February 2011 - Mental Health Update

Language learning could stave off senior moments

People who speak more than two languages could be at a lower risk of developing memory problems as they grow older. Researchers from the Public Research Centre for Health in Luxembourg - where many people are multilingual - studied 230 men and women with...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 3:12 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Memory Problems, Cognition

U.S. anti-drugs campaign shows early promise

In 2005 the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy launched its Above the Influence campaign - funded at a cost of $200m a year - which aimed to prevent teenagers from using cannabis. Unlike previous campaigns, which stressed the risks of the drug...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 2:36 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cannabis

NICE issues new guidelines on alcohol problems

In the U.K. the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidelines about the treatment of people with alcohol problems. The guidelines call for an initial assessment with a screening tool such as the Alcohol Use Disorder...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 2:11 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems

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

U.K. couples' sunny outlook

The vast majority of couples in the U.K. are happy. Researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University asked married and cohabiting couples to rate their happiness on a seven-point scale from the lowest score of 'extremely...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 3:55 AM by Mental Health Update

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

Heart risk and cognitive decline

Researchers from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research have added more weight to the growing body of evidence that a healthy heart is linked to keeping one's mental faculties as one grows older. The researchers studied 4,827...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 2:31 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Memory Problems, Cognition

Naltrexone for heroin addiction

Heroin addicts are often prescribed methadone as this reduces problems with criminality, contaminated drugs and dirty needles. However, methadone itself is still addictive so Nikolaj Kunoe from the Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research at the University...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 7:03 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Naltrexone, Heroin

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

Amphetamines and Parkinson's disease

People who use amphetamines could be at an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Apart from their illegal use amphetamines such as Benzedrine and Dexedrine are often prescribed for people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder Read...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 4:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Parkinson's Disease, Amphetamines

Doctors call for more alcohol restrictions as liver deaths soar

Up to a quarter of a million people could die from alcohol abuse if Britain's drink problem carries on getting worse at the same rate. The U.K. has the 16th highest drinking level in the world and a recent report predicted that binge drinking would...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 3:37 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems

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

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

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

Self portraits and eating disorders

Women who suffer from anorexia and bulimia draw themselves differently from other women. Researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel studied 76 women. 36 had been diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia, 20 had no eating disorders but were overweight...

Published Wed, Feb 16 2011 3:23 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Art Therapy