Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Children with hypertension have trouble with goal-directed tasks

Children with high blood pressure are not as good at complicated, goal-directed tasks, have more working memory problems and are not as adept at planning as their peers without hypertension, according to recent research.

24 Feb 2009

Inexpensive depression screening tool works in resource poor countries

A study published in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine reports that a highly reliable depression screening tool known as the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) used across the United States and Europe can be effectively administered in resource poor Africa to HIV/AID patients, a population whose mental health needs have been underserved.

24 Feb 2009

Internet addiction linked to aggression in teenagers

Armed with the findings of a new study, Taiwanese researchers suggest parents and educators pay more attention to children's online habits because Internet-addicted teens seem more prone to aggression.

23 Feb 2009

Schering-Plough submits response to FDA for SAPHRIS (asenapine) in the acute treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder

Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that it has responded to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) complete response letter for SAPHRIS (asenapine) sublingual tablets, which was received in January 2009.

22 Feb 2009

Stenting not necessary in late treatment of heart attacks

Two years ago, a major study found that many patients who receive delayed treatment for a heart attack do just as well with drugs alone as they do with drugs plus stents to prop open their blocked arteries.

20 Feb 2009

Ondansetron shown to be a viable treatment option for opioid addiction

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that a commonly available non-addictive drug can prevent symptoms of withdrawal from opioids with little likelihood of serious side effects.

18 Feb 2009

Opportunities for the health system in a sick economy

With the interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission published yesterday the time for implementing reform could hardly be better.

18 Feb 2009

Anti-social behavior in girls predicts adolescent depression seven years later

Past behavior is generally considered to be a good predictor of future behavior, but new research indicates that may not be the case in the development of depression, particularly among adolescent girls.

18 Feb 2009

Hertfordshire to train new mental health workforce

The University's School of Social Community & Health Studies has won a three year contract worth one million pounds a year with the East of England Strategic Health Authority to implement training for a major government policy in mental health entitled Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT).

17 Feb 2009

New treatment approach needed for management of depression with bipolar disorder

In a study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, a team of researchers led by Mayo Clinic psychiatrist Mark Frye, M.D., attempted to identify what factors make some people with bipolar depression more likely to experience treatment-emergent mania (TEM).

15 Feb 2009

Mouse study reveals genetic component of empathy

The ability to empathize with others is partially determined by genes, according to new research on mice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).

15 Feb 2009

Volcanoes in the genome, blowing out pieces of DNA

Roughly 10 million years ago, a major genetic change occurred in a common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.

11 Feb 2009

Postnatal psychosis more common in older first-time mothers

Women who give birth for the first time after the age of 35 run a greater risk than younger first-time mothers of suffering a psychosis in the months after delivery.

10 Feb 2009

New weapon in the battle against obesity

A new system proposed by Canadian and US obesity researchers may provide another weapon in the battle against obesity.

10 Feb 2009

Low cholesterol, depression in men linked to early death

New Geisinger research shows that men with a combination of low total cholesterol and depression were seven times more likely to die prematurely from unnatural causes, such as suicide and accidents.

10 Feb 2009

Cytokines lead to neurological and cognitive abnormalities and changes in heart rhythm in patients with cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, taking 25,000 lives per year.

10 Feb 2009

First-time mothers at a greater risk of psychosis in the month following childbirth

A study of risk factors associated with psychotic illness after childbirth, published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine, shows that first-time mothers are at the greatest risk of developing psychosis in the month following the birth of their child - even if they have never been treated in hospital for mental illness in the past.

10 Feb 2009