April 2010 - Mental Health Update

Experts - we know next to nothing about Alzheimer's

Over the years - and indeed on this blog - there have been quite a few stories linking different foods, habits and lifestyles to an increased or decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease. However, a panel of experts set up by the National Institutes of...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 7:41 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

Has the bubble burst for Omega-3s?

Following on from research showing that omega-3s might not improve cognition in older people http://mentalhealthupdate.blogspot.com/2010/04/omega-3s-not-miracle-solution-for-older.html a new study shows that they may not have much of an effect in children...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 7:08 AM by Mental Health Update

Antidepressants and self-poisoning risk - which are the riskiest?

Self-poisoning is a common way of killing oneself, especially among women. Because suicide is linked to depression, and antidepressants are often easily available, antidepressants are involved in around 25% of all poisoning suicides in the U.K. and 20...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 6:26 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Antidepressants, SSRIs - side effects, Suicide, Venlafaxine, Mirtazapine, Dosulepin, Citalopram, Amitriptyline, Doxepin

Bupropion helps people with schizophrenia stub it out

People with schizophrenia are three times more likely to smoke than the rest of the population and find it harder to give up. A drug called bupropion blocks the effects of nicotine and has been used to help people without schizophrenia quit. A team of...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 6:02 AM by Mental Health Update

Psychosis - hearing the service users' stories

There has been lots of research into psychosis but relatively little of it has looked at the thoughts, feelings and life histories of the people who suffer from the condition. John Rhodes from the Willesden Mental Health Resources Centre in London and...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 3:54 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychosis

Picking up the pieces in Kosovo

Millions of people all over the world suffer from the psychological consequences of warfare and a large number of studies have reported high levels of psychological distress among civilian survivors of war. Researchers from the University of Amsterdam...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 3:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD

Mariposa by Sarah Coggrave

Sarah Coggrave has written a book about her experiences of suffering, and recovering from, an eating disorder. Mariposa is a vivid, colourful and comprehensive account of Sarah Coggrave’s recovery from an eating disorder. Her art and writing paint an...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 1:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

30 ways of dealing with stress

Christine Seivers has compiled a useful list of hints and tips for dealing with stress. You can find her top tips at http://www.ekgtechniciantraining.org/blog/2010/30-best-stress-relievers/ Read More...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2010 1:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Stress

Dreams, memory and learning

Dreams have been linked to prophesies and the unconscious welling up to the surface or dismissed as the brain's equivalent of a PC's screensaver but new research by scientists at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston suggests that...

Published Wed, Apr 28 2010 3:40 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Dreams

Premature babies, psychiatric problems

Advances in medical technology mean that many more premature babies now survive but such children have an increased risk of cognitive, neuromotor and sensory problems later in life. A study by British researchers, led by Samantha Johnson who works at...

Published Wed, Apr 28 2010 3:14 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Psychology, Premature Babies

Sleep, drugs and social networks

Previous research has pointed to a link between poor sleep in children and an increased risk of drug use. Now new research from the University of California, San Diego has confirmed this and also suggests that bad sleep can spread throughout social networks...

Published Wed, Apr 28 2010 2:50 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse, Sleep Disorders, Social Networks

Chocolate - not such a 'feelgood food'?

It is often thought that chocolate cheers people up but new research from the University of California, San Diego shows that people who regularly eat chocolate are more prone to depression. The researchers studied nearly 1,000 adults comparing their chocolate...

Published Tue, Apr 27 2010 7:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Personality, ageing and brain structure

Researchers from Washington University in St Louis have been looking into the links between people's personality and how their brain changes as they age. They gave MRI scans to 79 people between the ages of 44 and 88 who also took personality tests...

Published Tue, Apr 27 2010 7:06 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience

CBT and IBS

A significant minority of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) respond rapidly to cognitive behaviour therapy and these benefits seem to be long-lasting. Researchers from the University at Buffalo, in New York, studied 71 people with IBS who received...

Published Tue, Apr 27 2010 6:35 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Family depression and interpreting emotions

Children whose mothers are depressed are known to be more at risk of depression themselves. The way people react to the world around them is thought to be important in whether they develop depression or not and interpreting people's facial expressions...

Published Tue, Apr 27 2010 4:21 AM by Mental Health Update