The Mental Health Social Worker

Internet Offenders Target Teens, not Young Children—Rarely Use Force, Abduction or Deception

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WASHINGTON—Contrary to stereotype, most Internet sex offenders are not adults who target young children by posing as another youth, luring children to meetings, and then abducting or forcibly raping them, according to researchers who have studied the nature of Internet-initiated sex crimes.

Rather, most online sex offenders are adults who target teens and seduce victims into sexual relationships. They take time to develop the trust and confidence of victims, so that the youth see these relationships as romances or sexual adventures. The youth most vulnerable to online sex offenders have histories of sexual or physical abuse, family problems, and tendencies to take risks both on- and offline, the researchers say. (more…)

A 20-week group therapy program focusing on cognitive behavioral and skills training, when used in conjunction with usual care, helped reduce symptoms of borderline personality disorder and improve overall functioning, reported NIMH-funded researchers. Their findings were published online February 15, 2008 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness noted by unstable moods, behavior and relationships. Each year, 1.4 percent of adults in the United States have this disorder, which is widely viewed as being difficult to treat. However, recent advances in treatment research for specific symptoms of borderline personality disorder, such as dialectical behavioral therapy to reduce suicidal thinking or behavior, have shown reasons to continue exploring options for therapy. (more…)

People with major depression accompanied by high levels of anxiety are significantly less likely to benefit from antidepressant medication than those without anxiety, according to a study based on data from the NIMH-funded Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study. The study was published online ahead of print in January 2008, in the American Journal of Psychiatry. (more…)

Brain’s Amygdala Region Less Responsive to Other People’s Distress Signals

The callous, unemotional characteristics of some children and adolescents who bully or steal or have other severely disruptive behavior problems may have partial roots in a brain area called the amygdala. 

The amygdala responds to distress cues from other people; cues that normally would elicit empathy from observers. But it is less responsive to such cues in youth who have both callous, unemotional characteristics and disruptive behavior problems, report NIMH investigator Abigail Marsh, Ph.D., and colleagues.  Results of their research appeared online February 15 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. (more…)

Scientists Reverse Depression-Like Behaviors In Mice Without Raising Serotonin Levels

New research adds to evidence of potentially better molecular targets in the brain to treat depression and other mental disorders, according to NIMH-funded scientists.

The researchers suggest that imbalances in the activity of an enzyme called GSK3ß may be closer to the root cause of mental illnesses than are low serotonin levels. Serotonin, a brain chemical, is the ultimate target of several current medications that work by indirectly increasing it to relieve symptoms. In preliminary findings, the scientists suggest that GSK3ß might be a more fundamental – and thus, perhaps, better and faster – target for new medications. (more…)

Finding Could One Day Help Identify People at Risk

Certain variations in a gene that helps regulate response to stress tend to protect adults who were abused in childhood from developing depression, according to new research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health. Adults who had been abused but didn’t have the variations in the gene had twice the symptoms of moderate to severe depression, compared to those with the protective variations. (more…)

Cutting the connection between sweets and calories may confuse the body, making it harder to regulate intake

Washington—Want to lose weight? It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The findings appear in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Psychologists at Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center reported that relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later, all at levels of statistical significance. (more…)

Arlington, Va. - Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia who use marijuana (or other forms of cannabis) over a period of up to five years loose more brain volume, compared with patients who don’t use cannabis. These decreases in brain volume appear over time as excessive loss of gray matter, along with corresponding increases in the volumes of both the third and lateral ventricles (two cavities within the brain). (more…)

Arlington, Va. - Intense media coverage of violence perpetrated by people with mental disorders-such as the April, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech-has unintentionally reinforced a common public misconception: mental illness equals violence. However, more than a decade of research has shown that the equation is not so straightforward. Research has also shown that focusing on people with mental illness who commit public acts of violence has obscured the fact that persons with mental disorders are more often victims of physical assaults, rape, and robbery. The February issue of Psychiatric Services features articles that examine recent research with the goal of clarifying the relationship between mental illness and violence. The important matter of prevention is also addressed: is it possible for mental health professionals to predict, with any accuracy, whether a patient in their care will physically harm other people? (more…)

Difference in Gene Appears to Pose More Risk When Inherited from Mothers

Scientists have found a variation in a gene that may raise the risk of developing autism, especially when the variant is inherited from mothers rather than fathers.  The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Inheriting the gene variant does not mean that a child will inevitably develop autism.  It means that a child may be more vulnerable to developing the disease than are children without the variation.  (more…)

Findings knock down stereotype that gay relationships are not as healthy and secure as heterosexual marriages

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WASHINGTON – Same-sex couples are just as committed in their romantic relationships as heterosexual couples, say researchers who have studied the quality of adult relationships and healthy development. Their finding disputes the stereotype that couples in same-sex relationships are not as committed as their heterosexual counterparts and are therefore not as psychologically healthy. (more…)

10-Year Study of Women Helps Establish Bisexuality as Distinct Sexual Orientation; Debunks Stereotype that Bisexual Women Can’t Commit To Long-Term Relationships

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Washington — Bisexuality in women appears to be a distinctive sexual orientation and not an experimental or transitional stage that some women adopt “on their way” to lesbianism, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. (more…)

A family-centered program that improves parent-child dynamics and family functioning is more effective at discouraging Hispanic youth from engaging in risky behavior than programs that target specific behaviors, according to a study published in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Hispanic adolescents are at higher risk for substance abuse and risky sexual behavior than other ethnic groups, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while they represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, they account for a disproportionate 18 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases in the nation.¹ (more…)

A new study shows that the intellectual boost associated with breast milk is only attained if a child has inherited one of two versions of a specific gene. The NIMH funded research is among the first to provide evidence of a specific genetic-environment interaction involved in complex mental functioning.

NIMH grantees Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D, and Terrie Moffitt, Ph.D., Duke University, and colleagues report on their findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 5, 2007. (more…)

Proposed Medications also May Reveal Treatments for Autism

A new NIMH grant is enabling scientists to begin testing safety and effectiveness of potential medications for fragile-X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation. No effective medications are available for the disorder. The animal studies currently underway are designed to lay the groundwork for the first human clinical trials in subsequent phases of the research. (more…)

Forms of a gene known to increase risk for schizophrenia may create an imbalance in brain pathways for dopamine, suggests a recent study by NIMH scientists. The findings could help explain how this key chemical messenger goes awry in the disorder, which affects about one percent of adults.

It has long been known that dopamine is overactive in schizophrenia and that some antipsychotic medications work by blocking the D2 subtype of dopamine receptor on neurons. (more…)

A behavioral therapy designed to treat children diagnosed with social phobia  helped them overcome more of their symptoms than the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac), according to an NIMH-funded study published in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Social phobia, also called social anxiety disorder, is characterized by an extremely distressing fear of social situations, of being watched or judged by others, and of being embarrassed. People with social phobia also may have physical symptoms like a racing heart, excessive sweating or blushing, trembling, nausea and other symptoms. Social phobia is more extreme than common shyness and can interfere with a person’s ability to function. Children with the disorder avoid everyday activities and situations such as playing with other kids, reading in class, and speaking to adults. (more…)

Humans tend to be overly optimistic about the future, sometimes underestimating risks and making unrealistic plans, notes NIMH grantee Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., New York University. Yet “a moderate optimistic illusion” appears to be essential for maintaining motivation and good mental health.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Phelps and her colleagues have now shown that such “optimism bias” may be rooted in the same brain circuitry as depression, which is marked by a tendency to be overly pessimistic.

The same circuitry was also in play when this normal bias toward positive thinking was temporarily turned off by depriving the brain of the mood-regulating chemical messenger serotonin, in another recent fMRI study by NIMH intramural research psychiatrist Wayne Drevets, M.D., and colleagues. (more…)

Two studies help explain why teens exposed to fetal alcohol are at high risk for heavy drinking and perpetuating a family cycle of alcohol addiction

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WASHINGTON, DC—Young people whose mothers drank when pregnant may be more likely to abuse alcohol because, in the womb, their developing senses came to prefer its taste and smell. Researchers with the State University of New York Developmental Ethanol Research Center have found that because the developing nervous system adapts to whatever mothers eat and drink, young rats exposed to alcohol (ethanol) in the womb drank significantly more alcohol than non-exposed rats.These findings, covered in two related studies, appear in the December issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The studies contribute a critical biological piece to the complex puzzle of why teens with a family history of drinking may themselves drink more. Lead author Steven Youngentob, PhD, observes that a biologically instilled preference for alcohol’s taste and smell can make young people much more likely to abuse alcohol, especially in light of social pressures, risk-taking tendencies and alcohol’s addicting qualities. (more…)

Study finds rats with amygdalas damaged at birth showed abnormal adult behavior related to fear plus greater cocaine sensitivity

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WASHINGTON, DC—Why do mental illness and drug addiction often go together? New research reveals that this type of dual diagnosis may stem from a common cause: developmental changes in the amygdala, a walnut-shaped part of the brain linked to fear, anxiety and other emotions. A full report on why these “comorbid” disorders may develop appears in the December Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).Dual diagnosis is common yet difficult to treat. Addiction of all types – to nicotine, alcohol and drugs – is often found in people with a wide variety of mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders, unipolar and bipolar depression, schizophrenia, and borderline and other personality disorders. (more…)