Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Researchers discover new pathway to reduce paradoxical pain

For individuals with agonizing pain, it is a cruel blow when the gold-standard medication actually causes more pain. Adults and children whose pain gets worse when treated with morphine may be closer to a solution, based on research published in the January 6 on-line edition of Nature Neuroscience.

7 Jan 2013

Diabetes as a risk factor for depression

Diabetes is associated with a significantly increased risk for depressive symptoms, show findings from a large meta-analysis.

4 Jan 2013

Extensive white matter abnormalities in early schizophrenia

Patients with first-episode schizophrenia exhibit widespread white matter abnormalities, results from a brain imaging study show.

4 Jan 2013

Psychologic treatment has long-term benefits for bipolar patients

Psychoeducation and cognitive behavioral therapy combined with pharmacologic treatment provides significant long-term benefits for patients with refractory bipolar disorder, researchers report.

4 Jan 2013

Women with menopausal transition experience cognitive difficulties

The memory problems that many women experience in their 40s and 50s as they approach and go through menopause are both real and appear to be most acute during the early period of post menopause. That is the conclusion of a study which appears today in the journal Menopause.

4 Jan 2013

New York Times examines grassroots HIV efforts aimed at gay men in China

The New York Times examines grassroots HIV/AIDS outreach and testing efforts aimed at gay men in China. The newspaper highlights "Lingnan Health Center, an organization run largely by gay volunteers," and recounts the story of Le, "a gay man who would give only his first name."

4 Jan 2013

PKM-zeta-less adult mice still able to form long-term memories

A study by Johns Hopkins researchers has shown that a widely accepted model of long-term memory formation - that it hinges on a single enzyme in the brain - is flawed. The new study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of Nature, found that mice lacking the enzyme that purportedly builds memory were in fact still able to form long-term memories as well as normal mice could.

4 Jan 2013

New insight into 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Research out of the George Washington University (GW), published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals another piece of the puzzle in a genetic developmental disorder that causes behavioral diseases such as autism.

4 Jan 2013

New technique can precisely add or delete genes in living cells

Researchers at MIT, the Broad Institute and Rockefeller University have developed a new technique for precisely altering the genomes of living cells by adding or deleting genes.

4 Jan 2013

Roundup: Ill. to scrutinize Medicaid eligibility; 20% of Fla. nursing homes on 'watch' list; Conn.'s 'inadequate' mental health care system

Fort Pierce resident Cathi Odom recently learned that her mother's nursing home is one of 140 on the state's "Watch List." Families for Better Care, a citizen advocacy organization, found that one in five facilities in Florida are on that list for not meeting state standards, or for not making corrections quickly enough. Twelve of the homes have been on the watch list for more than 100 days. Brian Lee, executive director for Families for Better Care, says that is unacceptable.

4 Jan 2013

Longer looks: DIY abortions and the law; Helping other parents reach out to mentally ill children; Human growth hormone and Big Pharma

McCormack knew that an abortion would cost $400 to $2,000, depending on how far along she was. ... She couldn't come up with that kind of money. So she called her older sister, who owned a computer, and asked her to order abortion pills for her on the Internet.

3 Jan 2013

Acute stress in childhood increases serious mental illness risk

The sudden death of a close family member in childhood is associated with an increased risk for serious mental illnesses in later life, study results show.

3 Jan 2013

Link between SSRI use in pregnancy and stillbirth refuted

Study findings suggest that use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy does not pose any increased infant mortality risk.

3 Jan 2013

Comorbid Axis I disorders highly prevalent in mood disorder patients

More than 80% of patients with mood disorders have at least one comorbid Axis I disorder, study results show.

3 Jan 2013

Hippocampal size linked to illness severity, functioning in schizophrenia

Results from an Italian study show that greater hippocampal deflation is associated with increased illness severity and poorer social functioning in patients with schizophrenia.

3 Jan 2013

Mothers should let their babies ‘cry it out’ when they wake up at night: Study

Today, mothers of newborns find themselves confronting a common dilemma: Should they let their babies "cry it out" when they wake up at night? Or should they rush to comfort their crying little one?

3 Jan 2013

Psychiatric patients at risk of hospitalization due to protected records

Medical centers that elect to keep psychiatric files private and separate from the rest of a person's medical record may be doing their patients a disservice, a Johns Hopkins study concludes.

3 Jan 2013

Electroconvulsive therapy releases opiate-like substances

Researchers used electricity on certain regions in the brain of a patient with chronic, severe facial pain to release an opiate-like substance that's considered one of the body's most powerful painkillers.

3 Jan 2013

Prenatal brain development may be important influence on psychiatric risk later in life

Some brain changes that are found in adults with common gene variants linked to disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and autism can also be seen in the brain scans of newborns.

3 Jan 2013

Bisexual men more likely to conceal their sexual orientation

Bisexual men are less likely to disclose and more likely to conceal their sexual orientation than gay men. In the first study to look at the mental health of this population, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that greater concealment of homosexual behavior was associated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety.

3 Jan 2013