Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Ten hospital programs recognized for improving health of local communities

From street outreach in Burlington, Vermont to a New York City taxi network to infant mortality prevention in Detroit, ten hospital programs were named Programs of Excellence for their achievements in improving the health of local communities. Each program was awarded $10,000 through the Hospital Charitable Services Awards, a national program sponsored by Jackson Healthcare.

10 Feb 2015

Mice genetically deficient in serotonin are more vulnerable to social stressors

Mice genetically deficient in serotonin -- a crucial brain chemical implicated in clinical depression -- are more vulnerable than their normal littermates to social stressors, according to a Duke study appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

10 Feb 2015

New study shows that chronic narcotic use more prevalent in children with IBD

Chronic narcotic use is more than twice as prevalent in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), compared with children without this disease, according to a new study1 published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

10 Feb 2015

FDA accepts NDA filing for Inspirion Delivery Technologies' investigational drug, MorphaBond ER

Inspirion Delivery Technologies, LLC, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused solely on the development of Abuse-Deterrent Formulations (ADFs) of opioid products, together with its financial partner Trygg Pharma Group, announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has accepted for filing the New Drug Application ("NDA") submitted on November 21, 2014 for its investigational drug, MorphaBond ER, an extended-release (ER), abuse-deterrent formulation of morphine.

10 Feb 2015

Scientists show pattern of connectivity in newly-generated hippocampal neurons

Research by a team of scientists from Cologne, Munich and Mainz has shown an unprecedented degree of connectivity reorganization in newly-generated hippocampal neurons in response to experience, suggesting their direct contribution to the processing of complex information in the adult brain.

9 Feb 2015

Extremely low birth weight babies at increased risk for psychiatric disorders

The good news is that people born as extremely low birth weight babies are less likely than others to have alcohol or substance use disorders as adults. The less encouraging news is that they may have a higher risk of other types of psychiatric problems.

9 Feb 2015

Prevalence of geriatric conditions among older, insured patients with diabetes vary little by ethnicity

In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers found that the prevalence of geriatric conditions and diabetic complications among older, insured patients with diabetes did not vary significantly by ethnicity.

9 Feb 2015

New study sheds light on anorexia nervosa

A study led by Howard Steiger, PhD, head of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute Eating Disorders Program, in Montreal, in collaboration with Linda Booij, a researcher with Sainte-Justine Hospital and an assistant professor at Queen's University, is the first to observe effects suggesting that the longer one suffers from active anorexia nervosa (AN), the more likely they are to show disorder-relevant alterations in DNA methylation.

9 Feb 2015

Children with history of institutional care have increased risk for autism, shows study

A recent study published in the February 2015 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry demonstrates that children who were abandoned to institutional care have an increased risk for behaviors similar to those seen in children with autism, including impaired social communication.

9 Feb 2015

Study explores effects of medical marijuana in children and teens with ASD, ADHD

As medical marijuana becomes increasingly accepted, there is growing interest in its use for children and adolescents with developmental and behavioral problems such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a review in the February Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

9 Feb 2015

Added benefit of lurasidone drug not proven for schizophrenia

The drug lurasidone (trade name Latuda) has been available since November 2014 for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care examined in a dossier assessment whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy.

8 Feb 2015

Study gives better look at how parents experience stress

In stressful family circumstances, parenthood sometimes take a bigger toll on fathers' mental health.

6 Feb 2015

Psychiatric Times introduces new information on anxiety disorders

UBM Medica US announces that Psychiatric Times, a leading online community for mental health professionals, introduces the latest information on anxiety disorders.

6 Feb 2015

Newly found peptide may reduce desire for food

Researchers have identified a peptide and hormone that when administered to a specific area of the brain may reduce the desire for food. The study, which appears in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, may one day lead to medications that treat obesity and binge eating disorders.

5 Feb 2015

New research shows that time-based intervention can improve self-control

A study conducted by researchers at Kansas State University is the first to demonstrate increases in both self-control and timing precision as a result of a time-based intervention. This new research may be an important clue for developing behavioral approaches to treat disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, substance abuse and obesity.

5 Feb 2015

Researchers report that neurons in the brain are connected like a social network

Neurons in the brain are wired like a social network, report researchers from Biozentrum, University of Basel. Each nerve cell has links with many others, but the strongest bonds form between the few cells most similar to each other.

5 Feb 2015

Endogenous cannabinoids linked to weight gain in people with schizophrenia

Cannabinoids may be involved in the weight gain that occurs in people with schizophrenia who are treated with the antipsychotic olanzapine, according to a pilot study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology by researchers at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and Université de Montréal.

5 Feb 2015

Study examines four risk factors that can lead families to varying degrees of hunger

Food insecurity creates a host of unhealthy consequences. The roads leading there can be very different. Understanding those differences may provide a clearer picture of hunger in families and a better way of responding to families' needs. A University of Houston study examined four risk factors for families that can lead to varying degrees of hunger.

5 Feb 2015

Johns Hopkins student wins NCRC's 2015 Grand Prize

The National Collegiate Research Conference sponsored by the Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association awarded its 2015 Grand Prize to Mahima Sukumar, an undergraduate student at The Johns Hopkins University, working in the lab of Keri Martinowich, Ph.D., at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development.

5 Feb 2015

Brain scans can predict therapeutic responses to talk therapy

UNC School of Medicine researchers have shown that brain scans can predict which patients with clinical depression are most likely to benefit from a specific kind of talk therapy.

4 Feb 2015