Feature Channels: Mental Health

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Mary E. Muscari, Ph.D, is an associate professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University. She is a specialist in child health, mental health and forensics. Muscari uses her experience in pediatric, psychiatric and forensic nursing in both her clinical practice and her writing, particularly regarding victims and perpetrators of violence.

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The suicide rate in the U.S. Army now exceeds the rate in the general population, and psychiatric admission is now the most common reason for hospitalization in the Army. These concerning trends are described by Timothy Lineberry, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist and suicide expert for the Army, in the September edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In the article, he also outlines steps to assess and address military suicide -- an issue he calls a major public health concern. Dr. Lineberry proposes greater use of gun locks, improving primary care for depression, and better monitoring for sleep disturbances, among other steps.

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A national study conducted from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found a 62 percent increase in the number of Medicaid-enrolled children ages 3 to 18 taking antipsychotics, reaching a total of 354,000 children by 2007. Increased antipsychotic use was observed across a wide range of mental health diagnoses, and was particularly high for children with ADHD or conduct disorder, although the FDA has not approved the drugs to treat these conditions in children.

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A new University of Wisconsin-Madison imaging study shows the brains of people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have weaker connections between a brain structure that controls emotional response and the amygdala, which suggests the brain's "panic button" may stay on due to lack of regulation.

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Columbia University Medical Center researchers have identified a potential medical treatment for the cognitive effects of stress-related disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study, conducted in a PTSD mouse model, shows that an experimental drug called S107, one of a new class of small-molecule compounds called Rycals, prevented learning and memory deficits associated with stress-related disorders. The findings were published today in the online edition of Cell.

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When it comes to prostate cancer, there’s a lot of confusion about how to prevent it, find it early and the best way – or even whether – to treat it. Here are six common prostate cancer myths along with research-based information from scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to help men separate fact from fiction.

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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. Their findings hold promise for addressing a range of brain impairments in humans, including schizophrenia.

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A study in mice conducted by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine 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.

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University of Kentucky experts investigate suicide exposure and bereavement consequences in a landmark study funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

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A groundbreaking new research study from Indiana University suggests there may be benefits to the controversial activities of "pro-ana" bloggers, the online community for people with eating disorders. Most of the 33 bloggers from seven countries interviewed for the study, which has just been published in the journal Health Communication, said their writing activities provide a way to express themselves without judgment, which the authors believe can be crucial to their treatment.

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Researchers at UCLA report that a simple meditation program lasting just eight weeks reduced loneliness in older adults. Further, mindfulness meditation was also show to benefit the immune system.

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Among couples in which one partner was diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), participation in disorder-specific couple therapy resulted in decreased PTSD symptom severity and increased patient relationship satisfaction, compared with couples who were placed on a wait list for the therapy.

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A North-American study led by Ryerson University finds that people with PTSD who undergo couple therapy see significant improvement in their symptoms -- and in their relationships.

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Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are significantly more likely to attempt suicide or injure themselves as young adults than girls who do not have ADHD, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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Finding provides new drug development opportunity in this hard-to-treat disease.

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Depression was linked with an increased risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in a study of more than one thousand men and women with heart disease conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

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University of Michigan study the first to show evidence that mindfulness yoga may offer effective treatment for depressed new mothers to be.

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Women battling stubborn major depression may have a surprising new ally in their fight—the muscle-building dietary supplement creatine.

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Grateful teens are more likely than their less grateful peers to be happy, less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol and less likely to have behavior problems at school, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association’s 120th Annual Convention.

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Kansas State University researchers have studied ways to help freshmen with ADHD plan a successful transition to college. They have found that having management strategies in place before coming to campus helps students succeed. The researchers have developed recommendations for ways that universities and families can support college students with ADHD.

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Inflammatory pathways key to understanding the relationship.

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Behavioral healthcare systems are playing a major role in responding to the needs of the millions of Americans of all ages who experience psychiatric and substance use conditions each year, according to the latest annual survey from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) released today.

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Patients with chronic heart failure who participated in exercise training had modest reductions in symptoms of depression after 12 months, compared with usual care

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a link between patients who undergo total nephrectomy - complete kidney removal - and erectile dysfunction. Results from the multi-center study were recently published online in the British Journal of Urology International.

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Psychological abuse may be the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect, experts say in an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) position statement on psychological maltreatment in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics.

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Johns Hopkins Nursing doctoral student measures reduction of stress in college students through use of saliva samples and a smartphone app.

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In a new study analyzing Internet usage among college students, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have found that students who show signs of depression tend to use the Internet differently than those who show no symptoms of depression.

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A new report shows that the percentage of girls who experience a major depressive episode in the past year triples between the ages of 12 and 15 (from 5.1 percent to 15.2 percent respectively).

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Chronic exposure to dim light at night can lead to depressive symptoms in rodents -- but these negative effects can be reversed simply by returning to a standard light-dark cycle, a new study suggests.

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The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that approximately 1 in 5 children and adolescents experiences the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder during the course of a year, and that about 1 in 10 children experiences “significant functional impairment” as a result. Mental health disorders can last for short periods of time or potentially for a lifetime. But it is important for patients and his or her loved ones to understand that with proper treatment he or she can return to normal daily life.

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Caregivers of stroke survivors are at risk for developing depression and complications from chronic stress, according to a study published by researchers at the Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) in the latest issue of Biological Research for Nursing.

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As severe sepsis becomes a silent epidemic among the elderly, greater mental health screenings may be necessary for spouses.

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Drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) do not appear to have long-term effects on the brain, according to new animal research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

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People with serious mental illness —schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and disabling depression — are 2.6 times more likely to develop cancer than the general population, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

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People who experience a physical health problem, from diabetes and back pain to cancer or heart disease, are three times more likely to seek mental health care than patients who report having no physical ailment, according to a new study by Oregon State University researchers. The study, which is now online in the journal Health Services Research, indicates there is a need for better-coordinated care between physical and mental health providers. It is the first nationally representative study that statistically shows a major link between physical health and mental health.

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Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a cause-and-effect relationship between two well-established biological risk factors for schizophrenia previously believed to be independent of one another.

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Mayo Clinic researchers have found a novel way to monitor real-time chemical changes in the brains of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS).

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Exposure to stress can increase the risk for violent behaviors and depressive symptoms for African-American young adults. Different types of stress, particularly racial discrimination, can influence the level of this risk, finds a new study by Lorena Estrada-Martínez, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

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In the current online issue of PLoS ONE, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say they have identified a set of laboratory-based biomarkers that can be useful for understanding brain-based abnormalities in schizophrenia. The measurements, known as endophenotypes, could ultimately be a boon to clinicians who sometimes struggle to recognize and treat the complex and confounding mental disorder.

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Specific types of "mindfulness practices" including Zen meditation have research-proven benefits for patients with certain physical and mental health problems, according to a report in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A study of university students is the first evidence to refute the supposed link between depression and the amount of time spent on Facebook and other social-media sites.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today released two reports regarding substance abuse. The first indicates that youths between the ages of 12 and 17 are far more likely to start using most substances during the summer than during other parts of the year. The second report of data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) system shows that the rate of increase in drug-related emergency department (ED) visits slowed from an average annual rate of 18.2 percent in the years between 2005 and 2008, to an average annual rate of 6.1 percent in the years 2009 and 2010.

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A team of researchers have found that schizophrenia or bipolar disorder seen in parents or siblings was associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study was published online by Archives of General Psychiatry on Monday, July 2.

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A new study reveals a simple strategy that people can use to minimize how angry and aggressive they get when they are provoked by others.

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An interdisciplinary team of scientists have successfully tagged a protein that regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin with tiny fluorescent beads, allowing them to track the movements of individual molecules for the first time. This capability makes it possible to study the manner in which serotonin regulates mood, appetite and sleep at a new level of detail.

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Women with moderate to severe depression had substantial improvement in their symptoms of depression after they received treatment for their vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The case report series will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

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A national survey identifies which U.S. military veterans may be at most risk of aggression after deployment and what strategies could potentially help reduce likelihood of violence when service members return home.