March 2011 - Mental Health Update

Alzheimer's. More risk on the mother's side?

Alzheimer's disease is known to have a hereditary element and people with first-degree relatives with the condition are four to 10 times more likely to develop the disease themselves compared to people with no family history of it. Researchers from...

Published Tue, Mar 01 2011 2:18 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

Recurrence in teenage depression

Major depression is one of the most common mental-health problems in adolescence with rates of around 5.9% among girls and 4.6% among boys. It is associated with functional impairment, risk of suicide and a risk of depression in adulthood. A team of researchers...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 2:37 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression - in adolescence

Coping strategies and binge eating

Researchers from the University of Oviedo in Spain have been looking into the prevalence and causes of binge eating and in particular how people's coping styles affect how likely they are to binge eat. They studied 1,913 children between 12 and 18...

Published Thu, Mar 17 2011 2:47 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Tackling weight and eating problems in Spanish schools

More and more teenagers have problems with eating and weight, either because they are too fat or because they show signs of developing an eating disorder. Universal prevention programmes are ones which involve boys and girls and are given to everyone...

Published Mon, Mar 14 2011 3:57 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Schools and children's mental health

There has been a lot of research about the effect of the workplace on adults' mental health but much less research on the effect of children's workplaces i.e. schools. Researchers from the University of Maryland studied 10,700 Year One pupils...

Published Fri, Mar 11 2011 2:40 AM by Mental Health Update

Jollying along could be best approach for toddlers' tantrums

Jollying children along could be a better way of coping with toddlers' tantrums than punishing them. Researchers from the University of Illinois studied 107 children who were taking part in a larger study of children's social and emotional development...

Published Thu, Mar 10 2011 3:07 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development, Parenting

Premenstrual troubles and bipolar disorder

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have been studying the interaction between premenstrual symptoms and bipolar disorder. They studied 293 women over a year and found that the women with premenstrual worsening of their bipolar disorder...

Published Mon, Mar 21 2011 3:23 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Bipolar Disorder, PMT

Keep smiling - you might live longer

Being unhappy could be worse for your health than being obese. Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois reviewed 160 studies into the connection between a positive state of mind and overall health and longevity. The overwhelming majority of...

Published Thu, Mar 03 2011 2:11 AM by Mental Health Update

Understanding the causes of prenatal depression

Many women suffer from postnatal depression but they can also suffer from prenatal depression as well. Anxiety and depression during pregnancy can result in premature birth or low birthweight and can affect children's health even into their early...

Published Tue, Mar 15 2011 4:16 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression - in pregnancy

Panic attacks and other problems

There is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that people who suffer from panic attacks are also more likely to suffer from other physical and mental-health problems. Researchers from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada used information...

Published Mon, Mar 14 2011 4:20 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Anxiety Disorders, Panic Disorder