Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

British look at detaining dangerous mental patients

Government ministers in Britain are in the midst of discussing controversial plans to allow mentally ill people to be detained against their will, even if they have not committed a crime.

16 Apr 2007

Night owls do it tougher than other insomniacs

According to a new study night owls, those who stay up late with insomnia and then sleep longer in the mornings, have more psychological symptoms than morning insomniacs and need different treatment, even though they get more sleep.

16 Apr 2007

New device to test for proteins that play important role in human health and disease

A new technology developed at the University of Toronto is revealing biochemical processes responsible for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and could one day pave the way for pharmaceutical applications.

15 Apr 2007

Bullying widespread in elementary students

Nine out of 10 elementary students have been bullied by their peers, according to a simple questionnaire developed by researchers at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

15 Apr 2007

Lower educational level makes some men more vulnerable to the effects of prostate cancer

Among men who have received similar treatments for prostate cancer, those with less education , particularly those who did not graduate from high school , experience a significant drop in their quality of life after treatment compared with men who have more education, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC).

15 Apr 2007

New perspectives on risk taking in adolescence

While the government spends billions of dollars on educational and prevention programs to persuade teens not to do things like smoke, drink or do drugs, a Temple University psychologist suggests that competing systems within the brain make adolescents more susceptible to engaging in risky or dangerous behavior, and that educational interventions alone are unlikely to be effective.

15 Apr 2007

Aftermath of suicide attempts - helping families cope

When a child attempts suicide, these emotions hit families like a Mack truck. Some family members bury their feelings deep inside and refuse to accept the stark reality.

15 Apr 2007

Asthma can lead to psychosocial disadvantages for children in our society

Much of the research surrounding childhood asthma has sought new approaches to managing the disease.

15 Apr 2007

Prazosin drug helps posttraumatic stress disorder nightmares

A generic drug already used by millions of Americans for high blood pressure and prostate problems has been found to improve sleep and lessen trauma nightmares in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

12 Apr 2007

Aggressive behaviour on acute psychiatric wards: prevalence, severity and management

Psychiatric nurses have a one in ten chance of being physically injured by an aggressive patient over the course of a year and many more suffer emotional distress because of the verbal abuse they receive while working in these difficult and challenging environments.

12 Apr 2007

Internet can help people identify depression

This is the conclusion of a study published in BMC Psychiatry, which demonstrates that a Chinese online tool for assessing depression is both accurate and reproducible, and may offer a way to identify the growing number of people suffering from depression.

11 Apr 2007

Emotional stress may contribute to development of cancer and may also reduce effectiveness of treatments

Scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine are the first to report that the stress hormone epinephrine causes changes in prostate and breast cancer cells that may make them resistant to cell death.

11 Apr 2007

Full impact of mental health and substance abuse disorders on U.S. community hospitals

Almost one-fourth of all stays in U.S. community hospitals for patients age 18 and older – 7.6 million of nearly 32 million stays – involved depressive, bipolar, schizophrenia and other mental health disorders or substance use related disorders in 2004, according to a new report by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

11 Apr 2007