February 2011 - Mental Health Update

Sex differences, genes and autism

Men are more likely to suffer from autism than women and men with autism have more testosterone than men without the condition. Researchers at Washington State University have been looking into the influence of male and female sex hormones on a gene called...

Published Thu, Feb 17 2011 3:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Autism, Neuroscience, Genetics

Lithium and bipolar brains

A team of researchers led by Brian Hallahan from the National University of Ireland in Galway have carried out a review of studies into brain volume, bipolar disorder and the effectiveness of lithium. They found that people with bipolar disorder had increased...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 2:57 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience, Bipolar Disorder, Lithium

Review gives thumbs up to peer support

Peer support programmes for depression involve patients and volunteers supporting each other by talking and sharing information with one another. They have been found to decrease isolation, reduce stress, increase the sharing of health information and...

Published Wed, Feb 16 2011 2:19 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Social Networks

Cannabis use and psychosis

The extent and nature of the link between cannabis use and psychosis is one of the most controversial areas of psychiatry. A team of researchers, led by Matthew Large from the Prince of Wales Hospital in New South Wales reviewed 83 studies into the relationship...

Published Tue, Feb 08 2011 2:13 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cannabis, Psychosis

How CBT can change your brain waves

A lot of coverage of science concentrates on how what goes on in the brain affects the way we feel and think but the relationship can, of course, work both ways with treatments and good and bad events in people's lives having an effect on what happens...

Published Thu, Feb 17 2011 4:24 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Social Anxiety

Suicide risk and criminal justice

Previous studies have shown that prisoners are substantially more likely to kill themselves but little is known about increased risk among other people who have a brush with the law. Researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of...

Published Tue, Feb 08 2011 1:53 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide, Forensic Psychology

Suicide and depression - why the greatest risk is on the way back up

Paradoxically people being treated for major depression often experience more suicidal thoughts after they start treatment as they move from a state of complete passivity and acquire enough energy to think about suicide while still being profoundly depressed...

Published Tue, Feb 15 2011 3:27 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Suicide

Depression, anxiety, inequality and ageing

Although research often demonstrates associations between being less well-off and having worse mental health there is less clarity about how age affects things and researchers often lump depression and anxiety together in their analyses. Researchers from...

Published Fri, Feb 04 2011 6:33 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression

Study shows power of the brain to deal with pain

Researchers from Oxford and Cambridge and two German universities have shed new light on the power of the mind and the brain's ability to cope with pain. They studied 22 volunteers, each of whom had a pain device placed on their skin that was too...

Published Thu, Feb 17 2011 4:00 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Neuroscience

Counting the psychological cost of Deepwater Horizon

In April 2010 there was an explosion and fire on a BP-licensed oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in millions of gallons of oil spilling out into the Gulf. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 6:27 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, PTSD, Anxiety

Theory of Mind and eating disorders

Theory of Mind - how we interpret our own and other people's thoughts and emotions - has become one of the most influential ideas in psychology. It is thought to be deficient in people with autism and some psychologists think that people with eating...

Published Fri, Feb 04 2011 4:11 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Lifting the lid on the pro-ana websites

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have been looking into pro-anorexia social networks and web sites in a piece of qualitative research that found four main themes: Staying "true" to the anorexia movement - in which members of social...

Published Thu, Feb 24 2011 3:09 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

ADHD kids at greater risk of drug problems

Children with ADHD are two to three times more likely to develop serious substance-abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood. Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles and the University of South Carolina reviewed 27 long-term studies...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 6:06 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Substance Abuse, ADHD

Study show suicide peak in December for some groups

Researchers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have been studying seasonal variations in drug-related suicide attempts. They analysed data from 2004 to 2008 and found that, on average, emergency departments dealt with...

Published Fri, Feb 25 2011 2:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide

Deafness and dementia

Losing your hearing could increase your risk of developing dementia. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore studied more than 600 men and women over an average of 12 years and all the participants had a hearing test done at the start of...

Published Tue, Feb 15 2011 3:49 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease, Deaf People