Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Drug group warns about over-reacting to methamphetamine abuse

A group which represents illegal drug users in Australia is warning authorities about the danger of adopting an alarmist approach in dealing with methamphetamine abuse.

29 Apr 2008

Health care costs rank among top economic problems for U.S. residents

Health care costs are among the top economic problems experienced by U.S. residents, according to a poll released on Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. For the poll, a nationally representative sample of 2,003 adults was interviewed by telephone between April 3 and 13. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

29 Apr 2008

Gastric bypass surgery and effect on lower back pain

The prevalence of both obesity and back pain in developing nations has reached alarming levels. According to recent statistics, more than one-third of U.S. adults - over 72 million people were obese in 2005-2006. Of these, 33.3 percent were men and 35.3 percent were women. Especially alarming is that obesity has not decreased among teenagers - the rates remain essentially unchanged in 2005-2006 from the 2003-2004 estimates, at 17 percent.

29 Apr 2008

Deep brain stimulation may help people with treatment resistant major depression

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Brown University, and Massachusetts General Hospital will present results of a long-term outcome study that builds on previous promising research, which has shown that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a potentially effective treatment option for people with treatment resistant major depression.

29 Apr 2008

Brain tumor surgery, depression and survival

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in the world today. It is estimated that in any given year, 5 to 9 percent of the US population is clinically depressed. Studies have shown that depression negatively affects the immunological system, alters the body's response to malignancy, and may influence behavioral factors that impact recovery from disease

29 Apr 2008

Mental Health Commission of Canada outlines startling statistics on homelessness and mental illness

The statistics are disturbing, but there is hope. That was the message from the Honourable Michael Kirby, Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, as he delivered the keynote address at the Collaboration for Change forum in Vancouver today.

29 Apr 2008

Scientists find distinct kind of stem cells in the pituitary gland

A team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth.

28 Apr 2008

Smokers more prone to depression

Researchers in Spain suggest that smokers are significantly more at risk of suffering depression than non-smokers.

28 Apr 2008

Different processes govern sight, light detection

A Johns Hopkins University biologist, in research with implications for people suffering from seasonal affective disorder and insomnia, has determined that the eye uses light to reset the biological clock through a mechanism separate from the ability to see.

27 Apr 2008

New insight into how the nervous system processes sensory information

The Stowers Institute's Yu Lab has published the results of large-scale imaging experiments examining how social signals are represented in the sensory system.

24 Apr 2008

Smokers more depressed

The risk of suffering depression increases 41% in smokers, in comparison with non-smokers. This was the conclusion of a study undertaken with 8,556 participants by scientists of the University of Navarra, in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and which demonstrates in a pioneering way the direct relationship between tobacco use and this disease.

24 Apr 2008

Discovery of gene behind new form of intellectual disability

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has discovered a new form of intellectual disability involving mental retardation (MR) along with the eye defect retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

24 Apr 2008

Interventions for enhancing medication adherence

Patients often do not take the medicines their doctors prescribe, and a new review of existing research suggests that there is no proven way to get them to follow directions for long periods.

24 Apr 2008

Senators request resignation of VA Mental Health Director

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and committee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Tuesday called for the resignation of Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Director Ira Katz, alleging he withheld important information regarding suicide risk among veterans, the AP/Washington Post reports.

23 Apr 2008

U.S. prisons missing opportunities to provide HIV testing, education, prevention, panel says

The U.S. correctional system is missing valuable opportunities to provide HIV testing, educating and prevention to its more than two million state, federal and local inmates, panelists said at a recent briefing on HIV/AIDS in correctional settings, CQ HealthBeat reports.

23 Apr 2008

Different processes govern sight, light detection - findings could point toward help for SAD, insomnia patients

23 Apr 2008

Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals brain circuitry associated with social status

Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health.

23 Apr 2008

Major step forward in understanding how memory works

Our ability to remember the objects, places and people within our environment is essential for everyday life, although the importance of this is only fully appreciated when recognition memory beings to fail, as in Alzheimer's disease.

23 Apr 2008

Class-action lawsuit over veterans health care system begins

Arguments began on Monday in a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs that alleges the agency is unequipped to provide medical services to treat the mental health problems of soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the New York Times reports. The lawsuit was filed by two groups, the Veterans for Common Sense and the Veterans United for Truth, in a federal court in San Francisco (MacFarquhar, New York Times, 4/22).

22 Apr 2008

Link found between relational victimization in adolescence and depression and anxiety in early adulthood

Spreading rumors and gossiping may not cause bruises or black eyes, but the psychological consequences of this social type of bullying could linger into early adulthood, a new University of Florida study shows.

22 Apr 2008