ARLINGTON, Va. (March 27, 2012)—The number of U.S. medical students choosing psychiatry as a specialty has been declining for the past six years, according to a report from the National Resident Matching Program. The American Psychiatric Association expressed concern that this trend is occurring as the nation faces a shortage of psychiatrists. The association encourages [...]
WASHINGTON—A supportive supervisor can keep employees in certain hazardous jobs from being absent even when co-workers think it’s all right to miss work, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. Researchers explored factors that can influence employee absenteeism and found that a job’s level of risk and peer pressure were both negligible [...]
A personality profile marked by overly gregarious yet anxious behavior is rooted in abnormal development of a circuit hub buried deep in the front center of the brain, say scientists at the National Institutes of Health. They used three different types of brain imaging to pinpoint the suspect brain area in people with Williams syndrome, [...]
Criteria for a broadened syndrome of acute onset obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) have been proposed by a National Institutes of Health scientist and her colleagues. The syndrome, Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS), includes children and teens that suddenly develop on-again/off-again OCD symptoms or abnormal eating behaviors, along with other psychiatric symptoms – without any known [...]
A computer-based training method that teaches a person with anxiety to shift attention away from threatening images reduced symptoms of anxiety in a small clinical trial in children with the condition. The results of this first randomized clinical trial of the therapy in children with anxiety suggest that the approach warrants more extensive testing as [...]
Long-term neuroimaging studies show for the first time that areas of the brain that are wired together structurally and functionally also tend to mature in tandem over the course of development. The finding adds a new dimension to a picture that is emerging of how structure, function, and development of the brain are intertwined. Background [...]
WASHINGTON—Children may perform better in school and feel more confident about themselves if they are told that failure is a normal part of learning, rather than being pressured to succeed at all costs, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. “We focused on a widespread cultural belief that equates academic success with [...]
WASHINGTON—The methods psychologists and other health-care providers are using to treat immigrants to the United States need to be better tailored to deal with their specific cultures and needs, according to a task force report released by the American Psychological Association. The report of APA’s Presidential Task Force Report on Immigration presents a detailed look [...]
Young children who snore or have other breathing issues while sleeping are more likely to develop behavioral problems by the age of 7, according to new research. Reported in the journal Pediatrics, the study asked parents about their sleeping and breathing habits. Those who had the worst sleep-disordered breathing were almost twice as likely to [...]
HIV-positive children older than 1 year who were treated after showing moderate HIV-related symptoms did not experience greater cognitive or behavior problems compared to peers treated when signs of their infection were still mild, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. But both groups of HIV-positive children lagged behind HIV-negative children [...]
ARLINGTON, Va. (March 8, 2012) — Twenty-nine pregnant women with a history of psychotic symptoms after previous deliveries, but not at other times, all remained stable without medication throughout their current pregnancies. Those who then began taking lithium or an antipsychotic within hours after delivery remained free of relapse after childbirth. In contrast, relapse during [...]
Children who are bullies and those who are victims of bullying are more likely to consider suicide by time they are 11 than their peers, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed bullying among more than 6,000 children ranging in age from 4 to 10, and the prevalence of suicidal thoughts when the same children [...]
WASHINGTON—Men like to know when their wife or girlfriend is happy while women really want the man in their life to know when they are upset, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association. The study involved a diverse sample of couples and found that men’s and women’s perceptions of their significant [...]
ARLINGTON, Va. (March 1, 2012) — The combination of two evidence-based practices—supported employment and permanent supportive housing—shows promise in addressing chronic homelessness among adults with serious mental illness. Research reported in the March issue of Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association, found good housing and employment outcomes in a demonstration project with [...]
WASHINGTON—Impulsive children with attention problems tend to play more video games, while kids in general who spend lots of time video gaming may also develop impulsivity and attention difficulties, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. “This is an important finding because most research on attention problems has focused on biological and [...]