December 2010 - Mental Health Update

Goals and grief

It's normal to feel grief and sadness after the death of a loved one yet for some people the effects can be much worse. People who go on to develop what psychologists call prolonged grief disorder (PGD) experience persistent yearning for their lost...

Published Thu, Dec 02 2010 8:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Bereavement

Brain scan could help with autism diagnosis

A test which can diagnose autism accurately could help children with the condition get help and support as soon as possible. Researchers from McLean Hospital in Boston and the University of Utah used MRI scans to look at how people's brains worked...

Published Fri, Dec 03 2010 7:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism, Neuroscience

One in seven young U.S. women suffering from depression

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have been using national data to assess the prevalence of depression and serious psychological distress (SPD) among young, non-pregnant women aged between 18 and 44. They...

Published Fri, Dec 03 2010 6:42 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression

Parenting programme lays firm foundations

The birth of a child can bring stress and conflict to couples as well as joy and happiness. The Family Foundations programme aims to foster attitudes and skills related to positive family relationships such as emotion regulation, temperament and positive...

Published Fri, Dec 03 2010 7:36 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Parenting

Smoking and mental health - feeling glum and giving up

Giving up smoking could be as good for people's mental health as it is for their bodies despite the fact that people often say they smoke because it makes them feel less anxious or depressed. Researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island studied...

Published Fri, Dec 03 2010 7:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Smoking, Smoking Cessation

Tough childhoods, emotional reactivity, depression and anxiety

To some extent everybody suffers from stress but some people seem to get more worked up about it than others, something psychologists call emotional, or stress, reactivity. Psychologists have known for a long time that adverse childhood experiences can...

Published Mon, Dec 06 2010 2:30 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Depression, Child Abuse, Anxiety

Helping children with autism by teaching them to be copycats

As most children develop they acquire the ability to imitate other people, pay attention to the same things and reflect others' moods - something psychologists call socially-synchronous behaviour. Unfortunately children with autism do not develop...

Published Mon, Dec 06 2010 2:06 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism

Charting the path from childhood delusions to mental illness

Although only around 1% of people suffer from full-blown schizophrenia or psychosis hallucinations or delusional beliefs - psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) - are more common and some psychologists think they are a risk factor for developing mental illness...

Published Mon, Dec 06 2010 3:31 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Psychosis, Schizophrenia

Child poverty and mental distress

Adults who are poor are also more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, however, despite what common sense might suggest the research into how poverty affects the mental health of children and young people is inconclusive. A team of French researchers...

Published Mon, Dec 06 2010 3:11 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Depression, Anxiety

Bipolar disorder and recovery from depression

Some researchers think that people with depression who also show some of the symptoms of bipolar disorder are less likely to respond well to treatment. A team of researchers led by Roy H. Perlis from Harvard Medical School looked into this issue in a...

Published Wed, Dec 08 2010 2:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Bipolar Disorder

Coping style and psychotherapy

People tend to cope with problems and difficulties in different ways. Some people bottle things up and become anxious and depressed while others show less sympathy to others, behave insensitively and become angry. Psychologists call these techniques internalizing...

Published Wed, Dec 08 2010 3:41 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychotherapy

Psychosis and suicide

The long-term risk of suicide after a first episode of psychosis is unknown although most researchers think it is probably higher than the rate in the rest of the population. Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied...

Published Wed, Dec 08 2010 3:22 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychosis, Suicide

Child abuse and alcohol problems

Child abuse is a big public-health problem with 794,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. in 2007. It is a risk factor for a number of different problems including alcohol abuse, but less is known about this link in boys than in girls. Researchers from the...

Published Wed, Dec 08 2010 5:22 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Abuse, Alcohol Problems

Ethnicity and PTSD

To be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) people have to have experienced a traumatic event, to have developed symptoms and to have sought help from - and been diagnosed by - medical professionals. Researchers don't really know whether...

Published Mon, Dec 13 2010 7:33 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD, Diversity

Measuring the burden of care

As more and more mentally-ill people are looked after in the community the responsibility for looking after them tends to fall on their relatives. A team of researchers from Karlstad University in Sweden looked into the 'burden of care' of 226...

Published Mon, Dec 13 2010 6:53 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Service Users' Families