December 2010 - Mental Health Update

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

Insight and psychosis

In a mental-health context insight can be defined as being aware that you have a mental-health problem; being aware that you need treatment and being aware that your symptoms are due to an illness. A team of Spanish researchers studied insight in a study...

Published Mon, Dec 20 2010 2:33 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychosis

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

Violent crime - keeping it in the family

Violent behaviour can be made more likely by sociological, biological and psychological factors. All of these affect families as well as individuals and it is no surprise that violent crime tends to run in families. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet...

Published Mon, Dec 13 2010 7:57 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Violence

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

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

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

Obesity and depression

Past research has shown that being obese can increase people's risk of depression by between 50 and 150%. However, a new study by researchers from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle suggests that the relationship can work both ways and...

Published Tue, Dec 21 2010 3:56 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Obesity

Alzheimer's decay could start earlier than thought

Alzheimer's disease is thought to be caused by the build up of tangles, or plaques, of a protein called beta amyloid in the brain. However, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis have found that in people who have a...

Published Fri, Dec 17 2010 2:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Neuroscience

'Conduct disorder' and juvenile delinquency

12 and 13-year-olds with 'conduct disorder' are much more likely to engage in violent and delinquent behaviour as teenagers. Researchers from the Universite de Montreal studied 4,125 children, following them over a number of years. They found...

Published Thu, Dec 16 2010 3:47 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Psychology, Violence

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

Uncovering the roots of unconscious memory

In In Search of Lost Time Proust describes a whole host of memories suddenly brought back to him when he dips a madeliene biscuit into a cup of lime tea. Psychologists call this process unconscious memory and researchers from the University of California...

Published Thu, Dec 16 2010 6:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Neuroscience, Memory Disorders

Schizophrenia and caeliac disease

People with schizophrenia are more likely to suffer from caeliac disease than the rest of the population. Scientists don't know why but a team of researchers from John Hopkins University in Baltimore looked into the prevalence of antibodies associated...

Published Mon, Dec 20 2010 3:09 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Schizophrenia, Caeliac Disease

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

Fear and psychopathy

Children with psychopathic traits feel emotions less strongly and have less empathy for other people and recent research suggests that they may feel fear less than other people. A team of researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health in the...

Published Wed, Dec 15 2010 1:56 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Psychopathy