November 2010 - Mental Health Update

Diabetes and depression

There is good evidence of a link between diabetes and depression and new research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that the link could work in both directions. The researchers studied 65,381 women who were aged between 50 and 75 in 1996...

Published Fri, Nov 26 2010 6:41 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Diabetes

Pathological gambling and suicide

People with gambling problems are not only at risk financially they are also far more likely to kill themselves. 5% of people who kill themselves are pathological gamblers and gamblers are three times more likely to kill themselves than people who don't...

Published Fri, Nov 26 2010 6:23 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide, Gambling

Study gives thumbs up to Canadian family intervention

There has been a lot of research recently into ways in which the Government, health services and other public bodies can intervene early in the lives of disadvantaged children to help them do better later on in life. One such initiative is the Better...

Published Fri, Nov 26 2010 6:08 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Parenting

Study backs religious and spiritual therapies

Religion can be defined as adherence to a belief system and practices associated with a tradition in which there is agreement about what is believed and practiced whereas spirituality can be defined as a more general feeling of closeness and connectedness...

Published Fri, Nov 26 2010 3:45 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychotherapy, Religion and Mental Health

Resistance, reactance and psychotherapy

Despite expressing a sincere wish to recover some patients behave in almost exactly the opposite way from that suggested by their psychotherapist - something sometimes called patient resistance. However, a team of researchers from Palo Alto University...

Published Thu, Nov 25 2010 4:08 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychotherapy

Child abuse and drug addiction

Child abuse is known to be a risk factor for a number of different mental-health problems and antisocial behaviour. Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York studied 143 people in an attempt to find out more about this. 48 of...

Published Thu, Nov 25 2010 3:47 AM by Mental Health Update

New approach bears dividends after 7/7 attacks

People caught up in attacks by terrorists often suffer from psychological as well as physical trauma yet studies of what happened after events like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings and the 9/11 attacks show that those caught up in them do not always contact...

Published Tue, Nov 23 2010 3:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD

Most people don't stay the course with antidepressants

Most people who take antidepressants give them up before they are supposed to. Researchers from the Catalan Institute of Health studied 7,525 people who were starting antidepressant treatment. They found that 56% stopped taking their medication during...

Published Tue, Nov 23 2010 3:08 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Antidepressants, Compliance

Premature babies have more problems at six

Children born between 34 and 36 weeks into their mothers' pregnancies could be at greater risk of developing cognitive and emotional problems. Researchers from Michigan State University studied a group of children born between 1983 and 1985 and compared...

Published Tue, Nov 23 2010 2:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development

Talking and trauma

Talking or writing about trauma that one might have experienced (emotional disclosure) is widely seen as being therapeutic for people but the evidence about this is mixed and the best way of achieving it is unclear. Researchers from Wayne State University...

Published Tue, Nov 23 2010 1:43 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD, Psychotherapy

Genes and anorexia

A team of researchers from the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has been looking into the genetics of anorexia nervosa. They studied 4,736 people, 1,003 of whom had anorexia and compared their genes. The study...

Published Mon, Nov 22 2010 4:10 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Genetics

Girls less likely to be diagnosed with autism even if their symptoms are just as bad

Girls are less likely to be diagnosed with autism than boys even if their symptoms are just as bad. Previous research has shown that boys are four times as likely to have autism than girls but not everyone with symptoms of autism receives a diagnosis...

Published Mon, Nov 22 2010 3:50 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism

Albumin and cognitive decline

Having a protein called albumin in one's urine can be a symptom of disease and new research suggests that it could also be linked to cognitive decline. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston studied 1,200 women over 70 who were...

Published Mon, Nov 22 2010 3:27 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Albumin

PTSD and cardiovascular disease

Researchers from the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration Center have been strengthening the research linking post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to heart disease. The researchers looked at the medical records of 286,194 veterans, 637 of whom...

Published Fri, Nov 19 2010 2:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Service Users' Health, PTSD

Body clocks, genes and depression

People suffering from depression can often suffer from sleep problems as well, particularly waking up early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep again. Researchers from Ohio State University compared 30 people with a history of depression...

Published Fri, Nov 19 2010 2:16 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Body Clocks, Depression - genetics