Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Close contact strategy does not work for young people after suicide attempts

Researchers, doctors and patients tend to agree that during the high-risk period after an attempted suicide, the treatment of choice is close contact, follow-up and personal interaction in order to prevent a tragic repeat. Now, however, new research shows that this strategy does not work. These surprising results from Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have just been published in the British Medical Journal.

24 Aug 2012

Schizophrenia patients benefit from text message reminders

A text message-based service may help improve medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia, researchers report.

23 Aug 2012

Nicotine dependence risk increased in bipolar disorder

Adults with mood and anxiety disorders are significantly more likely to be smokers than the general population, a US study of data from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions shows.

23 Aug 2012

New UCLA study pinpoints unique human patterns of gene activity in the brain

Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin? A new UCLA study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative.

23 Aug 2012

Food insecure HIV-infected poor people more likely to visit ERs

UCSF researchers found that poor HIV-infected individuals living in San Francisco are significantly more likely to visit emergency rooms and to have hospital stays if they lack access to food of sufficient quality and quantity for a healthy life.

23 Aug 2012

SAMHSA announces 2012 Minority Fellowship Program grant

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Administrator Pamela S. Hyde today announced the award of a minority fellowship grant of up to $1.6 million to expand the behavioral health workforce in order to reduce health disparities and improve health care outcomes for traditionally underserved populations.

23 Aug 2012

A father’s stress can lead to psychiatric disorders in female offspring

A study in mice conducted by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) suggests that a woman's risk of anxiety and dysfunctional social behavior may depend on the experiences of her parents, particularly fathers, when they were young.

23 Aug 2012

State roundup: Restraining order issued in Mo. health exchange fight

A judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday against Missouri's secretary of state, Robin Carnahan, to prevent her from finalizing the language of a ballot question on health insurance exchanges. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, sought the restraining order while a state court considers whether the language of the ballot question is biased, a claim leveled by Kinder and the state's top Republicans.

23 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Medicare as a 401(K) plan; Health doublespeak

Older adults are understandably anxious about the political sniping over the future financing of Medicare. That is precisely the intention of the presidential campaigns. Yet the cross-fire over who will cut Medicare by how much sidesteps a critical issue about the future of our medical care: If we must ration our care to hold down costs in the future, how can we do it in a fair, efficient and transparent way?

23 Aug 2012

Metta World Peace to receive special recognition award from SAMHSA

Metta World Peace of the Los Angeles Lakers is receiving a special recognition award from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for his work to raise awareness about mental health issues and for his financial support of nonprofit organizations that provide mental health awareness and treatment services for children.

23 Aug 2012

Study provides new direction for research in bipolar disorder during pregnancy

The impact of bipolar disorder during pregnancy has been hotly contended among the research community. Now, a new study from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University is sorting out the debate and calling for more targeted, prospective research.

23 Aug 2012

Preemptive cognitive training can help the brain function normally later in life

Preemptive cognitive training—an early intervention to address neuropsychiatric deficiencies—can help the brain function normally later in life, a team of researchers has found through a series of experiments on laboratory rats.

23 Aug 2012

Pain intensity not only predictor for hysterectomy

Presurgical and surgical factors, and postsurgical pain intensity, should be taken into account when providing rescue analgesia to women after hysterectomy, researchers say.

22 Aug 2012

Schizophrenia patients benefit from text message reminders

A text message-based service may help improve medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia, researchers report.

22 Aug 2012

HIV-related stigma keeps Kenyan pregnant women from having babies in health-care facilities

The fear of being labeled HIV-positive is strong enough to keep mothers in one Kenyan province from having babies in health-care facilities, according to a study published online today in the journal PLOS Medicine. Communities there have come to see clinics and skilled care as mostly for HIV-positive women.

22 Aug 2012

Brand-name drug makers bet coupons will help their products edge out generic competition

If brand-name prescription medicines cost you as little as generic pills, which would you choose? A few drugmakers are betting Americans will stick with the name they know. They've begun offering U.S. patients coupons to reduce copayments on brand-name medicines and compete with new generic versions of the drugs.

22 Aug 2012

Social phobia prevalent in OCD patients

Social phobia is common among patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and frequently co-occurs with other related disorders, researchers report.

21 Aug 2012

Interhemispheric coordination reduced in schizophrenia

Results from a US study show that patients with schizophrenia have significantly decreased interhemispheric coordination compared with mentally healthy individuals.

21 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 21, 2012

Today's headlines include reports from the campaign trail, where House candidates are turning up the Medicare debate; and from the health care marketkplace, where Aetna acquired Coventry Health, a Medicare and Medicaid insurer.

21 Aug 2012

Spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith

Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world's major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith, according to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health - particularly mental health - and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual's spiritual inclinations.

21 Aug 2012