Erodes Molecular Identities In Cortex – NIH-funded Study Autism blurs the molecular differences that normally distinguish different brain regions, a new study suggests. Among more than 500 genes that are normally expressed at significantly different levels in the front versus the lower middle part of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, only 8 showed such [...]
No correlation found between prayer for health and lack of health insurance WASHINGTON—Praying about health issues dramatically increased among American adults over the past three decades, rising 36 percent between 1999 and 2007, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. Researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 1999, [...]
Most children who lose a parent don’t experience depression, a new study finds. Researchers studied children 5 to 18 over two years who suffered the loss of one parent but had a surviving parent and compared them to children who had not lost a parent. They found that about half the children experienced major depressive [...]
Children of active-duty soldiers may be at greater risk of being hospitalized for a psychiatric illness, according to a new study. Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of the health records of kids ages 9 to 17 whose parents were active-duty personnel during 2007 and 2009, and compared that with their parents’ deployment records. They [...]
Many parents believe that primary care physicians aren’t equipped to discuss children’s mental health. A survey of 554 parents and caregivers conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 42 percent of participants do not think physicians give them enough time to answer their questions. About half of parents said they didn’t feel [...]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth who experience high levels of school victimization in middle and high school report impaired mental and overall health in young adulthood, a new study finds. The study, based on data of a young adult survey of 245 LGBT young adults ages 21 to 25 and published in the [...]
One in six children-about 10 million–had a developmental disability in 2006-2008, according to new research. The number has increased by 17 percent in 12 years as diagnoses for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity rose. The current study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that three or four children in a typical elementary school classroom [...]
A proposed new definition of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may make it easier to diagnose and treat older teens and adults-an increase prevalence rates. A proposal being considered by the American Psychiatric Association would expand the criteria that now apply to children by describing what ADHD looks like in older teens and adults. Some doctors [...]
Women who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to get Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than men, researchers report. A study of 922 National Guard members-including 91 women-deployed to Iraq in 2008 found that women were much more likely than men to meet the criteria for PTSD after returning home. Nearly 19 percent [...]
Seeing questions can help voters detect dodges and be better informed, new study says WASHINGTON—How can some people respond to a question without answering the question, yet satisfy their listeners? This skill of “artful dodging” and how to better detect it are explored in an article published by the American Psychological Association. People typically judge [...]
Mothers who are depressed or severely stressed during their pregnancy face a far greater chance of having children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study. British researchers studied thousands of children from before birth until they were at primary school. They discovered a strong link between antenatal stress, “mixed-handedness”-using the left or [...]
Women with lower levels of the hormone oxytocin in their blood during late stages of pregnancy are more likely to develop Postpartum depression, new research suggests. The study, published online in Neuropsychopharmacology, examined blood samples of 73 women volunteers. Fourteen of this group later developed Postpartum depression. This group tended to have lower levels of [...]
Children whose mothers are successfully treated for depression show progressive and marked improvement in their own behaviors even a year after their moms discontinue treatment, a new study asserts. Moms and their children were followed as part of the nation’s largest multisite clinical trial on treatments for depression, begun in fall 1999. The latest findings, [...]
Some adults who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that also experience excessive emotional reactions appears to run in families, according to a new study. Researchers studies 83 participants-23 who had ADHD alone, 27 with ADHD plus deficient emotional self-regulation (DESR), 33 with neither condition-plus their siblings. The study, which appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry, [...]
More than half of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated in Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospitals since 2002 have been diagnosed, at least preliminarily, with mental health problems, according to statistics. The data, which is released quarterly, also shows that the raw number of returning soldiers with psychological problems is rising. Nearly 18,000 new patients [...]
HONOLULU (May 14, 2011)—Gaming and Internet activity are more likely to have a negative impact on self-reported teen sleep duration than watching television, according to a study presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. The research was scheduled for presentation Saturday, May 14, at the 164th American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, which is in [...]
The rate of soldiers hospitalized for having suicidal thoughts has increased by 7,000 percent over the last five years, according to the Pentagon. A new report, which covers the period from the fourth year troops were in Afghanistan and the third year they were in Iraq, also shows the number of soldiers thinking of taking [...]
The American Psychiatric Association is proposing a new classification system that they hope will correspond better to the causes of mental illness. The new organization for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) eliminates some categories while adding new ones and substantially renaming others. It reflects the latest scientific [...]
Total population study points to possible higher rates of ASDs when screening the general population and the growing worldwide concern for screening, diagnosis, and services The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among children in South Korea appears to be much higher than the range of estimates previously reported in other countries, according to a [...]
A combination of two antidepressants may not be any more effective in treating chronic major depression than a single antidepressant, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print May 2, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Background When treating depression, doctors sometimes prescribe a second antidepressant medication if a patient does not [...]