March 2010 - Mental Health Update

New tests boost early detection of Alzheimer's

Early detection of Alzheimer's disease is considered to be crucial in treating it more effectively and researchers from the University of Tennessee have developed a computerised test which is more than 95% effective in detecting cognitive abnormalities...

Published Fri, Mar 12 2010 6:53 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

Want to find out about children's drug use? Look in the cleaning cupboard

When parents worry about their children's drug use they often think about cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy. However, new figures from the U.S. Government suggest that they should be looking closer to home. The Department of Health and Human Services found...

Published Fri, Mar 12 2010 6:30 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse

Memories: conscious and unconscious

There are two different ways of remembering things. One is by a deliberate effort of conscious recall while the other can occur involuntarily through the associations produced by sound, smell or bodily sensations. Kristiina Kompus from Umea University...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 7:26 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Memory Problems

Mothers, attachment and insecurity

Attachment theory stresses the importance of the bonds a child forms with its mother during infancy - something seen as increasingly important by psychologists. Jude Cassidy from the University of Maryland traced 26 adults in Pittsburgh whose mothers...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 6:52 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Parenting, Attachment

Sororities and body image

Sororities are female societies in U.S. universities. They can provide students with opportunities for personal growth and enrichment but have also been criticised for leading their members to focus excessively on their appearance. Ashley Rolnik from...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 8:25 AM by Mental Health Update

Why dim lighting brings out the dark side in people

Young children often think no-one can see them when they shut their eyes and new research from the University of Toronto suggests that adults are also more inclined to believe they can get away with things when the lights are low. The researchers got...

Published Mon, Mar 15 2010 8:03 AM by Mental Health Update

Mixed reviews on UK's drug strategy

In the U.K. the National Audit Office has produced a report into the Government's £1.2 bn anti-drug strategy . It conludes that every £1 spent has brought £2.50 worth of benefit. Between 2004-5 and 2008-9 the number of adults in effective treatment...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 4:56 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse, Tackling Drugs Misuse, National Audit Office

The low down on mephedrone in Middlesbrough

UK drug charity Lifeline has been carrying out research in Middlesbrough into the use of mephedrone. The research involved focus groups of mephedrone users most of whom regarded the drug as superior to cocaine and ecstasy. Just over half of the users...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 4:39 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse, Mephedrone, Lifeline, Middlesbrough

IQ and mental-health problems

Long-term, or longitudinal, studies allow researchers to look back in time to see what factors early in people's lives are associated with them developing mental-health problems later. People who develop schizophrenia later in life tend to have lower...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 8:04 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, IQ

Dementia care is poor relation

The Alzheimer's Trust has produced a major new report into the impact of, and funding for, dementia. The report estimates the number of people with dementia in the U.K. at 821,884 and found that dementia costs the U.K. economy around £23bn a year...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 7:22 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

TMS and hearing voices - study shows disappointing results

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) involves the use of strong, fluctuating magnetic fields to stimulate the surface layers of the brain's cortex. Some studies have shown TMS to be effective in treating auditory hallucinations but a study by researchers...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 8:30 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Schizophrenia, Hallucinations, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Ningdong granule and Tourette's syndrome

Ningdong granule is a prescription used in traditional Chinese medicine. Researchers from Shandong University in China looked at its effectiveness in treating Tourette's syndrome. 64 children between seven and 18 were divided into two groups. One...

Published Fri, Mar 19 2010 9:21 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Tourette's Syndrome, Ningdong Granule

Ambition, expectation and depression

Between 1976 and 2000 the gap between the number of high school seniors (Year 13) students who expected to get a degree and those who actually did so more than doubled. This gap between youngsters' expectations and their actual achievements has been...

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 7:16 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Ambition Inflation

Sleep, spliffs and social networks

Recent studies have found that obesity, smoking and altruism can all spread through social networks, affecting not just our friends but their friends too. Now researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Harvard University have found that...

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 6:57 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cannabis, Sleep Disorders, Social Networks

Researchers and brain waves

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have been using electroencephalography (EEGs) to measure people's brain waves as they meditate. They found that during meditation theta waves were most abundant in the frontal and...

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 8:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Meditation, EEGs, Brain Waves