October 2010 - Mental Health Update

Pet therapy does the trick for children with autism

Specially-trained dogs are sometimes used to reduce anxiety and improve social skills in children with autism. Researchers from the Universite de Montreal studied 42 children with autism to assess the impact of the dogs. They found that the children's...

Published Thu, Oct 21 2010 2:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism, Pet Therapy

Getting to grips with self-harm in Ireland

Deliberate self-harm is recognized worldwide as a major public-health problem with young people being particularly at risk. A team of researchers from Ireland (where the rate of self-harm in adolescents is estimated as between 8% and 12%) examined this...

Published Thu, Oct 21 2010 1:54 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Self-Harm

Turning down the frequency for successful magnet therapy

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) involves placing electrodes on people's heads and passing brief but strong magnetic pulses through their brain. Canada and Israel already use this technology to treat people with major depression and in the...

Published Thu, Oct 21 2010 1:37 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Light drinking in pregnancy not so damaging?

Pregnant women are often advised to stop drinking but a new study by a team of researchers, led by Yvonne J. Kelly from University College London suggests that the odd drink while pregnant has no long-term effects on babies' development. The team...

Published Wed, Oct 20 2010 2:32 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Child Psychology, Alcohol Problems

Mothers' mental health and children's asthma

Researchers from the Kyushu University Institute of Health Science in Japan have been looking into the influence of mothers' parenting styles and mental health on their children's asthma. They studied 223 mothers who had children between the ages...

Published Wed, Oct 20 2010 2:14 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Asthma, Parenting

Anorexia and eyesight

Poor eyesight is a well-known side effect of anorexia and new research from Athens University Medical School had given an indication as to why this might happen. In a detailed study of 33 women, 13 of whom had suffered from anorexia for at least 10 years...

Published Wed, Oct 20 2010 1:53 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Study questions fish oils for pregnant women

Women sometimes take fish-oil tablets when they are pregnant in the hope that the omega-3s in them could help to boost their baby's cognition and stop them developing postnatal depression; however, a new study by researchers from the University of...

Published Wed, Oct 20 2010 1:40 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Omega-3

Herbal remedies for anxiety - what works and what doesn't

Researchers from the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Los Angeles, have been reviewing research into nutritional supplements for treating anxiety. They pooled the results of 24 studies involving more than 200...

Published Tue, Oct 19 2010 4:51 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Anxiety, Magnesium, L-lysine, Kava, Passionflower, L-arginine, St John's Wort

Young students more responsible drinkers than young workers

A survey by the U.K. alcohol charity Drinkaware of 1,715 18-24 year-olds has found that students have a more responsible attitude to drink than people of a similar age in full-time work. The survey found that only 3% of students and 5% of young adults...

Published Tue, Oct 19 2010 4:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems

Men, women, dopamine and drink problems

Men are twice as likely to become alcoholics as women but it is unclear whether there is a biological basis behind this statistic. Researchers from Columbia and Yale University studied students giving them an alcoholic drink and then scanning their brains...

Published Tue, Oct 19 2010 4:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Vitamin B12 and Alzheimer's disease

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have added further evidence to the theory that vitamin B12 could help to prevent Alzheimer's disease. The researchers followed 271 people, aged between 65 and 79 at the start of the study , for seven...

Published Tue, Oct 19 2010 1:40 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Vitamin B12

A little of what you suffer does you good

"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" has become something of a cliche lately but new research - led by Mark Seery from the University at Buffalo - suggests that, like a lot of other cliches, there may be a grain of truth behind...

Published Mon, Oct 18 2010 3:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Are autistic brains less well-connected?

A team of researchers led by Jeffery S. Anderson from the University of Utah have been using MRI scans to investigate differences in the brains of people with autism. They scanned 80 people, aged between 10 and 35, with the condition and found that there...

Published Mon, Oct 18 2010 3:09 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism, Neuroscience

Dissection and depression

Scientists from Yale University have been dissecting dead people's brains in an attempt to find out more about depression. They analysed brain-tissue samples from 21 people who had been diagnosed with depression and compared them to 18 depression...

Published Mon, Oct 18 2010 2:22 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience, Depression - genetics

Poor drug taking sends people into crisis

In the U.K. people who might previously have been admitted to a psychiatric hospital are now often referred to Crisis Resolution Home Treatment (CRHT) services who decide whether to treat people themselves or send them on to hospital. CRHTs are an expensive...

Published Mon, Oct 18 2010 1:39 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse, Compliance