Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Daylight Saving Time may also suit morning risers just fine, study finds

Night owls may be looking forward to falling back into autumn standard time but a new study from the University of Ottawa has found Daylight Saving Time may also suit morning types just fine.

4 Nov 2022

NIH leaders plan to address the threat of climate change to human health

Leaders from the National Institutes of Health discuss the agency's plan to address the risk to human health posed by a changing climate in a commentary published in The Lancet.

4 Nov 2022

Study: One out of three Canadians experienced severe loneliness in the second wave of COVID-19

Pandemic-induced public health measures, such as social distancing and stay-at-home orders, while successful in decreasing the transmission of COVID-19, could exacerbate pre-existing mental health challenges, including loneliness, one of the major public health concerns in pre-pandemic times.

4 Nov 2022

PFA training can help healthcare workers to overcome stress and strengthen resilience

A new study has shown that Psychological First Aid, training originally created for people to support others, can help healthcare workers in care homes improve their own mental wellbeing.

4 Nov 2022

Weekly weight loss drug reduces BMI in teens

Researchers report that a weekly dose of semaglutide led to a significant BMI reduction in adolescents.

3 Nov 2022

Early deprivation may be more closely linked with cognitive and emotional functioning in adolescence

Experiences of early adversity due to poverty, abuse, and neglect are known to interfere with children's cognitive and emotional development.

3 Nov 2022

Understanding the brain correlates of dissociative disorders

Trauma can cause dissociative symptoms - such as having an out-of-body experience, or feeling emotionally numb - that may help an individual cope in the short term but can have negative impacts if the symptoms persist for a long period of time.

3 Nov 2022

Therapeutic community gardening helped reduce loneliness during the pandemic

Therapeutic community gardening helped reduce loneliness as the pandemic paralyzed the nation, University of Essex research has revealed.

3 Nov 2022

The long-term impact of COVID-19 severity on health-related quality of life

A recent study conducted on the residents of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, describes that people with mild COVID-19 experience better health-related quality of life after one year of disease onset than those with moderate or severe COVID-19.

3 Nov 2022

Study findings highlight the importance of preventing early traumatic events

Suffering psychological trauma during childhood significantly increases the risk of developing a mental disorder in adulthood. Specifically, as much as three times, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, published in the journal European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. The study analyses the fourteen reviews and meta-analyses published to date in specialized journals on this issue, and is the first to take into account the full range of existing mental disorders.

3 Nov 2022

Study analyzes the impact of children’s mental health on the national workforce

As the American economy has undergone rapid and dramatic change, so too has America's workforce. Trending terms, such as "the great resignation" and "quiet quitting," have been coined as we seek to better understand workplace challenges across the country. There have been many contributing factors reported to be driving these issues, but new research shows that the pediatric mental health crisis is a significant and surprising contributor among working parents in America's workforce.

3 Nov 2022

Effect of marital stress on heart attack recovery is detrimental

In a recent study soon to be presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2022*, researchers examined the adverse effects of marital stress (MS) on recovery from acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

2 Nov 2022

Memory: a revolutionary treatment for mental health disorders and neurodegeneration?

In this interview, we speak to Dr. Steve Ramirez about his latest neuroscience research that investigated the power of our memories.

2 Nov 2022

NIH awards $2.1 million grant to UMass Amherst epidemiologist

A University of Massachusetts Amherst epidemiologist has been awarded a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue research that aims to understand how physical and mental health during pregnancy can help predict cardiovascular and mental health disorders in middle age.

2 Nov 2022

Study highlights the importance of poverty in criminal conviction

A significant reduction in childhood poverty could cut criminal convictions by almost a quarter, according to a study conducted in Brazil. An article on the study is published in Scientific Reports. The researchers used an innovative approach involving an analysis of 22 risk factors that affect human development and interviews with 1,905 children at two points – a first interview to form a baseline (mean age 10.3) and a follow-up interview seven years later (mean age 17.8).

2 Nov 2022

Social and economic inequality associated with differences in children's brain connections

Growing up in a socioeconomically disadvantaged household may have lasting effects on children's brain development, a large new study suggests.

1 Nov 2022

Researchers unravel how the brain chemical dopamine relates to schizophrenia

Researchers at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) believe they have solved a riddle that has challenged scientists for more than 70 years: how the brain chemical dopamine relates to schizophrenia, the often-devastating brain disorder characterized by delusional thinking, hallucinations and other forms of psychosis.

1 Nov 2022

Dietary components do not have impact on RMD outcomes

In 2022, EULAR - the European Alliance of Rheumatology Associations - published new recommendations regarding lifestyle behaviors and work participation to prevent progression of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).

1 Nov 2022

Infants' innateness for tuning in to musical rhythms is intertwined with early social engagement

Engaging infants with a song provides a readymade means for supporting social development and interaction, according to a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

31 Oct 2022

Polygenic hazard score could be effective for predicting genetic risk of lethal prostate cancer

Tapping into the Million Veteran Program, an ongoing national research effort to learn how genes, lifestyle and military exposures affect the health of participants, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, with colleagues elsewhere, report that a polygenic hazard score based on 290 genetic variants could be an effective tool for predicting genetic risk of lethal prostate cancer.

31 Oct 2022