January 2011 - Mental Health Update

Suicidal surgeons

A U.S. study by researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has found alarming levels of depression and suicidal thoughts among surgeons. Doctors are known to have a higher suicide rate than the rest of the population but this is thought...

Published Tue, Jan 18 2011 1:54 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide, Stress

Schizophrenia and shrinking brains

Brain scans could be used to help people at risk of developing schizophrenia so that they can be offered help before they become unwell. Schizophrenia is known to run in families and researchers from Edinburgh University compared 146 people with a family...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 2:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Schizophrenia, Neuroscience

Miserable materialists

People who want the latest type of toys and gadgets could be more depressed than people who are happy with what they have already got. Researchers from Murray State University in Kentucky asked 101 men and women how they felt about a range of gadgets...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 2:13 AM by Mental Health Update

Colleges fail to pick up depressed students

Universities and colleges could be failing to pick up on, and offer help to, students who are depressed. Researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois studied 1,622 college students going to medical appointments for other health problems. They...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 1:55 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression - in adolescence

Brain structures and video-game performance

Researchers from the University of Illinois have been looking into the links between brain structures and learning. They studied 34 people looking at brain activity in structures called the caudate nucleus, the putamen and the nucleus accumbens. The caudate...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 1:39 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience

Energy drinks make virtually no difference

Drinking so-called energy drinks alongside alcohol has no effect on people's driving ability or alertness. Researchers from Boston University School of Public Health and Brown University in Rhode Island studied 129 people, aged between 21 and 30....

Published Fri, Jan 14 2011 3:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems, Caffeine

Researchers find protein linking Down's syndrome with Alzheimer's

People with Down's syndrome develop Alzheimer's disease much earlier than other people - often in their 30s. Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada have been investigating the link between Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's...

Published Fri, Jan 14 2011 3:21 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Down's syndrome

Children's mental health after the hurricane

In 2004 Hurricane Charley hit Charlotte County in Southwest Florida killing 35 people. Researchers from the University of Miami have been researching post-traumatic stress (PTS) in children caught up in the disaster and have found that the effects can...

Published Fri, Jan 14 2011 2:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: PTSD

Survey shows mental-health problems in menopausal women

Compared to men women go through a number of hormonal changes throughout their life which can also affect their mental health. Menopause is associated with depression, sleep disturbances, anxiety and irritability and researchers from Selcuk University...

Published Fri, Jan 14 2011 2:07 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Anxiety Disorders

Gene linked to drunken impulsiveness

Some people who are relatively mild-mannered most of the time can become violent after a few drinks. Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Maryland compared the genes of people who had acted impulsively under the influence...

Published Wed, Jan 12 2011 3:49 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems, Violence, Genetics

New figures show more people sectioned and hospitalized in England

The number of people in England detained under the Mental Health Act rose by a third last year. The number of people detained rose from 32,649 in 2008-9 to 42,499 in 2009-10. The overall number of mental-health inpatients rose by 5% to 107,765. Nearly...

Published Wed, Jan 12 2011 2:40 AM by Mental Health Update

Allergies, cytokines and suicide risk

People who have severe nasal or skin allergies could have a higher risk of suicide. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark analyzed the medical records of 27,000 people who had killed themselves. They found that just over 1% had been hospitalized...

Published Tue, Jan 11 2011 3:37 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide, Cytokines, Allergies

Brain structure and social networks

The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure deep within the temporal lobe of the brain. Research on apes and monkeys has shown that the more sociable they are the larger their amygdalas and a new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital suggests...

Published Tue, Jan 11 2011 3:13 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience, Social Networks

New survey shows recession's toll on youngsters' mental health

Nearly a million 16-24 year-olds in the U.K. are unemployed and a new survey by the Prince's Trust charity shows the toll that this is taking on youngsters' mental health. The survey of 2,170 people aged between 16 and 25 found that young people...

Published Tue, Jan 11 2011 2:31 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Social Support, Social Networks

Overweight mums not linked to children's intellectual and behaviour problems

Previous studies have shown that women who are overweight before becoming pregnant are more likely to have children with behavioural and learning problems. However, a new study by researchers at the University of Bristol suggests that there is not a direct...

Published Tue, Jan 11 2011 2:17 AM by Mental Health Update