Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

For low-income drug users, Medi-Cal offers a fresh start

Breann Johnson stopped using heroin on Mother's Day this year, determined to end her 13-year addiction. Days later, she began three months of residential treatment in Riverside, Calif. — all paid for by California's Medicaid program.

8 Sep 2017

New set of research priorities identified to support tobacco control

A new set of research priorities to support tobacco control will help ensure future research provides the greatest benefit to public health and value for money, according to an international group led by Oxford University researchers.

8 Sep 2017

Tulane researchers move closer to improving treatment for chronic depression

In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers associated with the Tulane Brain Institute say they have moved a step closer to improving treatment for chronic depression.

7 Sep 2017

Early signs of cardiovascular risk found in children exposed to 9/11 dust

Sixteen years after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers sent a "cloud" of toxic debris across Lower Manhattan, children living nearby who likely breathed in the ash and fumes are showing early signs of risk for future heart disease.

7 Sep 2017

5.4 million Americans age 60 or older are food insecure, shows new report

Hunger does not respect age. A recent report comparing data from 2007 to 2015 finds 5.4 million people age 60 or older in the U.S., or 8.1 percent, are food insecure.

7 Sep 2017

Salk professor awarded $950,000 NSF grant to explore how the brain processes complex sounds

Salk Associate Professor Tatyana Sharpee has been awarded a grant of approximately $950,000 over 4 years by the National Science Foundation to study how the brain processes complex sounds. This grant is part of a multi-national project together with groups in France and Israel.

7 Sep 2017

Women experience concussion differently compared to their male counterparts

Scientists have known for more than a decade that female athletes sustain concussions at a higher rate than males when playing sports with similar rules, such as soccer, basketball and baseball/softball. Females also tend to report more symptoms - and more severe ones--and may also take longer to recover from brain injuries than their male counterparts.

6 Sep 2017

Good sleep linked to reduction in psychological problems

According a new study lack of sleep can actually contribute to mental health problems as suspected earlier. The study aimed to see if improvement in sleep could help reduce psychological problems such as paranoia and hallucinations. The study termed OASIS (Oxford Access for Students Improving Sleep) was a randomized controlled trial that involved 26 universities in the United Kingdom. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal Lancet Psychology.

6 Sep 2017

Cannabidiol appears to protect against long-term negative psychiatric effects of THC

A study reported Sept. 5 by neuroscientists at Indiana University finds that a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis called cannabidiol, or CBD, appears to protect against the long-term negative psychiatric effects of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

6 Sep 2017

Assessment tools, interconnected webs of relationships help address childhood adversity, trauma

Two new studies led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggest that the bevy of tools available to assess and address childhood adversity and trauma, as well as the interconnected webs of relationships among families and the providers who care for children, are key to healing the effects of these potentially life-altering circumstances.

6 Sep 2017

Yoganatomy helps medical students to connect, recharge and remember

Take a deep breath in. As you breathe out, answer: what did your internal intercostal muscles do when you took that breath? This isn't a common question in most yoga classes, but it is part of Yoganatomy at the Perelman School of Medicine, a yoga class that combines traditional yoga practice with reinforcement of lessons in gross anatomy.

6 Sep 2017

Hurricane redux: A doctor tending to Texans taps lessons learned from Katrina

As Dr. Ruth Berggren digests the calamity affecting her new home state of Texas, she admits to some PTSD.

6 Sep 2017

WPA-funded research reveals that only 48% of Commonwealth countries have mental health policy

On World Mind Matters Day 2017, research funded by the World Psychiatric Association, of laws and policies in 52 countries of the Commonwealth reveals that only 48 per cent of Commonwealth countries have a mental health policy.

6 Sep 2017

Existing antidepressant drug could slow progression of Parkinson’s

Michigan State University scientists now have early proof that an antidepressant drug that's been around for more than 50 years could slow the progression of Parkinson's.

6 Sep 2017

Antidepressants used for chronic pain relief come with significant side effects

Chronic pain negatively impacts a person's quality of life. Often, over the counter pain medication, such as ibuprofen or aspirin, are ineffective in alleviating chronic pain. In these instances, a surprising choice is often a drug used to treat an entirely different condition - depression.

5 Sep 2017