Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Autistic children can interpret the mental state of others by looking at their eyes

In findings that contradict previous studies, psychologists found that autistic children can 'read' a stranger's mental state based on that person's eyes. Autistic children have long been thought to be poor at interpreting people's mental states based on facial expressions, especially expressions around the eyes.

29 Mar 2007

25 per cent of new cases of schizophrenia in the UK may be due to cannabis

If cannabis causes schizophrenia - and that remains in question - then by 2010 up to 25 per cent of new cases of schizophrenia in the UK may be due to cannabis, according to a new study by Dr Matthew Hickman of the University of Bristol and colleagues, published in Addiction journal.

25 Mar 2007

Circadian genes may be involved in bipolar disorder

Disrupt the gene that regulates the biological clocks in mice and they become manic, exhibiting behaviors similar to humans with bipolar disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

25 Mar 2007

Why people stay in violent relationships

In an effort to identify the social and family pressures that compel women and men to return to and remain in violent relationships, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers are conducting interviews at Monroe County Family Court and at psychiatric and medical clinics.

22 Mar 2007

Women under 65 with cancer most likely to suffer emotional distress

Women under 65 are the most likely of all cancer patients to suffer from significant emotional distress - a study reports today in the British Journal of Cancer.

21 Mar 2007

Promising new pain-killing drug

A potential new pain-killing drug developed by medical scientists at the University of Leicester and Ferrara in Italy is to be discussed at a public lecture on 20th March.

19 Mar 2007

Talk therapy works for panic disorder

Psychoanalytic therapies have been in professional use for over a century, but a new study from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is the first to show that a classic psychoanalytic talk therapy is efficacious in treating panic disorder.

14 Mar 2007

New screening tool for anxiety disorders

A new study by researchers led by Kurt Kroenke, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. reports that nearly 20 percent of patients seen by primary care physicians have at least one anxiety disorder.

12 Mar 2007

Groundbreaking study of anorexia

New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Westchester Division (NYPH) will participate in a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) clinical research study of anorexia nervosa, the serious and potentially lethal eating disorder that mostly afflicts teenage girls.

12 Mar 2007

Depressed elderly risk early death

Depression in elderly people is causing early mortality, a University of Liverpool study has found.

8 Mar 2007

House panel requests marketing documents from pharmaceutical companies regarding off-label drug promotion

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked two stent manufacturers and three drug manufacturers to provide documents regarding the marketing of their products as part of the committee's investigation into the off-label use of drug-coated stents and prescription drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports.

8 Mar 2007

President Bush appoints Dole, Shalala to lead panel examining veterans' care

President Bush during a speech before the American Legion on Tuesday named former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala as co-chairs of a commission that will examine the care that wounded veterans receive after they return from war, both at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at other military hospitals across the nation, the Washington Post reports

8 Mar 2007

Surgeon General gets serious about underage drinking

The Surgeon General's Office has appealed to Americans to do more to stop the nation's 11 million underage drinkers from using alcohol, and to discourage other young people from taking it up.

7 Mar 2007

Whether torture is physical or mental the trauma is the same

In a study which has examined forms of ill treatment during captivity, researchers have found that psychological torment and humiliation can inflict as much terror and trauma as physical torture.

6 Mar 2007

Children under stress develop more fevers

Children whose parents and families are under ongoing stress have more fevers with illness than other children. Published this month in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the study also shows the unanticipated conclusion that children's natural killer cell function, part of the body's innate immune system, increases under chronic stress, unlike adults, whose function is decreased.

6 Mar 2007

Effect of depression in mothers with breast cancer on their children's concerns

A woman's breast cancer diagnosis can wreak as much havoc on her emotions as it does on her physical health. Mothers who experience bouts of depression during their battles with breast cancer may find that the effects reach beyond their own psyches to those of their children.

5 Mar 2007