Inactivity can cause a number of symptoms associated with depression, researchers say. Their study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included close to 50,000 women who were surveyed every couple of years from 1992 to 2006 as part of the U.S. Nurses’ Health Study. Participants recorded the amount of time they spent watching TV [...]
Nicotine appears to enhance the effects of cocaine and possibly increases the chances of becoming addicted, according to new research performed on mice. Researchers treated mice with nicotine and then exposed them to cocaine. The mice who were exposed to nicotine responded differently to the cocaine (exhibiting more characteristics of addiction) compared to mice who [...]
An area of the brain works less efficiently in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, researchers say. Using a functional magnetic imaging scanner to track signs of neural activity among 19 affected children and 23 other children, the scientists discovered that a critical mental control area, called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, worked much harder among children [...]
A new report by National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 28 states and the District of Columbia have reduced mental health funding by nearly $1.7 billion since fiscal year 2009. Modest increases in some states’ mental health budgets have done little to erase massive cuts nationwide over the past three years and a reduction [...]
Paternal depression and other mental health problems affect the behavior of children, researchers say. An analysis of surveys of nearly 22,000 U.S. children aged 5 to 17 and their mothers and fathers completed between 2004 and 2008 found that emotional and behavioral problems were 72 percent more likely with depressed dads. The study, which appears [...]
A widely used suicide screening tool can help determine who is most at risk for suicide by pinpointing the threshold at which a person’s suicidal thinking is severe enough to warrant professional intervention, according to a recent study published online ahead of print November 8, 2011, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Background Developing effective [...]
Children with autism have more brain cells and heavier brains compared to typically developing children, according to researchers partly funded by the National Institutes of Health. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Nov. 9, 2011, the small, preliminary study provides direct evidence for possible prenatal causes of autism. “Earlier studies of [...]