Feature Channels: Mental Health

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A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 there was a 55 percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by men aged 21 to 34 -- from 19,024 visits in 2005 to 29,407 visits in 2009. In 2009, there were a total of 77,971 emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts among males of all ages.

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UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists are shedding new light on why the anesthetic drug ketamine produces a fast-acting antidepressant response in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

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Great leaders exhibit courage, vision and charisma that make them role models. But City Tech"s Martin Garfinkle, in his new book, is more interested in a lesser-known trait common to several -- clinical depression -- to show how their personal struggles could be used to help children at risk for this condition.

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Having a history of eating disorders or abuse may increase a woman’s risk for developing depression during and after pregnancy, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The finding could influence how doctors screen patients during prenatal visits.

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How do you function when chronic pain is a part of your daily life? The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness (UCSD CFM) at UC San Diego Health System offers a novel program to help people who are dealing with chronic pain “train their brains” to lessen their experience of discomfort and, in some cases, eliminate it.

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Depression and anxiety do not seem to interfere with the amount of weight loss or the improvement of obesity-related conditions after bariatric surgery, according to a new study* of more than 25,000 patients presented here at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

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Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have zeroed in on the dose levels of the “sacred mushroom” chemical psilocybin yielding positive, life-changing experiences, while minimizing transient negative reactions. Former U.S. "Drug Czar" comments.

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Many believe that early intervention can increase the chances for recovery, reduce recurrences and even keep the warning signs of psychosis from progressing to the actual disease. A new systematic review evaluates the evidence.

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When University of Maryland psychologist Andrea Chronis-Tuscano testified at an FDA hearing, it changed her mind about the risks of artificial food coloring for children, and drove her to rescan what she feeds her kids. There's still NO evidence to suggest a link with ADHD, she says, but new concerns about the dye’s wider safety for children.

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A new national study shows that from 1998 to 2008 (the most recent year with available figures) substance abuse treatment admissions among those 12 and older related to the abuse of benzodiazepine drugs rose from 22,400 in 1998 to approximately 60,200 in 2008.  The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that while benzodiazepine related admissions represented only 3.2- percent of all substance abuse admissions among this population in 2008, it had grown from the 1.3- percent it represented in 1998.

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A new study led by a Northern Illinois University sociologist shows that while family members often provide critical support, they also can sometimes be the source of stigmatizing attitudes that impede the recovery of mentally ill relatives.

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Women who have higher levels of the appetite-controlling hormone leptin have fewer symptoms of depression, and this apparent inverse relationship is not related to body mass index (BMI), a new study finds. On Monday the results will be presented at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

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A new report shows that alcohol dependence is four times more likely to occur among adults with mental illness than among adults with no mental illness (9.6-percent versus 2.2-percent). 

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Johns Hopkins Children’s Center scientists have found that having a regular outpatient mental health provider may not be enough to prevent children and teens with behavioral problems from repeatedly ending up in the emergency room. The study is published in the June 1 issue of the journal Psychiatric Services.

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People suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD — a severe mental illness characterized by debilitating misperceptions that one appears disfigured and ugly — process visual information abnormally, even when looking at inanimate objects.

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A new report shows that only 2-percent (291) of the nation’s 13,513 substance abuse treatment facilities provide counseling services in various Asian languages.  The report also showed that the proportion of facilities offering these services varied by geographic region.  The report issued today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), in conjunction with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, brings attention to the counseling services being offered in Chinese, Hmong, Korean, Tagalog or Vietnamese, and the benefit to the community.

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Recalling painful memories while under the influence of the drug metyrapone reduces the brain’s ability to re-record the negative emotions associated with them.

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Doctors at the University of Michigan Health System have developed a new tool that may help family physicians better evaluate the extent to which a patient’s depression has improved.

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Impairments in a brain area involved in perception of social stimuli may be partly responsible for the social difficulties often experienced by those with schizophrenia.

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Patients with bipolar disorder may be eligible for a new clinical research study comparing two medications -- quetiapine (Seroquel), a widely prescribed second-generation antipsychotic mood-stabilizing medication, and lithium, the gold-standard mood stabilizer.

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An Indiana U. study suggests that postural control problems may be a core feature of bipolar disorder and can provide insights both into areas of the brain affected by the psychiatric disorder and new potential targets for treatment.

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Johns Hopkins University bioethicists say disaster-response planning has generally overlooked the special needs of people who suffer from pre-existing and serious mental conditions. Survivors already diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, addictions and bipolar disorder are vulnerable long before a disaster strikes, they point out.

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While most people have a great deal of difficulty in dieting and losing weight, particularly if a diet extends over many months or years, individuals with anorexia nervosa can literally diet themselves to death. In fact, this disorder has a very high death rate from starvation. A new study, now online in the journal International Journal of Eating Disorders, sheds light on why these symptoms occur in anorexia nervosa.

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A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 (the most recent year with available figures) there was a 49-percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by women aged 50 and older -- from 11,235 visits in 2005 to 16,757 in 2009. This increase reflects the overall population growth of women aged 50 and older. 

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and King’s College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression.

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In the days immediately following Japan’s devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, survivors were grateful to have lived through it. But disasters that cause such wide-scale death, destruction and disruption to daily life also leave lingering invisible wounds.

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Sufferers of serious psychological distress spend an average of $1,735 more on health care each year compared to those without the condition.

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Two Indiana University of Pennsylvania criminologists believe that with recent failed national social policy, jails are being filled once again with the mentally ill.

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News release research finds that one may live longer if he or she gets along with co-workers.

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While the disturbing act of self-injury is nothing new to adolescents, researchers and physicians at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have identified a more severe type of behavior that is raising some concern among medical professionals. Often misdiagnosed, ignored and under-reported, Self-Embedding Behavior (SEB) is a form of self-injurious behavior that involves inserting foreign objects into soft tissue – either under the skin or into muscle. A recent study, published in the June issue of Pediatrics, stresses the importance of quickly identifying this dangerous behavior while distinguishing it from other forms of self-injury to prevent future episodes.

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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, new UT Southwestern Medical Center-led research shows.

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Latinas who endure violence at the hands of a partner during or within a year of pregnancy are five times more likely to suffer postpartum depression than women who have not experienced such violence.

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Women with congestive heart failure who repress their emotions, especially anger, are more likely than emotionally expressive women to experience symptoms of depression associated with knowledge about their disease, according to new research.

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Sadness, apathy, preoccupation: those traits come to mind when people think about depression, the world’s most frequently diagnosed mental disorder. Yet, forthcoming research in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology provides evidence that depression has a positive side-effect.

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Promising behaviourial therapy can give homeless youth a new lease on life: Canadian study

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Military service members who screened positive for mental health disorders before deployment, or who were injured during deployment, were more likely to develop post-deployment posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms than their colleagues without these risk factors, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Taking two medications for depression does not hasten recovery from the condition that affects 19 million Americans each year, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a national study.

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A new national report released in conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month and Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day indicates that 8.1 percent of America’s adolescents aged 12 to 17 (2 million youth) experienced at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year. The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also shows that only 34.7 percent of these adolescents suffering from major depressive episodes received treatment during this period.

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Behavioral healthcare systems are playing a major role in responding to the needs of the millions of Americans of all ages who experience psychiatric and substance use conditions each year, according to the latest annual survey from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS).

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Media advisory on mental health awareness month.

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Unintentional overdose deaths in teens and adults have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.

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Thinking happy thoughts, focusing on the good and downplaying the bad is believed to accelerate recovery from depression, bolster resilience during a crisis and improve overall mental health. But pursuing happiness may not be beneficial across all cultures.

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Johns Hopkins Nursing researcher Laura Gitlin is working to help older African Americans learn about depression, reengage in valued activities, and "beat the blues."

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The happiest countries and happiest U.S. states tend to have the highest suicide rates, researchers from the UK’s University of Warwick, Hamilton College in New York and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, have found.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has developed a series of Metro Briefs providing detailed statistical snapshots of drug- related visits to hospital emergency departments occurring in 11 metropolitan areas across the nation. This series of briefs is based on SAMHSA’s Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), a public health surveillance system which collects data from nationally representative emergency departments participating in the program.

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Even people who show a clear treatment response with antidepressant medications continue to experience symptoms like insomnia, sadness and decreased concentration, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found after analyzing data from the largest study on the treatment of depression.

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Researchers were able to to improve diabetes patients’ health by first addressing their depression.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered in mice a molecular wrecking ball that powers the demolition phase of a cycle that occurs at synapses — those specialized connections between nerve cells in the brain — and whose activity appears critical for both limiting and enhancing learning and memory. The newly revealed protein, which the researchers named thorase after Thor, the Norse god of thunder, belongs to a large family of enzymes that energize not only neurological construction jobs but also deconstruction projects.

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Follow-up on a group of Swedish tourists who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami shows slower psychological recovery for those exposed to more severe trauma, according to a report in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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After a century of studying the causes of schizophrenia-the most persistent disabling condition among adults-the cause of the disorder remains unknown. Now induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from schizophrenic patients have brought researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies a step closer to a fundamental understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disease.