September 2010 - Mental Health Update

Compatibility - the key to group therapy?

Day-hospital programmes are often recommended for people suffering from eating disorders. They often use group therapy to treat people but there has been little research into which aspects of this are the most important for people's recovery. One...

Published Thu, Sep 02 2010 2:47 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Group Therapy

Why people think they are depressed and what do they want to do about it

Over the years researchers have devoted a lot of time to working out the causes of depression. However, there has been a lot less research into what sufferers themselves think causes their depression and whether this influences what kind of treatment...

Published Tue, Sep 28 2010 2:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression - causes

Life is very short when you're lonely

Researchers from the universities of Utah and North Carolina have been reviewing the research into the effects of loneliness on people's health and have found that it can be as dangerous as smoking and alcohol and probably a lot less fun. The researchers...

Published Tue, Sep 14 2010 2:03 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Social Support, Social Networks

Brain training might stave off dementia but it won't stop it

Playing 'brain-training' games, doing crossword puzzles or learning a language might cover up the brain degeneration caused by dementia but can't stop it when it gets past a certain stage. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center in...

Published Fri, Sep 03 2010 1:39 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

Why your liver could affect your Alzheimer's risk

Low levels of a substance called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in people's brains have been associated with Alzheimer's disease but new research from the University of California Irvine suggests that the problem might lie in people's livers not...

Published Fri, Sep 10 2010 6:54 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Diet and Mental Health

Diaries take the trauma out of intensive care

On average 1 in 10 patients who stay more than two days in intensive care will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The fragmentary nature of people's memories, which might include isolated moments of clarity between delusions and hallucinations...

Published Fri, Sep 17 2010 2:30 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD

How many sessions does it take to get better?

Many governments, and private-sector medical companies, limit the number of sessions of psychotherapy that people are entitled to. This is done on financial grounds but there is a lack of research into how many sessions people actually need to get better...

Published Thu, Sep 02 2010 1:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychotherapy

Young Black women self-harm more but get less help

Young Black women in the U.K. are significantly more likely to harm themselves than people from other ethnic groups but slightly less likely to receive specialist psychiatric assessment and access to follow-up services. Researchers from the Universities...

Published Fri, Sep 17 2010 3:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Self-Harm

35-44 is gloomiest decade

35-44 has emerged as the unhappiest decade in a survey carried out by the U.K. relationship charity Relate. More people between the ages of 35 and 44 said they felt lonely or depressed than in any other age group. 21% of people in this age group said...

Published Wed, Sep 29 2010 1:21 AM by Mental Health Update

Weight loss surgery and suicide risk

Very fat people sometimes have surgery to make their stomachs smaller and stop them eating so much. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh studied 16,683 people who had had weight-loss surgery between 1995 and 2004. By 2006 31 of these people had...

Published Wed, Sep 29 2010 3:43 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Obesity, Suicide

Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease - shedding more light on the link

There has already been a lot of research linking type 2 diabetes with Alzheimer's disease but it can be difficult to assess which people with type 2 diabetes go on to develop Alzheimer's. Researchers from the University of Alberta studied 499...

Published Tue, Sep 14 2010 3:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Diabetes

Friends and family better than tests at spotting Alzheimer's

Researchers devote a lot of time to developing screening tests for Alzheimer's disease but a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis suggests that it might actually be more effective to ask people's friends...

Published Tue, Sep 28 2010 2:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

What makes a happy teacher?

Researchers at the University of Kent have been looking into what makes a happy teacher. They surveyed 197 of them twice over a three-month period and found that those with career aspirations and a goal to learn were happier than those facing unrealistic...

Published Fri, Sep 03 2010 2:37 AM by Mental Health Update

Fitter kids have better brains

Children who are fitter tend to have better-developed brains than out-of-shape ones. Researchers from the University of Illinois studied 49 children aged nine to ten. They measured their fitness on a treadmill, used an MRI scanner to measure the volume...

Published Fri, Sep 17 2010 2:11 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Exercise and Mental Health

Feeling stressed - help yourself to a book

In 2003 it was estimated that the equivalent of 13.4m working days were lost in the U.K. because of workplace stress. The U.K.'s National Health Service is one of the biggest employers in the world so anything that reduces the number of days lost...

Published Fri, Sep 10 2010 5:54 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Stress