Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Chronic pain patients at high-risk for comorbid substance abuse benefit from 3-week program

Research presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine's 28th Annual Meeting shows that substance use education incorporated into a cognitive behavioral rehabilitation programming is effective to improve pain and function for the chronic pain patient at high-risk for comorbid substance abuse.

27 Feb 2012

Medication plus parent training effective in treating children with ASD

Children with autism spectrum disorders who also have serious behavioral problems responded better to medication combined with training for their parents than to treatment with medication alone, Yale researchers and their colleagues report in the February issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

27 Feb 2012

Project GREAT earns ACP's 2012 Award for Creativity in Psychiatric Education

An approach to treatment that focuses on recovery from mental illness, not the treatment of it, is gaining national acclaim for the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia Health Sciences University.

27 Feb 2012

Statins may reduce risk of depression in patients with heart disease

Patients with heart disease who took cholesterol-lowering statins were significantly less likely to develop depression than those who did not, in a study by Mary Whooley, MD, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

27 Feb 2012

Work stress soars with recession: Study finds

A latest study suggests that work-related stress has increased by 40 per cent as economic prosperity has declined. It shows that the number of people taking time off work has risen by 25 per cent between 2005 and 2009 as workers struggle with fears over job security, a lack of managerial direction and poor communication.

26 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Elizabeth Warren on contraception mandate, comparison shopping for drugs, 'dismantling' Illinois

In this Kaiser Health News Different Takes feature, The University Of Maryland's Dr. E. Albert Reece and The Heritage Foundation's Stuart Butler discuss how health enterprise zones, a new take on an old economic development idea, might be used to improve the health of the state's minority populations (2/23). Read the commentaries by Reece and Butler.

24 Feb 2012

State roundup: Calif. prison medical facilities; New Ore. Rx dispensing rules

David Martin, who helped write Governor Deval Patrick's health care payment reform bill, is leaving. Martin, the Director of Health Care Policy and Strategy in the office of Health and Human Services, is taking a job at Covidien as Senior Director of Health Care Economics and Policy.

24 Feb 2012

New drug for Huntington's disease might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that a new drug for Huntington's disease - pridopidine or dopamine stabiliser ACR16 - might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action. Researchers have found that at very low concentrations, ACR16 binds to the sigma-1 receptor, a protein in the brain important to neuronal function and survival.

24 Feb 2012

Depressive symptoms of fathers lead to mental health problems in children

Voluminous research literature attests to the multiple negative consequences of maternal depression and depressive symptoms for the health and development of children. In contrast, there is a profound paucity of information about depressive symptoms in fathers according to a follow up study by NYU School of Medicine researchers in the February 23rd online edition of Maternal and Child Health Journal.

24 Feb 2012

Cyberonics third quarter net sales increase 16% to $54.5 million

Cyberonics, Inc. today announced results for the quarter ended January 27, 2012.

24 Feb 2012

New Huntington's drug might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

24 Feb 2012

Study looks at link between family members' behaviours and hoarders

People collect things all the time: books, newspapers, stamps. But when a casual hobby turns into an incessant need to hoard, it becomes a disorder that requires intervention. But how much of hoarders' behaviours are influenced by their loved ones? Ryerson researchers are investigating these relationships in a new study looking at the link between family members' behaviours and individuals who hoard.

24 Feb 2012

Penn researchers produce first state-by-state sleep maps for the U.S.

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have put sleeplessness on the map - literally. The research team, analyzing nationwide data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has produced the first state-by-state sleep maps for the United States, revealing that residents of Southern states suffer from the most sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue, while residents on the West Coast report the least amount of problems.

24 Feb 2012

Blog examines gap between mental health disease burden, attention given to problem

This post in KPLU's "Humanosphere" blog examines the "gap between the disease burden of mental illness and the amount of funding and attention devoted to solving the problem," referencing a post published Friday in the Global Health Interest Forum's "Blog of Scientists for Global Health," written by Paul Southworth, a visiting scholar on malaria and vaccine science at the NIH.

24 Feb 2012

Physical activity keeps workers mentally fit

Obesity can be a dangerous risk to our physical health, but according to a Tel Aviv University researcher, avoiding the gym can also take a toll on our mental health, leading to depression and greater burnout rates at work.

24 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: A missing contraception question, Obama's budget blind spot, NEJM on Medicare Advantage

David Brooks and Gail Collins discuss the surprising role debates over contraception, abortion and unwed mothers have played so far in the campaign.

23 Feb 2012

Migraine and depression link found for women

A new study finds that women who suffer from migraine headaches may be about 40% more likely to develop depression than women who have never had migraines. The results will be presented in April at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology at New Orleans.

23 Feb 2012

States wage internal battles to fund mental health systems, overhauls

States are grappling with funding mental health programs: Iowa lawmakers are fighting over how to pay for an overhaul of the system, Kansas' mental health workforce is dwindling and Illinois cuts endanger emergency care for the mentally ill.

23 Feb 2012

States propose more Medicaid cuts, changes to save money

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing cutting $2.7 billion from that state's Medicaid program. Also, New Mexico's governor is proposing Medicaid patients pay more out of pocket if they go to the ER for care that's not an emergency. Georgia may drug-test Medicaid patients, and California Medicaid changes are questioned by patient advocates.

23 Feb 2012

Intravenous ibuprofen: A key addition to perioperative pain management

Hendersonville Medical Center today announced that anesthesiologist Peter B. Kroll, M.D., has published an article in the January issue of peer-reviewed medical journal Pain Management.

23 Feb 2012