Feature Channels: Mental Health

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Burnout among young teachers appears to be contagious, indicates a new study led by Michigan State University education scholars.

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Having a good reason to get out of bed in the morning means you are more likely to sleep better at night with less sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, reports a new Northwestern Medicine and Rush University Medical Center study based on older adults.This is the first study to show having a purpose in life specifically results in fewer sleep disturbances and improved sleep quality and over a long period of time.

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Sexism is alive and well, but this time men are the target. A new study debunks a long-standing theory that sexual assault isn’t as emotionally traumatizing for men as it is for women and that it doesn’t result in similar emotional impacts, especially depression. Men make up about 38 percent of sexual assault and rape incidents reported, and those in the military are particularly vulnerable and more unlikely to report an assault.

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One of the many negative consequences when fetuses are exposed to alcohol in the womb is an increased risk for drug addiction later in life. Neuroscientists in the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions are discovering why.

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Depression affects more than 300 million people annually. Now, a new study has pinpointed how one particular gene plays a central role – either protecting from stress or triggering a downward spiral, depending on its level of activity.

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A new research article proposes that more attention be given to what’s right with children who grow up in high-stress environments so their unique strengths and abilities can be used to more effectively tailor education, jobs and interventions to fit them. Stress-adapted children and youth possess traits — such as heightened vigilance, attention shifting and empathic accuracy — that aren’t tapped in traditional learning and testing situations. In addition, these skills may actually allow at-risk children to perform better than their peers from low-risk backgrounds when faced with uncertainty and stress.

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Neuroscientists from the University of Chicago argue that research on how memories form in the brain should consider activity of groups of brain cells working together, not just the connections between them

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A Montreal study confirms the link between marijuana use and psychotic-like experiences in a Canadian adolescent cohort.

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Symptoms of PTSD can include irritability, isolation, agitation, jumpiness, nightmares, sleep disturbances and substance abuse. All of these can take a toll not just on the person with PTSD, but on their loved ones as well.

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Researchers have identified gut microbiota that interact with brain regions associated with mood and behavior. This may be the first time that behavioral and neurobiological differences associated with microbial composition in healthy humans have been identified.

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The connection between slowed walking speed and declining mental acuity appears to arise in the right hippocampus, a finger-shaped region buried deep in the brain at ear-level, according to a 14-year study conducted by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

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A new study reinforces long-held suspicions that the brain chemical serotonin, a molecule usually associated with mood, appetite and libido, makes a direct contribution to the actions of cocaine. Scientists can now clearly see details of how the brain uses serotonin not just to regulate mood, but also to drive both rapid and long-lasting changes in the brain. They suspect these changes may contribute to the brain modifications that ultimately trap users in an addicted state.

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Religious participation is linked to lower suicide rates in many parts of the world, including the United States and Russia, but does not protect against the risk of suicide in sections of Europe and Asia, finds new research by a Michigan State University scholar.

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Fifty-one percent of all opioid medications distributed in the U.S. each year are prescribed to adults with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, according to new research from the University of Michigan and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

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University of Iowa researchers have identified a brain region involved in cocaine addiction. The findings could lead to targeted drugs or improved behavioral treatments for substance addiction, including opioid dependency. Findings published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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Military sexual trauma (MST) is defined as sexual harassment and/or sexual trauma experienced during the course of military service. It includes uninvited or unwanted verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature, such as attention, verbal remarks, touching, sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape. It happens to both men and women, and can have not only mental and physical but also behavioral health consequences such as substance use/abuse. Recent findings will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.

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Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is the top-ranked pediatric hospital in California again, based on the latest rankings announced by U.S. News & World Report. CHLA was also named to the publication’s Honor Roll of Best Children’s Hospitals, a designation bestowed on elite pediatric academic medical centers that excel in multiple specialties.

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The Children’s Hospital of Michigan at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) is among the best in the country in seven (7) pediatric specialties according to the new 2017-18 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. The Children’s Hospital of Michigan is nationally ranked in: Cancer, Gastroenterology & Gastrointestinal Surgery, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology and Urology.

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The proverb, “physician heal thyself,” is probably more relevant today than it was in biblical times with the fast pace of life, the impact of multitasking and the unending bombardment of information, which have made emotional exhaustion almost certain. And this is especially true for obstetricians and gynecologists who experience professional burnout rates between 40 to 75 percent.

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The first three months of sobriety pose the greatest risk for relapse, and the greatest challenge for intervention efforts. Results from a pilot study suggest that a lifestyle physical activity intervention supported by a Fitbit device can successfully supplement existing alcohol treatment among depressed women during early recovery. These results will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.

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The more alcohol that people drink, the more their cells appear to age. In a new study that will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28, researchers found that alcoholic patients had shortened telomere lengths, placing them at greater risk for age-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia..

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June is National PTSD Awareness Month, and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is bringing awareness to this disorder with six facts you should know about PTSD.

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The Senate bill aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act would irreparably weaken Medicaid, significantly increase the number of Americans without health insurance coverage and allow states to waive essential health benefits, such as mental and behavioral health care and substance use treatment, according to the American Psychological Association.

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Despite the growing number of children and adolescents identified as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is no objective diagnosis protocol. A Virginia Tech professor is changing that process.

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Different types of memories stored in the same neuron of the marine snail Aplysia can be selectively erased, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and McGill University and published today in Current Biology.

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Stress during the workday can lead to overeating and unhealthy food choices at dinnertime, but there could be a buffer to this harmful pattern.

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Specific cerebral circuitry bridges chemical changes deep in the brain and the more outward behavioral expressions associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could lead to more objective biomarkers for the disorder, according to a comprehensive review of rapidly changing data published June 22 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

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UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have identified a key protein that helps trigger ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects in the brain, a crucial step to developing alternative treatments to the controversial drug being dispensed in a growing number of clinics across the country.

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Mount Sinai study suggests that this gives them certain advantages over their peers

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As people grow older, those who are securely attached to God are more likely to have a sense of well-being — and the more frequently they pray, the greater that feeling, Baylor University sociologists have found. But those who feel more distant from God do not receive the same benefit.

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The majority of college-aged male aggressors of physical, sexual and emotional violence also reported being victims of violence themselves, both in childhood and as young adults

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It seems like we are hearing more and more about mindfulness-based meditation and the role it plays in stress reduction. But what exactly is mindfulness-based meditation and why is the practice getting so much attention?

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According to a new study, individuals with relatively elevated symptoms of Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder (ASAD) respond more favorably to advertisements with home concepts.

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This study investigated whether children whose mothers had an alcohol-related disorder would be at risk of early-life contact with the justice system, which can lead to many negative outcomes across an individual’s life span. Such outcomes can include repeated contact with the justice system, social disadvantages and marginalization, and mental-health and substance-use issues.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital celebrated the groundbreaking today of the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion, a freestanding facility fully dedicated to children and adolescents with behavioral health conditions. Thanks to a transformational $50 million gift from Big Lots and Big Lots Foundation, it will be the largest behavioral health treatment and research center dedicated to children and adolescents on a pediatric medical campus in the U.S.

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A new study found state medical boards ask physicians much more extensive and intrusive questions about mental health conditions than for physical health conditions — without improving patient safety.

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You can’t venture on to the Internet these days without stumbling across some sort of editorial about the Netflix show Thirteen Reasons Why.The Chicago Tribune has called the show “highly problematic” and “dangerously wrong” (VanNoord, 2017).

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Mount Sinai study establishes mechanism by which an early window of exposure defines the response to stress in adulthood

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Lil’ Rhody Riders provides mobility, freedom and plain-old fun to children with disabilities by modifying toy cars so they can operate them. Physical therapy and engineering students work together to build the cars, that also provide therapeutic benefits.

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Parents don’t need to talk about their trauma to share their struggles, Instead, they should explain the PTSD-related behavior their children might be witnessing.

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In a new study, UCLA researchers hypothesized that simple biomarkers — urinary stress hormones dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine, and cortisol — would be associated with more calcium buildup in the coronary arteries, which indicates the presence of coronary heart disease, and that this effect would be stronger in women than in men. However, the researchers found that this relationship was actually similar in women and men: Although women had higher average levels of urine stress hormones than men, the association between stress and having asymptomatic coronary heart disease as measured by coronary calcium was similar in both genders. In particular, urinary cortisol was a strong independent predictor of asymptomatic coronary heart disease.

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A group of University of Louisville researchers and engineers has developed a free mobile app designed to help health care providers easily assess and identify women in need of mental health care for intense grief after a pregnancy loss or newborn death.

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Health care providers should focus on the overall quality of psychiatric care, depression screening and outpatient services to prevent suicide, not the number of available inpatient psychiatric beds, argue researchers from the University of Chicago and Columbia University in a new statistical analysis.

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Studies provide an insight into elder abuse and self-neglect in relationship to its two-year incidence, adult children perpetrators and previous child abuse, levels of physical function, and suicidal ideation.

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Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine announced the publication of results from a multi-site phase 2 clinical trial with brexanolone, an investigational medication, in the treatment of severe postpartum depression (PPD).

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UAB study examines relationships between stigma, discrimination, abuse and depression in American Muslim women.

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People who suffer from insomnia are three times more likely to report thoughts of suicide and death during the past 30 days than those without the condition, reports a new meta-analysis from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The study is the first to control for depression and anxiety and evaluate in-depth the relationship between the broadly defined terms of insomnia and suicidality to reveal trends that may inform future targeted treatment for some of the 32 million individuals struggling with insomnia.

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Digital games can effectively teach refugee children much-needed skills – including a new language, cognitive skills, and coding – while also improving their mental health, finds research by New York University, the City University of New York, and Turkey’s Bahcesehir University.

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Memory loss, language problems and other symptoms of cognitive decline are strongly associated with diseases of the small blood vessels in the brain, according to a study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.