Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Antidepressants are not effective for many people

More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief.

24 Oct 2009

State reports: Providers struggle to make do with limited resources

Funding cuts are hurting dentists and hospitals, and squeezing providers that continue to treat low-income patients. Meanwhile, Massachusetts loses a key health official.

24 Oct 2009

Strict adherence in taking HIV medication; extremely difficult for many individuals

Highly active antiretroviral therapy has increased the longevity and quality of life for people living with human immunodeficiency virus. But it requires strict adherence in taking the medicine, something that is extremely difficult for many individuals to do.

23 Oct 2009

University researchers inject 'nanowires' in rat brains

The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving the injection of so-called 'nanowires.'

23 Oct 2009

The 23rd annual Alternatives conference to be held in Nebraska

The 23rd annual Alternatives conference, the only national mental health conference organized by and for mental health consumers/survivors, will be held October 28 to November 1, 2009, at the Hilton Omaha, 1001 Cass Street, in Omaha, Nebraska.

23 Oct 2009

Brown University researchers find no link between overlapping sexual partners and the HIV epidemic in Africa

Contrary to conventional wisdom, scientific evidence proving that overlapping multiple sexual partners - concurrency - drives the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is actually quite limited, Brown University researchers have concluded.

23 Oct 2009

Quality of U.S. health care was virtually stagnant in 2008, says NCQA report

A report released today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) finds that the quality of U.S. health care was virtually stagnant in 2008, a disturbing slowdown after a decade of improvements. The across-the-board trend was seen in care provided to people with private insurance coverage as well as in Medicare and Medicaid.

23 Oct 2009

Number of diabetic patients on the rise; figures could reach to 440 million by 2030

Newly published data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) show that number of people with diabetes continues to grow unchecked. The figures reveal that, if action is not taken to change the path of the epidemic, the numbers of people with diabetes will be close to 440 million by 2030.

23 Oct 2009

Antidepressant prescriptions are on the rise

A dramatic rise in antidepressant prescriptions issued by GPs has been caused by a year on year increase in the number of people taking antidepressant drugs on a long-term basis, according to researchers from the University of Southampton.

23 Oct 2009

NBCSL lauds the Veterans’ Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act

NBCSL President, Rep. Calvin Smyre (GA), applauds the Obama Administration’s efforts to improve health care for veterans. Today, President Barack Obama signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which provides one year of advance funding for veterans’ medical programs. The VA now has one year to plan how to best allocate funds and deliver care to returning veterans.

23 Oct 2009

Study: General anesthesia can cause brain injury in immature rats

Studies by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that blocking the NMDA receptor in immature rats leads to profound, rapid brain injury and disruption of auditory function as the animals mature.

23 Oct 2009

Relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia is controversial

Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia in young people. But the evidence for the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis remains controversial.

23 Oct 2009

Study finds link between high levels of pesticide exposure and suicidal thoughts

A new study in China has found that people with higher levels of pesticide exposure are more likely to have suicidal thoughts. The study was carried out by Dr Robert Stewart from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London together with scientists from Tongde Hospital Zhejiang Province.

23 Oct 2009

Report: Quality of care for insured Americans slipped in 2008

CNNMoney reports that for the first time in more than 10 years, the "overall quality of health care" for Americans insured through commercial and public plans appears to have slipped.

23 Oct 2009

Health reform changes could increase costs to states

Today's state news round-up includes the cost of health reform to New York, immigrants in California, a possible new mental health overhaul in Arizona and a delay in expanding the children's health program in Iowa.

22 Oct 2009

Person-centered planning practices to promote organizational change and innovative service delivery

Today the JBFCS Alan B. Siskind Symposium, "Person in the Center: Innovation and Change," with Keynote Speaker Beth Mount, Ph.D., will explore person-centered planning and organizational innovation followed by a panel discussion that features innovative practice at JBFCS.

22 Oct 2009

Caregiving is a major public health issue in the U.S, says expert

The demand for at-home caregiving will increase dramatically in the United States in the years ahead, said Richard Schulz, Ph.D., an internationally known expert on caregiving from the University of Pittsburgh.

22 Oct 2009

Illegal residents' view on healthcare status

The dissertation focuses on how individual non-citizens residing illegally in the country perceive their health status, what wishes they have regarding healthcare, and whether these wishes are fulfilled. The individual perspective is used instead of the more common concepts of health and healthcare needs, which are based more on the care-giver perspective.

22 Oct 2009

Drugs affecting the central nervous system effective against fibromyalgia, study finds

People suffering from fibromyalgia have reduced activity in the parts of the brain that inhibit the experience of pain. Drugs that affect the CNS can be effective against the disease, and are thought to be even more so if administered early in its course. This according to a new thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet.

22 Oct 2009

GeneNews announces the publication of a paper in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

GeneNews Limited, a company focused on developing blood-based biomarker tests for the early detection of diseases and personalized health management, today announced the publication of a paper in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. The paper reports data using GeneNews' proprietary Sentinel Principle(R) platform technology to identify complex changes in blood gene expression patterns that were differentially regulated between active and inactive Crohn's disease.

22 Oct 2009