Research explores possible link between early musical study and cognitive benefits WASHINGTON—Those childhood music lessons could pay off decades later – even for those who no longer play an instrument – by keeping the mind sharper as people age, according to a preliminary study published by the American Psychological Association. The study recruited 70 healthy [...]
Winter births may be a cause of postpartum depression in new mothers than those who give birth in spring, a new study asserts. Swedish researchers analyzed data from over 2,000 women who gave birth over a period of one year. The women completed questionnaires on symptoms of depression. Reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics [...]
Mothers who only breastfeed their babies and use no formula are more likely than others to bond emotionally with their child, researchers say. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging to map the brain’s responses when the mothers were breastfeeding. The study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, found that breastfeeding mothers had [...]
Persistent crying and difficulty in sleeping by babies may signal behavioral problems in later years, researchers assert. Reporting in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, researchers say an analysis of almost two dozen showed that infants who consistently cry and wake up at night past their third month are nearly twice as likely to develop [...]
Babies born about a month early were more likely to be treated for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) upon reaching school age compared with children born full-term, researchers report. The study, reported in the journal Pediatrics, cross-referenced birth records with records of prescriptions for ADHD medications, which were used to determine whether a child had ADHD. [...]
A change in the definition of Alzheimer’s disease could help doctors diagnose patients in the very early stages of the disorder, including those who don’t exhibit symptoms. The new guidelines, announced by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association, recognize two earlier stages of the disease: mild cognitive impairment, and preclinical Alzheimer’s, in [...]
Swedish tourists who were exposed to the most severe trauma in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami have taken longer than their peers to recover psychologically, according to a news study. The researchers tracked almost 3,500 Swedish survivors of the tsunami. Most were on vacation in the area when the tsunami occurred. About [...]
As many as one-third of U.S. military veterans who have a mental health condition also have a substance use disorder, researchers say. Using data from the Department of Veterans Affairs to examine rates of substance use disorders among veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the researchers identified 1 million who were diagnosed with mental [...]
Mental health problems caused by the Gulf oil spill are likely to linger for decades, according to a forthcoming study. Researchers found that that one-fifth of respondents qualified as being under severe stress, and one-fourth experienced moderate stress. Those residents who had a connection to local resources, like fisherman, were even more likely to experience [...]
Bullying is pervasive among middle school and high school students in Massachusetts and may be linked to family violence, a new study finds. In a survey of 5,807 middle-school and high-school students from almost 138 Massachusetts public schools, researchers from the Massachusetts Department of Health and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that [...]
NIH-funded Study Demonstrates Feasibility and Effectiveness of Conducting Systematic Screening During Well-Baby Check-Ups mother holds baby boy A five-minute checklist that parents can fill out in pediatrician waiting rooms may someday help in the early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) , according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Published today [...]
Performance Decline Belies Seeming Wakefulness – NIH-funded Study A new study in rats is shedding light on how sleep-deprived lifestyles might impair functioning without people realizing it. The more rats are sleep-deprived, the more some of their neurons take catnaps — with consequent declines in task performance. Even though the animals are awake and active, [...]
Activating neurons in a brain structure linked to disappointment increased depression-like behaviors in rats, while suppressing the neurons’ activity reduced the behaviors, according to an NIMH-funded study. The findings help to explain previous research linking this brain structure to depression in humans and highlight a cellular process that hadn’t been previously explored in mood disorders [...]
Studies provide insight for prevention and adaptation WASHINGTON—Psychologists are offering new insight and solutions to help counter climate change, while helping people cope with the environmental, economic and health impacts already taking a toll on people’s lives, according to a special issue of American Psychologist , the American Psychological Association’s flagship journal. Climate change “poses [...]
Teens who listen to music a great deal of time may be at higher risk of depression, a new study asserts. Researchers surveyed 106 participants aged seven to 17 for two months. About 40 percent of the participants had been diagnosed with depression. Their findings, reported in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, show [...]
Children and adolescents who suffer Traumatic Brain Injuries appear to have a greater chance of developing psychiatric symptoms than uninjured children, an analysis finds. Researchers, whose findings are reported in the journal Psychiatric Services, reviewed data on over 20,000 young people ages 10 to 19 enrolled in a group health plan. They found that young [...]
Fathers of 1-year-old children who have depression were less likely to read to them and four times more likely to spank them than fathers who were not depressed, according to a new study. Researchers, whose findings are reported in the journal Pediatrics, used data from over 1,700 fathers and nearly 5,000 children born in large [...]
A new method for recreating the brain cells of patients with schizophrenia is being described as a breakthrough in treating the condition. Scientists used a technique to reprogram the skin cells of schizophrenic patients to become stem cells and then coaxed them become neurons. These were then compared to brain cells derived from the skin [...]
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) teens are much less likely to attempt suicide when they live in a supportive environment, according to new research. The findings, published online in the journal Pediatrics, showed that gay teen that lived in counties with a high proportion of gay and lesbian couples or went to schools with support [...]
Suicides rise during economic downturns and decline in good economic times, researchers report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, reported online in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first to examine suicide trends by age and economic cycles. In looking at U.S. suicide rates from 1928 to 2007, the researchers found [...]