following childbirth - is highest after the birth of a first baby, a new study has confirmed.

10 Jan 2006

Poor job satisfaction and burnout among mental health social workers

Excessive job demands, limited scope for decision-making and unhappiness about the place of the mental health social worker (MHSW) in modern services contribute to poor job satisfaction, stress and burnout, the first national study of this professional group has found.

10 Jan 2006