Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Research: Daily meditation may improve symptoms of anxiety and depression

Some 30 minutes of meditation daily may improve symptoms of anxiety and depression, a new Johns Hopkins analysis of previously published research suggests.

7 Jan 2014

White House seeks to tighten background checks to keep guns from mentally ill

The Obama administration is proposing regulatory changes to clarify who is prohibited from owning a gun for mental health reasons and to tighten background checks. In the meantime, lawmakers consider increasing mental health funding after the Sandy Hook massacre.

6 Jan 2014

Portage acquires approximately 54% equity in Biohaven

Portage Biotech Inc., is pleased to announce that it has acquired approximately 54% equity in Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Limited, a private corporation formed under the laws of the British Virgin Islands, for $3.5 million, payable as $1.75 million upfront and the balance in three installments over the next eleven months.

6 Jan 2014

SUI and UUI show complex interrelationship

A study by US researchers has failed to identify any modifiable risk factors for urgency urinary incontinence among women undergoing surgery for stress urinary incontinence.

6 Jan 2014

Sleep duration predicts chronic depression and anxiety

Short and long sleep duration, but not insomnia, predict a chronic course of depressive and anxiety disorders independent of symptom severity, research indicates.

6 Jan 2014

Professor studies impact of different levels of physical contact on premature infants

The benefit that premature infants gain from skin-to-skin contact with their mothers is measurable even 10 years after birth, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry.

6 Jan 2014

State highlights: Moving Americans out of nursing homes; Kansas to get Medicaid bonus; Va. gov. names mental health task force

For 60 years, Bobbie Jones, 88, had lived in the same Petworth rowhouse where she raised four children -- including one born in an upstairs bedroom -- and became a grandmother to 10 and a great-grandmother to nine. But last year, a stroke and a fall landed her in the hospital and then in a nursing home. In the past, a nursing home might have wound up being where she lived out the rest of her days. But through a new program that helps District residents receive care in their homes and communities, Jones was able to go home. She is among 58 people who have been relocated since the D.C. Office on Aging launched its Nursing Home Transition Program in April (Bahrampour, 1/2).

6 Jan 2014

Environmental stresses can help trigger depression in people vulnerable to SAD, post-holiday blues

The first Monday after the holidays can be a depressing time for people coping with a post-holiday letdown and a type of depression triggered by short days called seasonal affective disorder.

6 Jan 2014

People with severe mental illness may have higher risk for substance use

People with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a higher risk for substance use, especially cigarette smoking, and protective factors usually associated with lower rates of substance use do not exist in severe mental illness, according to a new study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

5 Jan 2014

Negative symptoms and cognition ‘relatively independent’ in schizophrenia

Diminished expression, a core negative symptom in people with schizophrenia, is significantly correlated with an array of cognitive functions, research by a Hong Kong team shows.

3 Jan 2014

‘First-line’ role for sleep deprivation in suicidal bipolar patients

Chronotherapy, involving total sleep deprivation and light therapy, brings about a rapid reduction in suicidality among patients with bipolar disorder experiencing a phase of major depression.

3 Jan 2014

Fear of childbirth puts women at higher risk of postpartum depression

Expectant women with prenatally diagnosed fear of childbirth are at an increased risk of postpartum depression, according to a study of over 500,000 mothers in Finland. Women with a history of depression are at the highest risk of postpartum depression.

3 Jan 2014

Study explains how brain training improves performance on a given task

Search for "brain training" on the Web. You'll find online exercises, games, software, even apps, all designed to prepare your brain to do better on any number of tasks. Do they work? University of Oregon psychologists say, yes, but "there's a catch."

3 Jan 2014

State roundup: 'Hope' for Texas' mental health system; rural farmers staying out of health exchanges; Oregon's medical error law

A selection of health policy news from Oregon, Texas, Maryland, California, Georgia and Wisconsin.

3 Jan 2014

Study indicates that smoking disrupts circadian clock function in both lungs and brain

As if cancer, heart disease and other diseases were not enough motivation to make quitting smoking your New Year's resolution, here's another wake-up call: New research published in the January 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal suggests that smoking disrupts the circadian clock function in both the lungs and the brain.

3 Jan 2014

Resting-state connectivity and metabolism dissociated in schizophrenia

A neuroimaging study suggests that patients with schizophrenia have difficulty deactivating the default mode network, rather than having increased absolute metabolic activity.

2 Jan 2014

Family history points to more severe bipolar disorder

A family history of mood disorders is associated with more severe symptoms at presentation and a poorer clinical course in patients with bipolar disorder, show findings from the STEP-BD study.

2 Jan 2014

Study finds only small therapeutic effect of CBT on schizophrenic symptoms

Health organisations around the world recommend a form of psychotherapy, known as cognitive-behavioural therapy or CBT, for patients with schizophrenia. Now, however, the most extensive study ever undertaken into its effect on the symptoms of the disorder finds little impact, according to a team of international researchers.

2 Jan 2014

Study examines prevalence, severity and factors associated with chronic pain after breast cancer surgery

In a study that included more than 800 women who had undergone surgery for breast cancer, the majority reported some level of pain 12 months after surgery, and factors associated with pain included chronic preoperative pain, chemotherapy, preoperative depression and pain in the area to be operated, according to a study appearing in the January 1 issue of JAMA.

2 Jan 2014

Rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are higher among people with psychotic disorders

In the largest ever assessment of substance use among people with severe psychiatric illness, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Southern California have found that rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are significantly higher among those who have psychotic disorders than among those in the general population.

2 Jan 2014

Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Research: Daily meditation may improve symptoms of anxiety and depression

White House seeks to tighten background checks to keep guns from mentally ill

Portage acquires approximately 54% equity in Biohaven

SUI and UUI show complex interrelationship

Sleep duration predicts chronic depression and anxiety

Professor studies impact of different levels of physical contact on premature infants

State highlights: Moving Americans out of nursing homes; Kansas to get Medicaid bonus; Va. gov. names mental health task force

Environmental stresses can help trigger depression in people vulnerable to SAD, post-holiday blues

People with severe mental illness may have higher risk for substance use

Negative symptoms and cognition ‘relatively independent’ in schizophrenia

‘First-line’ role for sleep deprivation in suicidal bipolar patients

Fear of childbirth puts women at higher risk of postpartum depression

Study explains how brain training improves performance on a given task

State roundup: 'Hope' for Texas' mental health system; rural farmers staying out of health exchanges; Oregon's medical error law

Study indicates that smoking disrupts circadian clock function in both lungs and brain

Resting-state connectivity and metabolism dissociated in schizophrenia

Family history points to more severe bipolar disorder

Study finds only small therapeutic effect of CBT on schizophrenic symptoms

Study examines prevalence, severity and factors associated with chronic pain after breast cancer surgery

Rates of smoking, drinking and drug use are higher among people with psychotic disorders

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Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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