Depression News and Research

Latest Depression News and Research

9/11 rescue workers screening program to continue

A program to screen the health of rescue workers who were involved in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, will soon start accepting new patients again, in the hopes of reaching thousands of people who could not be accommodated previously.

1 May 2005

Tumors of the pituitary gland are more common than thought

A recent study found that tumors of the pituitary gland are more common than many health care professionals realize, with national prevalence rates averaging 16.7 percent. To neurosurgeon Dr. Gail Rosseau, this isn't surprising.

1 May 2005

Prenatal exposure to cocaine effects problem-solving later in life

Children exposed to cocaine before birth show subtle but discernible differences in their ability to plan and problem-solve once they reach school age, University of Florida researchers report.

1 May 2005

Mobile phones join the fight against youth depression

Mobile phones are to be used in a 400 person study to determine how youth depression starts and develops. The researchers hope to use the results to create a mobile phone program to act as an early warning system for at-risk young people.

28 Apr 2005

New look at role of nurses in frontline health

The expanding role of nurses in general practices across Australia will be examined in detail in a new study which will deliver alternatives for medical service delivery in Australia.

28 Apr 2005

Clues about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have uncovered a clue about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease, one of the disease's symptoms, by showing that mice susceptible to Huntington's disease have problems with learning and memory before the diseases' typical movement problems appear.

27 Apr 2005

Actor-patients' requests for medications boost prescribing for depression

Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have found that requests from patients for medications have a "profound effect" on physicians prescribing for major depression and adjustment disorder. These findings indicate that direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing of prescription medications for depression may exert significant influence on treatment decisions.

27 Apr 2005

Pathological gambling accompanies myriad of psychological disorders for some veterans

American Indian and Hispanic veterans are much more likely than the general population to be pathological gamblers, and their addiction is likely accompanied by several psychological disorders, according to a study of 1,221 such veterans in the southwest and north central United States.

27 Apr 2005

Menopause and African-American women

A study of African–American women in menopause shows that while they experience many of the same symptoms as white women, they report more vasomotor symptoms such as dizziness and bloating, according to a study by a Yale School of Nursing researcher.

27 Apr 2005

The power of advertising means you may get medications you don't need

A study published this month confirms what has often been suspected, that prescription drug advertising not only persuades patients to ask for certain medications but also has a profound influence on what doctors prescribe.

26 Apr 2005

Moderate alcohol consumption enhances the formation of new nerve cells

Moderate alcohol consumption over a relatively long period of time can enhance the formation of new nerve cells in the adult brain. The new cells could prove important in the development of alcohol dependency and other long-term effects of alcohol on the brain. The findings are published by Karolinska Institutet.

26 Apr 2005

Direct-to-consumer advertising may influence physicians' prescribing decisions

Patients requesting specific medications can have a profound effect on physicians prescribing medications for major depression, according to a new study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.

26 Apr 2005

Testing new manic depression drugs in slime mould

Research by University College London (UCL) scientists could lead to the development of more effective drugs for treating manic depression thanks to a new screening approach developed in a "slime mould" - a microbe that lives in leaves and dung on forest floors.

23 Apr 2005

Demoralization: A syndrome which should not be confused with depression

A group of Italian researchers headed by Prof. Giovanni Fava (University of Bologna) has published a multicenter investigation on demoralization in the setting of medical disease. Demoralization was defined according to diagnostic criteria encompassing unpleasant, distressing feelings of personal failure and inadequacies, with a loss of continuity in the sense of sequence between past and future.

23 Apr 2005

Do life events precede the onset of heart attacks?

A group of researchers of the University of Bologna (headed by Dr Chiara Rafanelli) has verified in a controlled study whether heart attacks are preceded by stressful life circumstances.

23 Apr 2005

Why people get drowsy and fall asleep, and how caffeine blocks that process

When cells in a certain part of the brain become overworked, a compound in the brain kicks in, telling them to shut down. This causes people to become drowsy and fall asleep. Alter that natural process by adding coffee or tea, and the brain compound – called adenosine – is blocked, and people stay awake.

20 Apr 2005

Electroshock therapy speeds improvement in schizophrenia patients

Shock therapy, a controversial practice conjuring frightening images of behavior control, still has a place in schizophrenia treatment, a newly updated research review shows.

20 Apr 2005

Enhancing the resources available to low-income, urban African American women could protect against poor health and symptoms of depression

Enhancing the resources available to low-income, urban African American women to make their neighborhoods safer could protect them against poor health and symptoms of depression, says Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine community health researcher Adam Becker.

20 Apr 2005

Race influences how we cope with cancer

White patients cope better with the pressure of cancer than their British Asian counterparts according to research published on-line in the British Journal of Cancer.

12 Apr 2005

A parent's weight may also play a role in adolescent weight gain

The prevalence of adolescent obesity has doubled over the last 30 years and can lead to serious medical problems, like high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer.

11 Apr 2005