Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Polycom's scalable solutions for the healthcare industry

Polycom, Inc., the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, is making it easier and more cost-effective for hospitals and other healthcare organizations to deploy and scale telehealth and telemedicine networks. Through an enhanced, highly scalable solution, Polycom allows healthcare organizations to easily and securely extend visual communication capabilities outside of their private networks to a broader group of partner hospitals, community clinics and physicians.

24 Sep 2009

DISC1 linked to proper development and migration of neurons in the brain

Scientists now have a better understanding of a perplexing gene that is associated with susceptibility for a wide spectrum of severely debilitating mental illnesses. Two independent research studies published by Cell Press in the September 24th issue of the journal Neuron provide fascinating insight into the molecular mechanisms that link disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) with the proper development and migration of neurons in the hippocampus, a brain area involved in learning and memory and associated with the pathology of schizophrenia.

24 Sep 2009

Adolescent depression and anxiety: Two distinct psychiatric disorders

Adolescent depression and anxiety disorders are two distinct psychiatric disorders, according to Dr. William W. Hale III (a researcher of the Langeveld Institute for the Study of Education and Development in Childhood and Adolescence at Utrecht University) in a recent publication in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

24 Sep 2009

Safety tips for OTC and prescription medications

The beginning of October marks the start of Talk About Prescriptions Month, which is sponsored by the National Council on Patient Information and Education. In support of this annual awareness effort, Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT) is sharing tips to help consumers safely take over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications.

23 Sep 2009

New York State enacts a law to make affordable healthcare available to freelancers

Based on a health insurance model pioneered by Freelancers Union, New York State has enacted a law that will create a demonstration program to provide independent workers – a third of the country’s workforce – with the same quality of health care traditionally offered by employer insurance plans.

23 Sep 2009

Study on adults living with autism spectrum disorders in England

The first ever major study into adults living with autism was published today (Tuesday 22nd September) by the NHS Information Centre. The report, entitled 'Autism Spectrum Disorders in adults living in households throughout England 2007' was written by Professor Terry Brugha, a Consultant Psychiatrist with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Leicester with a team of UK researchers.

23 Sep 2009

Professional and personal distress levels high in primary care physicians

Primary care physicians who participated in an educational program that included an emphasis on mindful communication reported improvement in personal well-being, emotional exhaustion, empathy and attitudes associated with patient-centered care, according to a study in the September 23/30 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical education.

23 Sep 2009

Researching the causes of Alzheimer's disease

The standard explanation for what causes Alzheimer's is known as the amyloid hypothesis, which posits that the disease results from of an accumulation of the peptide amyloid beta, the toxic protein fragments that deposit in the brain and become the sticky plaques that have defined Alzheimer's for more than 100 years.

23 Sep 2009

Depression, obesity and alcoholism interrelated in young women

There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men. Usinng data collected when young adults were 24, 27 and 30 years of age, a team of University of Washington researchers found that nearly half the sample of 776 young adults tracked during the study met the criteria for one of these conditions at each of these time points.

23 Sep 2009

Medical errors: Cause for stress in resident physicians

Internal medicine residents who reported higher levels of fatigue and distress were more likely to report a medical error, according to a study in the September 23/30 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical education.

23 Sep 2009

Distress and fatigue among medical residents can lead to significant risk of medical error: Study

Mayo Clinic researchers report that distress and fatigue among medical residents are independent contributors to self-perceived medical errors. The findings appear today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

23 Sep 2009

Georgia Power Foundation's Michael Anderson honored during the 2009 Community Impact Awards

Atlanta Falcons Defensive End Chauncey Davis recently honored Georgia Power Foundation's Michael Anderson, Aetna's Cynthia Follmer and Camp Kudzu- Georgia's largest camp for kids with diabetes, during the 2009 Community Impact Awards, at the Arthur Blank Family Office.

22 Sep 2009

Narrative exposure therapy is effective for traumatized survivors

A group of German investigators performed a controlled study on psychological help for Rwanda orphans of war. Twenty-six orphans (originally 27) who presented with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at first assessment continued to meet a PTSD DSM-IV diagnosis 6 months after their initial assessment.

22 Sep 2009

French multicenter study investigates the role of psychotherapy in BPD

A French multicenter study headed by Jean Cottraux (Lyon) has investigated the role of psychotherapy in borderline personality disorder.

22 Sep 2009

Comprehensive and practical overview of psoriasis

Treatments for psoriasis often present a therapeutic challenge to physicians because, besides affecting the skin, psoriasis may be associated with various comorbidities (for instance, depression, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease and, in severe psoriasis, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases).

22 Sep 2009

Veterans Healing Initiative formed for veterans suffering from PTSD

The Veterans Healing Initiative (VHI) has been formed in response to the dramatic increase of Substance Abuse (SA) and co-occurring mental health disorders among U.S. Veterans. Formed by Margaret Stone and James L. Abernathy, VHI's core mission is to raise funds for veterans who need treatment for Addiction and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and help them begin to heal the war within.

22 Sep 2009

Late diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adults

75% of the cases of paediatric bipolar disorder are diagnosed late - up to 18 months - due to the symptoms manifesting themselves in a different manner depending on whether the patient is a child or adult. Moreover, 25% of sufferers have a delay in their medical diagnoses of up to three years and four months, according to a study by the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology at the University Hospital of Navarra, in collaboration with the Paediatric Psychopharmacology Unit at the l Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University (Boston, United States).

22 Sep 2009