Depression symptoms in addiction-prone women get worse with age, according to a new study. Researchers looked at how personal history, family life and neighborhood instability affected alcohol symptoms in 273 women over a 12-year period during their early years of marriage and motherhood. While alcohol problems and antisocial behavior declined over time, depression symptoms increased [...]
Women with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have high blood levels of a gene variant, researchers report. The gene variant influences a stress protein, which is central to PTSD. Researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Nature, assessed 64 people with PTSD and found that symptom scores were five times higher among women with high [...]
Black, Hispanic and Asian adolescents are less likely than whites to receive treatment for major depression, researchers report. They evaluated a national representative sample of 7,704 children ages 12-17 diagnosed with major depression within the past year. The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found the percentage [...]
ARLINGTON, Va. (Feb. 28, 2011) – Many mental, emotional and behavioral disorders can be prevented before they begin and there is robust scientific base of evidence to support this conclusion, according to a report in the March issue of the American Psychiatric Association’s journal Psychiatric Services. The article highlights and expands on the research identified [...]
Unemployed and those diagnosed with psychotic disorder more likely to be determined incompetent WASHINGTON—People found incompetent to stand trial are more likely to be unemployed, have been previously diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or have had psychiatric hospitalization, according to an analysis of 50 years of research, published by the American Psychological Association. “Competency to [...]
Youngest among poor and abused children face highest risk WASHINGTON—Infants and toddlers can suffer serious mental health disorders, yet they are unlikely to receive treatment that could prevent lasting developmental problems, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. One barrier to mental health care for young children is “the pervasive, but mistaken, impression [...]
U.S. military officials should improve efforts to identify those at-risk and the quality and access to behavioral health treatment to stem the sharp rise in suicides among the armed forces, a new study finds. The RAND Corporation said needed changes include making service members aware of the advantages of using behavioral health care, ensuring that [...]
A North Star Amid “A Constellation of Multiple Rare Diseases” Scientists are eyeing a rare genetic glitch for clues to improved treatments for some people with schizophrenia — even though they found the mutation in only one third of 1 percent of patients. In the study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, [...]
Peer support appears to be a low-cost and effective way to reduce depression symptoms, a new study finds. Programs in which patients received support from volunteers were found to reduce depression symptoms better than traditional care alone and were about as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy, the researchers found. Reported online in the journal General [...]
Children who have what is called a resilience gene may be able to maintain better relationships with parents who have substance use or mental health problems than those who do not have the gene, according to a new study. Researchers assessed 226 children who were age 9 to 17. More than 59 percent of the [...]
WASHINGTON—Lifestyle changes—such as getting more exercise, time in nature, or helping others—can be as effective as drugs or counseling to treat an array of mental illnesses, according to a new paper published by the American Psychological Association. Multiple mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, can be treated with certain lifestyle changes as successfully as [...]
ARLINGTON, Va. (Feb. 15, 2011)—A study of nearly 300 women with bipolar disorder showed that those reporting flare-ups of mood symptoms before menstruation had more depressive episodes and more severe symptoms during the following year, compared with bipolar women without premenstrual mood changes. The study was part of the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar [...]
Psychotic illness occurs significantly earlier among marijuana users, results of a meta-analysis suggest. Data on more than 22,000 patients with psychosis showed an onset of symptoms almost three years earlier among users of cannabis compared with patients who had no history of substance use. The age of onset also was earlier in cannabis users compared [...]
nteraction with the criminal justice system, even if there is no guilty verdict, may be an independent risk factor for suicide, researchers report. A study that included more than 27,000 suicides found that odds of suicide were greater after contact with the criminal justice system for both men and women. The association was true even [...]
WASHINGTON—Talking with your hands can trigger mental images that help solve complex problems relating to spatial visualization, an important skill for both students and professionals, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. Spatial visualization is the ability to mentally rotate or move an object to a different position or view. An air [...]
WASHINGTON—When people think unpleasant events are over, they remember them as being less painful or annoying than when they expect them to happen again, pointing to the power of expectation to help people brace for the worst, according to studies published by the American Psychological Association. In a series of eight studies exposing people to [...]
Meditation causes structural changes in the brain associated with memory, empathy, and stress, according to new research. Researchers, whose findings are reported in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, examined MRI scans of participants over a period of 8 weeks. Daily meditation sessions of 30 minutes produced measurable changes in subjects with no previous meditation history. [...]
Anxiety as a personality trait appears to be linked to the functioning of two key brain regions involved in fear and its suppression, according to an NIMH-funded study. Differences in how these two regions function and interact may help explain the wide range of symptoms seen in people who have anxiety disorders. The study was [...]