Nursing-home patients are typically excluded from randomized clinical trials, but a cohort study of antipsychotics in this population reveals frightening results. Do elderly residents who receive antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes have a greater risk of dying than their nonmedicated neighbors? Yes, and the severity of the risk depends on which drug they are taking. [...]
Leslie Sinclair Clinicians must weigh the risks of untreated depression during pregnancy and possible adverse effects of SSRIs. Do the risks of antidepressant therapy during pregnancy outweigh the advantages? Does a pregnant woman’s use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) do harm to her baby? Those are questions researchers based at the Department of Psychiatry [...]
National Institutes of Health researchers have reversed behaviors in mice resembling two of the three core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An experimental compound, called GRN-529, increased social interactions and lessened repetitive self-grooming behavior in a strain of mice that normally display such autism-like behaviors, the researchers say. GRN-529 is a member of a [...]
Researchers have turned up a new clue to the workings of a possible environmental factor in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs): fathers were four times more likely than mothers to transmit tiny, spontaneous mutations to their children with the disorders. Moreover, the number of such transmitted genetic glitches increased with paternal age. The discovery may help [...]
A technique combining computer-based pattern recognition and brain imaging data accurately distinguished teens at risk for mental disorders from those with low risk and may someday be useful in predicting risk in individuals, according to an NIMH-funded study published February 15, 2012, in the journal PLoS One. Background Research on risk for mental disorders generally [...]
The brain appears to be wired more like the checkerboard streets of New York City than the curvy lanes of Columbia, Md., suggests a new brain imaging study. The most detailed images, to date, reveal a pervasive 3D grid structure with no diagonals, say scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health. “Far from being [...]
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 [...]
WASHINGTON—The times are changing, and not necessarily for the better when it comes to giving back to society, according to 40 years of research on 9 million young adults. Since the baby boomer generation, there has been a significant decline among young Americans in political participation, concern for others and interest in saving the environment, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
WASHINGTON—Employees on sick leave with common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety fully returned to work sooner when therapy deals with work-related problems and how to get back on the job, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. Employees who received this therapy and returned to work sooner did not [...]
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 [...]