Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Adults need help for mental, emotional health problem: Study

In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state - about 4.9 million people - said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem.

29 Jul 2010

NARSAD to honor five young scientists at Annual Klerman and Freedman Awards event

July 30 NARSAD will honor five outstanding researchers at the Annual Klerman and Freedman Awards event in New York City.

29 Jul 2010

Genetic signals determine neurotransmitter use for communication

Cascades of genetic signals determine which neurotransmitter a brain cell will ultimately use to communicate with other cells. Now a pair of reports from biologists at the University of California, San Diego, have shown for the first time that electrical activity in these developing neurons can alter their chemical fate-and change an animal's behavior-by tweaking this genetic program.

29 Jul 2010

Harvard psychologists develop new tests to predict suicide risk

Two powerful new tests developed by psychologists at Harvard University show great promise in predicting patients' risk of attempting suicide.

29 Jul 2010

CompuMed signs agreement with Lincoln High School Learning Centers

CompuMed, Inc., a telemedicine and medical informatics company, has entered into an agreement with the San Diego Unified School District's Lincoln High School Learning Centers to provide CompuMed's CardioGramKids electrocardiogram telemedicine technologies and services to the four schools that comprise the Lincoln High Learning Centers: the Lincoln High Schools of Public Safety, Science & Engineering, Arts and Social Justice.

28 Jul 2010

Therapists introduce new parenting skills to end child maltreatment

Mothers who live in poverty and who have abused their children can stop if they are taught parenting skills and given emotional support. A new study has found that mothers in families in which there is a history of child abuse and neglect were able to reduce how much they cursed at, yelled at, slapped, spanked, hit or rejected their children after a series of home visits from therapists who taught them parenting skills.

28 Jul 2010

POA releases consensus statement on CIRS-WDB

Policyholders of America released a consensus statement written by treating physicians and researchers in the field on the mechanism and treatment of illness found in people sickened by exposure to water-damaged buildings. This illness has been the subject of heated debate that has resulted in harsh allegations being lobbed at patients by experts hired by industry to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the illness.

28 Jul 2010

Students with ADHD less likely to finish high school graduation: Study

Teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder - the most common childhood psychiatric condition in the United States - are less likely to finish high school on time than students with other mental-health disorders that often are considered more serious, a large national study by researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine has found. The study found that nearly one third of students with ADHD, twice the proportion as students with no psychiatric disorder, either drop out or delay high school graduation.

28 Jul 2010

Researchers introduce Web-based program to help women experiencing abuse develop safety plans

Intimate partner violence results in 2 million injuries among women in the U.S. each year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. University of Missouri researchers are reducing these numbers with a new Web-based program that helps women experiencing abuse develop individualized safety plans and better assess the severity of their situations.

28 Jul 2010

Merck signs non-exclusive license agreement with LabCorp for commercialization of genetic test

Merck announced a non-exclusive license agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of a genetic test that may help predict the response of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection to peginterferon alpha-based therapy.

28 Jul 2010

Affymetrix to develop, commercialize Axiom Chinese myDesign Genotyping Array

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced that it will develop and commercialize the Axiom Chinese myDesign Genotyping Array, the first product that provides maximum power for genome-wide association studies specifically on Chinese populations.

28 Jul 2010

Study shows music alleviates anxiety, depression

For decades research has shown that listening to music alleviates anxiety and depression, enhances mood, and can increase cognitive functioning, such as spatial awareness. However, until now, research has not addressed how we listen to music. For instance, is the cognitive benefit still the same if we listen to music whilst performing a task, rather than before it? Further, how does our preference for a particular type of music affect performance? A new study from Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that listening to music that one likes whilst performing a serial recall task does not help performance any more than listening to music one does not enjoy.

28 Jul 2010

Journal of Mental Health features special issue on diagnosing mental illness

This month Journal of Mental Health features a special issue on diagnosing mental illness. The issue - which comes out just weeks after the eagerly-awaited new draft of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the global diagnostic 'bible' for the field of mental health medicine - includes a series of articles written by high profile mainstream personalities on what a diagnosis of mental illness has meant to them.

27 Jul 2010

Study finds national differences in degree of conflict between older parents, adult children

Tolstoy wrote that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and a new study in the August 2010 issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family finds significant national differences in the degree of conflict between older parents and their adult children.

27 Jul 2010

Lenzenweger releases book for schizophrenia

About 1 in 10 people have the potential to develop schizophrenia, but only 1 in 100 actually end up with this devastating illness. The challenge is in knowing why some do and some don't.Drawing from over 25 years of laboratory study, Mark F. Lenzenweger, a distinguished professor of clinical science, neuroscience and cognitive psychology at Binghamton University, thinks that not only does he have the makings of a good response to this troubling question but also how to go about finding those answers.

27 Jul 2010

Need for better understanding of appropriate treatment choices for children with insomnia: Study

A new survey of child psychiatrists indicates that insomnia is a major problem among children in mental health treatment and at least a quarter of these patients are given sleep medication. The results of the survey, conducted by Judith Owens, MD, a sleep expert with Hasbro Children's Hospital, and colleagues, suggests that management of insomnia in this population is a common practice, although the clinical approach varies widely. The study is published in the August 2010 edition of Sleep Medicine.

27 Jul 2010

Psychologists to host China's first-ever conference on positive psychology

The ranks of China's millionaires continue to grow, but the increased wealth has done little to boost the country's gross domestic happiness, according to psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley. They say the pursuit of prosperity in the nation is fast outpacing mental health and well-being, and are seeking to correct that imbalance by spreading the science of happiness in China.

27 Jul 2010

Female sexual dysfunction can affect quality of life: Research

Almost two-thirds of females attending a general urology practice reported that they suffered from sexual dysfunction, according to a paper in the August issue of BJUI. Dysfunction rose with age in all categories except orgasm, with more than half of women aged from 18 to 30 reporting orgasm problems, significantly higher than women aged 31 to 54.

27 Jul 2010

Scientists develop obesity drug without neurological side effects

The drug rimonabant was developed as a treatment for obesity and its myriad of serious health consequences. Despite having its desired effects on weight, which it decreased, and on levels of glucose and fats in the blood, rimonabant was never approved for use in the US because of serious neurological side effects including depression and anxiety. Now, a team of researchers, led by George Kunos, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, and Alexandros Makriyannis, at Northeastern University, Boston, have developed a drug that has the same positive effects in mice on levels of glucose and fats in the blood as rimonabant but none of the neurological side effects.

27 Jul 2010

Epilepsy drugs analyzed for causing increased risk of suicide in patients

While the Food and Drug Administration requires a warning of an increased risk of suicide for all epilepsy drugs, a new study shows that only certain drugs may increase the risk. The study is published in the July 27, 2010, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Newer drugs with a higher risk of causing depression than other epilepsy drugs, such as levetiracetam, topiramate and vigabatrin, were found to increase the risk of self-harm or suicidal behavior among people with epilepsy.

27 Jul 2010