Mental Health Update

Purple grape juice and memory loss

There is evidence that a healthy diet can reduce people's risk of Alzheimer's disease and new research suggests that drinking purple grape juice can reduce, or even reverse, memory loss. In a small-scale trial researchers from the University of...

Published Wed, Dec 09 2009 2:28 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alzheimer's Disease

Antidepressants and personality

Antidepressants could affect people's personalities as well as their moods. Researchers from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois studied 240 volunteers. They gave 120 the antidepressant paroxetine, 60 received cognitive behaviour therapy Read...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 7:42 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Antidepressants

Craving, concentration and cigarette smoking

Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara have been studying the effects of craving cigarettes on people's concentration. They studied 44 heavy smokers, none of whom had had a cigarette in the last six hours before the start of...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 7:16 AM by Mental Health Update

In 2009 around 2 million children in the U.S. had a parent in either the active or reserve component of the military. A study of some of these children by researchers from the RAND corporation found that across all age groups children from military families...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 6:52 AM by Mental Health Update

Bipolar disorder, antiepileptics and suicide risk

People with bipolar disorder are sometimes treated with antiepileptic drugs but there have been worries that these can increase people's suicide risk. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago studied 47,918 people with bipolar disorder...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 6:12 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Suicide, Bipolar Disorder

The burden of depression and anxiety

Worldwide, mental-health problems accounted for 9.4% of the burden of illness in 2002, compared to 9.9% for cardiovascular disease and 5.1% for cancer. Within mental illness depression is thought to make up about 55% of the burden, with anxiety making...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2009 7:31 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Anxiety Disorders

Cannabis and suicide

Although cannabis has been linked to psychosis (see below) there is not such good evidence linking it to depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide. Researchers from Cardiff and Bristol universities and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied 50...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2009 7:12 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cannabis, Suicide

Skunk and psychosis

There has been a lot of debate about the links between cannabis and psychosis and in particular the effects of high-strength 'skunk' cannabis which contains much more of the active ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Researchers from the...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2009 6:48 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Cannabis, Psychosis

ERT for BPD

STEPPS (Systems Training of Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving) has been shown to be effective in adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Emotion Regulation Training (ERT) is a simplified variation of the STEPPS programme which can...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2009 6:01 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Borderline Personality Disorder

Crossing the threshold into mental illness

Depending on your point of view psychiatric diagnosis is either a logical scientific process, an art form or (not-so) inspired guesswork. People with severe mental-health problems are relatively easy to diagnose but some people can fall below the threshold...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2009 7:33 AM by Mental Health Update

Depression in teenage girls

It is thought that between 10% and 18.5% of people suffer from major depression during their adolescence. The peak age of onset is 15 with the average length of an episode of depression being about 6 months. Girls are thought to be particularly vulnerable...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2009 6:58 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression - in adolescence

Depression in mothers of autistic children

It is estimated that 1 in 150 children born in the U.S. has autism. Mothers of autistic children face a number of challenges including uncertainty about their child's capabilities, difficulties in dealing with their children's behaviour and making...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2009 6:34 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Depression, Autism

Guiltless, fearless and lawless - disregarding rules in young children

Some children seem to break rules without experiencing either guilt or a fear of punishment. A team of researchers, led by Amelie Petitclerc from University College Dublin, looked into this issue in a sample of 1,942 children studied from when they were...

Published Thu, Dec 03 2009 7:38 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Child Development

Self esteem and drinking

Self-esteem is generally thought to be a good thing. However, there is evidence that it is not so helpful when it comes to health promotion. People with high self-esteem tend to have an 'it'll never happen to me' philosophy and underestimate...

Published Thu, Dec 03 2009 7:08 AM by Mental Health Update

Filed under: Alcohol Problems

Bipolar disorder and body clocks

People with bipolar disorder often experience trouble with their body clocks and this is particularly true for children. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine compared 152 children with bipolar disorder to 140 without. They found that...

Published Mon, Nov 30 2009 3:50 AM by Mental Health Update

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