Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

GET.ON online training course can effectively reduce depression risk

Inspired by promising tests of web-based health intervention measures, the researchers aimed to find out whether the risk of developing depression could be reduced by a six-week online training course called GET.ON. GET.ON is based on established therapy methods involving systematic problem solving and behavioural activation.

2 Jun 2016

Prenatal mild viral assault may cause central nervous system malfunctions in children

Babies born to mothers whose immune systems had to grapple with a viral assault -- even a mild one -- have increased risk of brain and central nervous system abnormalities, according to a new study.

2 Jun 2016

Infection may trigger development of Alzheimer's disease

A growing body of research on Alzheimer's disease suggests an infectious trigger for the development of the disease. According to Brian Balin, PhD, professor of pathology and chair of bio-medical sciences at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, this could be the key to stopping the destructive process of Alzheimer's before it even starts.

2 Jun 2016

Right carbohydrate intake linked to healthy aging

Most people know that a diet high in fiber helps to keep us "regular." Now Australian researchers have uncovered a surprising benefit of this often-undervalued dietary component.

2 Jun 2016

Clinical trial to evaluate ability of MRI to improve prostate cancer diagnosis

The Movember Foundation, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Prostate Cancer Canada today announced $3 million in funding for a new Phase III clinical trial to evaluate if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can replace the current standard of care to diagnose prostate cancer.

2 Jun 2016

Interventions for breast cancer patients show benefits based on women’s stress levels

Is a couples' support group or an enhanced couples' group therapy intervention with skill instruction more effective for helping women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer? According to research from an investigator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and colleagues from other facilities across the country, neither intervention is more dominant, but each has its own benefits depending on the stress level of the patient.

2 Jun 2016

Rome IV criteria helps diagnose, treat gastrointestinal conditions in children

A child feels nauseated all the time, but no medical test can find what is wrong. Or a child vomits regularly, but there's no illness or eating disorder to explain it. These, and other stomach and bowel-related problems with no obvious causes, are called functional gastrointestinal disorders.

1 Jun 2016

Altered circadian somatostatin expression linked to bipolar disorder

Results of the first study of its kind to link abnormalities in circadian rhythms to changes in specific neurotransmitters in people with bipolar disorder will be published this week in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

1 Jun 2016

Additional drug treatment options to prevent migraine may offer hope to sufferers

Preventing or shortening the duration of migraine attacks - established drug treatment options and those that could shape future therapies were discussed at the Congress of European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

1 Jun 2016

Folic acid intake during pregnancy could protect children from possible side-effect of antiepileptic drugs

If pregnant women take antiepileptic drugs, the child can develop autistic traits. The administration of folic acid preparations appears to be a suitable means of preventing this serious side-effect. This finding is suggested by a Norwegian study presented at the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

1 Jun 2016

Study finds decreased habenula activity in people with depression

A region of the brain that responds to bad experiences has the opposite reaction to expectations of aversive events in people with depression compared to healthy adults, finds a new UCL study funded by the Medical Research Council.

31 May 2016

New experimental drug may prevent stress damage in the brain

Chronic stress can make us worn-out, anxious, depressed--in fact, it can change the architecture of the brain.

31 May 2016

Patients undergoing breast cancer surgery with non-opiate anaesthesia may need less painkillers

New research presented at Euroanaesthesia 2016 shows that patients undergoing breast cancer surgery need less painkilling medication post-surgery if they have anaesthesia that is free of opioid drugs.

31 May 2016

Researchers shed more light on how brain rhythms organize memories across time

Just as members of an orchestra need a conductor to stay on tempo, neurons in the brain need well-timed waves of activity to organize memories across time. In the hippocampus--the brain's memory center--temporal ordering of the neural code is important for building a mental map of where you've been, where you are, and where you are going.

31 May 2016

Overcoming barriers in autism research: an interview with Gahan Pandina

There are currently no medications which address the core symptoms of ASD, and a significant barrier to their development is that researchers have historically lacked effective methods for measuring clinical outcomes.

30 May 2016

Inadequate monitoring places post-operative patients at risk for opioid-induced respiratory depression

Nearly 75 percent of hospitalized patients receiving opioids for pain management are not monitored according to hospital guidelines.

28 May 2016

Imaging data shows brains may have capacity to reverse schizophrenia effects

A team of scientists from across the globe have shown that the brains of patients with schizophrenia have the capacity to reorganize and fight the illness. This is the first time that imaging data has been used to show that our brains may have the ability to reverse the effects of schizophrenia.

28 May 2016