Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

California mental health advocates raise concern over treatment of ICE detainees

The San Diego Tribune on Monday profiled the La Mesa, Calif.-based private psychiatric hospital Alvarado Parkway Institute. Some advocates say that the hospital is in a network of private hospitals that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses to hold "severely" mentally ill detainees nationwide, often "out of reach of lawyers and even their families," the Tribune reports.

18 May 2009

Rituximab linked to viral brain infection

The 57-year-old lawyer in New York had handily completed the New York Times' Saturday crossword puzzle - the hardest of the week - for years. But one Saturday morning, suddenly he couldn't retrieve the words to fill in the squares.

18 May 2009

Research backs the use of Tasers by police

According to new research from the United States few patients suffered ill effects which warranted them being hospitalised after police used a Taser to subdue them.

18 May 2009

Saffron could stop blindness and cure eye disease

Italian scientists say they have found that saffron may hold the key to stopping vision loss as people age and in treating some eye diseases.

17 May 2009

Early identification of dementia increasingly difficult

If grandma seems to forget things, will she end up demented? These days, memory loss is one of the very few symptoms that may signal which 70-year-olds risk developing dementia. This is shown in a doctoral thesis at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

15 May 2009

Stress may indeed be a direct contributor to childhood obesity.

That's according to a new Iowa State University study finding that increased levels of stress in adolescents are associated with a greater likelihood of them being overweight or obese.

15 May 2009

Missouri Legislature passes bills that impose levies on health care providers to generate additional Federal Medicaid funding

Missouri lawmakers have approved two bills (HB 740 and SB 307) that extend or create health care provider taxes or certification fees as part of an effort to draw in more federal Medicaid matching dollars, the AP/Ann Arbor News reports.

14 May 2009

20% of girls in upper secondary school suffers from school burnout

The transition from basic education to upper secondary school is a challenge for many young people.

14 May 2009

Endorphins, personality, and inheritance

A new article published in Elsevier's journal Bioscience Hypotheses suggests that our feelings in our lifetime can affect our children.

14 May 2009

Cognition already seriously impaired in first episode of schizophrenia

Significant and widespread cognitive problems appear to exist in schizophrenia in its earliest phase, making it very hard for people with the disorder to work, study or be social, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

13 May 2009

Discovery of pathway that reactivate myelin repair

UMDNJ researchers have identified a key pathway that could lead to new therapies to repair nerve cells' protective coating stripped away as a result of autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). An article reporting their findings will appear in the May 13 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

12 May 2009

Negative mood-related drinking may mean vulnerability for major depression and alcohol dependence

Major depression (MD) and alcohol dependence (AD) co-occur in individuals and within families at higher rates than expected by chance. This study looked at how mood-related drinking motives may explain the overlapping familial risk for MD and AD. Findings suggest that individuals with strong mood-related drinking motives, especially those based on negative feelings, may be vulnerable to developing both MD and AD.

12 May 2009

Research suggests potential new treatment for anxiety disorders and depression

New research on a brain chemical involved in development sheds light on why some individuals may be predisposed to anxiety. It also strengthens understanding of cellular processes that may be common to anxiety and depression, and suggests how lifestyle changes may help overcome both

12 May 2009

Healthy living helps older, overweight cancer survivors reduce functional decline

A home-based diet and exercise program reduced the rate of functional decline among older, overweight long-term survivors of colorectal, breast and prostate cancer, according to a study in the May 13 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical.

12 May 2009

Participants in antidepressant drug trials are atypical patients

One reason antidepressant medication treatments do not work as well in real life as they do in clinical studies could be the limited type of study participants selected, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

12 May 2009

West Virginia Gov. Manchin vetoes Medicaid mental health reimbursement hike

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) on Thursday vetoed a $1.5 million bill to increase Medicaid reimbursements for mental health care services over three years, but said that the state will direct $12.7 million in state and federal money to community-based mental health services and reduce overcrowding in psychiatric hospitals, the Charleston Gazette reports.

12 May 2009

Job losses have negative effect on health, study finds

Workers who lost their job through no fault of their own were twice as likely as continuously employed workers to report over the next 18 months that they developed a new illness, such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, according to a study released last week, the New York Times reports.

12 May 2009

South Pacific drink Kava safe and effective in reducing anxiety

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia have found a traditional extract of Kava, a medicinal plant from the South Pacific, to be safe and effective in reducing anxiety.

12 May 2009

Nowhere to go: How stigma limits the options of female drug users after release from jail

Punitive policies intended to reduce drug use by making life difficult for convicted users are counterproductive and actually lead to a vicious spiral of drug use and reincarceration.

7 May 2009

MRI research may lead to new methods for diagnosing ADHD and other mental health disorders

Oregon Health & Science University researchers, along with scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, are uncovering new information about the mind by studying the brain while it is at rest. It is believed this research will one day provide new tools for diagnosing mental health disorders and monitoring the progress of treatments.

7 May 2009