Feature Channels: Mental Health

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Here's another reason to start saving for that beach house: New research suggests that residents with a view of the water are less stressed.

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Events will address challenges for older adults, children, LGBT population and minority boys and men.

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The Handbook of Family Therapy illuminates the common threads in couple and family therapies and a range of perspectives. It explores the integration of theory, clinical wisdom, and practical and meaningful research that produces the best understanding of family relationships as well as the best treatment options.

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Univ. of Iowa biologists have homed in on the genes that tell brain cells to grow the tendrils critical for passing messages throughout the body. In a new study, they report certain genes in nearby neurons need to be exact matches in order for the signaling branches to grow properly. Results published in the journal Cell Reports.

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In a study published in March in the journal PLOS One, University of Iowa computer scientists used two years of Twitter data to measure users' life satisfaction, a component of happiness.

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The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care, today announced that they signed a strategic alliance on a broad, multi-years program of clinical studies in cancer supportive and palliative care.

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Young and single men are at risk of being addicted to video games. The addiction indicates an escape from ADHD and psychiatric disorder.

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Alcohol-induced blackouts, defined as memory loss of all or a portion of events that occurred during a drinking episode, are reported by approximately 50 percent of drinkers, and are associated with a wide range of negative consequences, including injury and death. Identifying the factors that contribute to and result from alcohol-induced blackouts is critical for developing effective prevention programs. This manuscript is an updated review of clinical research that has focused on alcohol-induced blackouts. It outlines practical and clinical implications of these findings and provides recommendations for future research.

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By turning skin cells into brain neurons, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified that certain tiny molecules aiding in gene expression, known as microRNAs (miRNAs), are under-expressed in the brains of the 14 schizophrenia patients they studied.

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Results of a multi-institutional national study of nearly 700 people who survived life-threatening illness with a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) suggest that a substantial majority of them are at high risk for persistent depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder — especially if they are female, young and unemployed.

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Researchers present data and a simple statistical network model that describe an unanticipated property of newly formed, immature neurons in the dentate gyrus.

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More than half of adults believe children today are more stressed, experience less quality family time and have worse mental and emotional health.

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Smoking is a real problem for people with schizophrenia. A research team observed in schizophrenia smokers, when presented with appetitive cigarette images, greater neuronal activation of a specific region of the brain, the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in the brain reward system. The study confirms the tendency to smoke of people with schizophrenia and low smoking cessation rates.

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Gary Solomon, MD presented a lecture on Concussion and Mental Health today (April 16) at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) in Dallas, TX.

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California's investment in a social marketing campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness may provide the state with positive economic benefits by increasing employment and worker productivity, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

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Veterans suffering from mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder — as well as their families — now have access to highly individualized, intensive treatment that draws on UCLA’s nationally recognized expertise in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and integrative medicine. A new mental health program provided by UCLA Operation Mend is designed to heal the hidden, yet lingering, wounds of war.

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Kids who decide to join gangs are more likely to be depressed and suicidal - and these mental health problems only worsen after joining, finds a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University criminologist.

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New research suggests that it might be possible to create a growth chart of brain networks that could identify early signs of attention difficulties and, potentially, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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Reston, VA. April 13, 2016. Eating disorders know no boundaries. They affect people of all genders, ages, races, ethnicities, body shapes and weights, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses. To assist the professional community in learning more about how to treat diverse individuals with eating disorders, the Academy for Eating Disorders will host the 2016 International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED) May 5-7 2016 in San Francisco, California.

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The majority of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recover after early treatment -- but a substantial number still suffer for years after a traumatic event even with early clinical interventions, according to a study publishing online April 12 in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

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Kelly Mills, a finalist in the SSHRC Storyteller's challenge, tells the tale of her work with the Memory Writers, a remarkable group that has been writing and sharing stories with each other for more than 25 years.

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In a general sense, medical studies support the popular intuition -- a staple of movies and literature -- that suicidal behavior and substance misuse are linked. But the relationship between the two is not so simple. A new study of hundreds of suicidal emergency department (ED) patients from around the U.S. found that the significance of the link varied with age, gender and race. Across the board, however, the use of cocaine and alcohol together was a red flag.

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UCLA researchers found that workouts, in addition to brain games, appear to trigger a protein that restores connections between neurons in young people with schizophrenia.

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Screening nearly doubled detection of patients who were considering or had attempted suicide.

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Climate change is a significant threat to the health of Americans, creating unprecedented health problems in areas where they might not have previously occurred, according to a report released April 4 by the White House.

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Injury death – including those due to intentional injury, with suicide most common, as well as unintentional injury, with motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) causing a majority – is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Postmortem examinations commonly test for blood alcohol concentration (BAC). This study utilizes postmortem data to examine the hypotheses that high, and very high, BACs are more common among MVC decedents than among suicide decedents, whereas low alcohol levels are more common among suicide decedents.

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Blogger discusses use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, with HIV patients.

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New study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City found that effectively treating depression can reduce a patient’s chance of having a stroke, heart failure, a heart attack or death.

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Among military veterans identifying as transgender, 90 percent have at least one mental health diagnosis, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, and nearly 50 percent had a hospitalization after a suicide attempt or suicidal thoughts. These study findings, from a single veterans’ hospital, will be presented Friday at The Endocrine Society’s 98th annual meeting in Boston.

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Like an endlessly repeating video loop, horrible memories plague people with post-traumatic stress disorder. But a new study in veterans shows the promise of mindfulness training for enhancing the ability to manage those thoughts if they come up. It also shows the veterans’ brains changed in ways that could help switch off that endless loop.

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New research suggests that looking at structures in the right side of the brain may help predict who will better recover from language problems after a stroke, according to a study published in Neurology®, a medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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For most people, the culmination of a good life is a “good death,” though what that means exactly is a matter of considerable consternation. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine surveyed published, English-language, peer-reviewed reports of qualitative and quantitative studies defining a “good death,” ultimately identifying 11 core themes associated with dying well.

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Knowing that there is a small chance of getting a painful electric shock can lead to significantly more stress than knowing that you will definitely be shocked.

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Genes are not destiny in determining whether a person will suffer from depression, reports a new study. Nurture can override nature. When rats genetically bred for depression received the equivalent of rat “psychotherapy,” their depressed behavior was alleviated. And, after the depressed rats had the therapy, some of their blood biomarkers for depression changed to non-depressed levels.

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Providing expedited access to Medicaid to people with serious mental illness as they are released from prison increases their use of mental health and general medical services, but does not reduce criminal recidivism, according to new research published online March 15th in Psychiatric Services in Advance.

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Higher oxytocin levels in the third trimester of pregnancy predicts the severity of postpartum depression symptoms in women who previously suffered from depression, reports a new study. The finding indicates the potential for finding biomarkers to predict depressive symptoms postpartum and begin preventive treatment. Depression biomarkers should be screened in pregnancy, just like gestational diabetes, scientists said.

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The FDA has proposed to change the way it regulates the devices that doctors use to deliver ECT treatment for mental illness. Public commenting ends 3/28. A top ECT physician explains why the current proposal could lead to reduced access to potentially life-saving treatment.

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Widely referred to as the “love” hormone, oxytocin is an indispensable part of childbirth and emotional mother-child bonding. Psychologists are looking at how breast feeding, oxytocin and face-to-face interactions between a mother and her baby are impacted by depression and the mother’s oxytocin levels.

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Even with higher education, women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30-34.9 (obese I) have double the risk of depression compared with women of normal weight and same educational attainment, according to a new study conducted by a sociologist at Rice University.

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Gay, lesbian and bisexual Canadians experience more mood and anxiety disorders than other Canadians, and they are more likely to turn to heavy drinking.

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An ongoing culture of secrecy, poor access to specialist mental health services and a lack of high quality independent investigations has contributed to hundreds of non-natural deaths in detention, according to a new report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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UNC researchers uncovered a cellular mechanism by which kappa opioid receptors drive anxiety. These proteins inhibit the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate in a part of the brain that regulates emotion. KORs are targets for the treatment of addiction and anxiety disorders.

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Using optogenetics to study long-range communication across the brain, Dr. Ofer Yizhar and his Weizmann Institute of Science team temporarily silenced long-range axons so as to determine their role in the brain’s conversation. As mental and neurological diseases are thought to be related to disrupted long-range connectivity, the team’s findings could lead to better understanding and treatment of such disorders.

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Residents of Baltimore’s low-income neighborhoods who believe rats are a big problem where they live are significantly more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms such as sadness and anxiety, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

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Adults living with congenital heart disease may have a significantly higher risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than people in the general population. Clinicians and caregivers may need to be aware of possible PTSD symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, in their patients.

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The need to non-invasively see and track cells in living persons is indisputable. Emerging treatments using stem cells and immune cells are poised to most benefit from cell tracking, which would visualize their behavior in the body after delivery. Clinicians require such data to speed these cell treatments to patients. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine describe a new highly sensitive chemical probe that tags cells for detection by MRI.

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Medical students are more prone to alcohol abuse than their peers not attending medical school, especially if they are young, single and under a high debt load. That’s according to a study on medical student burnout by researchers at Mayo Clinic. The findings appear in the journal Academic Medicine.

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Light therapy decreased depressive symptoms and normalized circadian rhythms among cancer survivors, according to new research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented at the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver, CO