How long is a piece of string? And what does it tell us about body image in eating disorders?

A distorted body image is thought to play a part in anorexia and bulimia. Researchers from the Medical University in Berlin compared 129 teenage girls with eating disorders to a control group of 354 girls of a similar age. The two groups were asked to indicate what they thought the circumference of their arms, thighs and waists were, then measured to see what their actual dimensions were. The control group overestimated their body circumferences by 8-16% whereas the participants with eating disorders overestimated their body circumferences by 30%. The biggest difference in estimates were between the estimates for thigh and waist circumference. There was no significant difference in the degree of overestimation between the participants with anorexia and those with bulimia.

Schneider, Nora ... [et al] - Comparison of body size estimation in adolescents with different types of eating disorders European Eating Disorders Review November-December 2009, 17(6), 468-475

Acceptance and commitment therapy and eating disorders

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new approach that combines traditional cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) with an emphasis on mindfulness (non-judgemental living in the present) and an acceptance of events and factors that cannot be changed. ACT differs from CBT in that while CBT seeks to modify people's beliefs about events ACT encourages people to accept their feelings about what has happened but not to let these feelings about what has happened but not to let them interfere with their behaviour or stop them from reaching their goals. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, the University of California, San Diego and the University of Minnesota tried using ACT on three patients who already had a history of intensive treatment for their condition. After 17-19 weeks of twice-weekly treatments with ACT all the women experienced a clinically-significant improvement on at least some measures and none of them had go worse or lost weight even after a year.

Berman, M.I., Boutelle, K.N. and Crow, S. J. - A case series investigating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a treatment for previously treated, unremitted patients with anorexia nervosa European Eating Disorders Review November-December 2009, 17(6), 426-434

Social support and PTSD in children

Children are often exposed to traumatic events such as illness or car accidents. It is thought that 40% of children exposed to trauma go on to develop acute stress disorder which can be a precursor to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Current theories about PTSD in adults emphasise the importance of negative appraisals of events in causing the development of the condition, with people who feel themselves to be vulnerable or the world to be unsafe being more at risk of developing PTSD. Social support from friends and family is thought to protect against the development of PTSD as friends and family can challenge negative beliefs, help to find solutions and encourage constructive behaviour. Researchers from Flinders University looked to see whether these theories were true in children in a study of 97 people aged between 7 and 17 who had been admitted to A&E departments. The study found that negative beliefs about the accident were strongly linked to both acute stress and depression symptoms. Social support helped to reduce negative beliefs and to prevent depression but did not stop the children from developing acute stress.

Ellis, Alicia A., Nixon, Reginald D.V. and Williamson, Paul - The effects of social support and negative appraisals on acute stress symptoms and depression in children and adolescents British Journal of Clinical Psychology November 2009, 48(4), 347-361

Caregivers, sleep and stress

In the U.K. nearly seven million people provide help for a sick, disabled or elderly person and in the U.S. more than 44 million people have been identified as caregivers. Researchers from the University of Birmingham looked into the links between the burden of caring for someone and depression and anxiety in a sample of 393 caregivers. They found that the strain and burden of caregiving were linked to depression and anxiety both at the time and five years later. The quality of sleep was found to be an important factor in the link between caregiver stress and depression and anxiety.

Phillips, Anna C. ... [et al] - Symptoms of depression in non-routine caregivers: the role of caregiver strain and burden British Journal of Clinical Psychology November 2009, 48(4), 335-346

What service users think about ECT

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for major depression, mania and catatonia yet it is sometimes seen as authoritarian and inhumane, has a bad image and some patient groups oppose it. Researchers from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust surveyed 389 people who had had ECT focusing on the consent process and side effects of the treatment. They found that almost half of the sample reported memory loss after ECT. Overall, the consent process was seen as adequate although there were concerns about the provision of written information, discussion about alternatives to ECT and the consequences of not having it. 72% of the sample said that ECT had improved their condition.

Rayner, Lauren ... [et al] - The patient perspective of the consent process and side effects of electroconvulsive therapy Journal of Mental Health October 2009, 18(5), 379-388

Yoga and mental health

Women with eating disorders may lack body awareness including having a reduced awareness of basic body signals such as hunger and fullness, energy levels and fatigue. They can also lack awareness of their moods so that instead of being recognised and dealt with strong feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, loneliness and even happiness can lead to either restricted eating or a binge. Yoga improves physical and emotional awareness, reduces depression and anxiety and improves people's self confidence and self control. Researchers from the University of Hartford in Connecticut studied the effect of yoga on five women taking part in a six-day yoga workshop. They found that it improved mood, psychological adjustment, physical and emotional awareness and eating-disorder symptoms.

Lourdes, P. Dale ... [et al] - Yoga workshop impacts psychological functioning and mood of women with self-reported history of eating disorders Eating Disorders October-December 2009, 17(5), 422-434

Supported housing for eating disorders

Some people with eating disorders receive treatment as day patients at hospital. They spend 7-12 hours a day on site receiving supervised meals, group and individual psychotherapy and nutrition counselling. However, this good work can be undone if patients go back to an unsupportive or even harmful living environment. One way around this could be through the use of supported housing which is already used to help people with schizophrenia and drug addiction. Supported housing aims to settle people back into the community and help them to lead fulfilling and satisfying lives. People in supported housing often receive counselling to improve their problem-solving skills, support groups and transport to appointments. Researchers from the University of Rochester compared 16 women receiving day-hospital treatment and living in supported housing to 19 women who were just receiving day-hospital treatment. After allowing for age, how long the women had had their eating disorder and how long they had been in hospital the women in supported housing were found to show 'numerous improvements' compared to the other women.

Tantillo, Mary ... [et al] - Combining supported housing and partial hospitalization to improve eating disorder symptoms, perceived health status, and health related quality of life for women with eating disorders Eating Disorders October-December 2009, 17(5), 385-399

Motivational interviewing gets thumbs up from researchers

Motivational interviewing aims to help people explore and deal with their mixed feelings about changing their behaviour and to increase their motivation to make positive changes. It has become increasingly popular over the last decade and is used in psychotherapy, medicine, treating addictions and public health. Brad Lundahl from the University of Utah and Brian L. Burke from Fort Lewis College reviewed a number of studies into the effectiveness of motivational interviewing and found that it was significantly better than not treating people at all and as effective as other methods of treatment at helping people overcome drug problems and reduce risky behaviour. Group motivational interviewing was found to be less effective than one-to-one interviewing.

Lundahl, Brad and Burke, Brian L. - The effectiveness and applicability of motivational interviewing: a practice-friendly review of four meta-analyses Journal of Clinical Psychology November 2009, 65(11), 1232-1245

The sleep surveyors

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been conducting a huge survey of people's sleep. 403,981 people took part in the survey across all 50 states. Nearly 70% of people said that they had on bad night's sleep a month. Black people (13%) were most likely to say they never got enough sleep. 12% of women and 10% of men complained of an ongoing lack of sleep. West Virginia was the most sleep-deprived state with 19% of people being poor sleepers while North Dakota had the best sleepers with only 7% being affected.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5A24OD20091103?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Why some people get PTSD and others don't

It is thought that between 40-70% of Americans have experienced traumatic events yet only about 8% go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the course of their lifetimes. Researchers from Yale University studied 1,252 people aged from 17 to 79 who had experienced adversity in their childhood and/or as an adult. People who had experienced adverse events in both adulthood and childhood were much more likely (29%) to develop PTSD than people who had 'only' experienced adversity in one part of their life (9.9%). A gene called 5-HTTLPR was also found to influence whether people developed PTSD or not but it was only found to increase in people who had had a double dose (in childhood and as an adult) of trauma.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102171409.htm

Mapping out emotions in York

Researchers at the University of York have a £1.1 million scanner to play with which can map the magnetic fields made by electrical activity in the brain. They tested 19 people to measure how the brain responded to expressions of emotion, both facial and vocal. They found a strong response from a part of the brain called the posterior superior temporal sulcus. This part of the brain responded to both facial and vocal stimuli although it was previously only thought to respond to facial cues.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102171557.htm

Depression treatment benefits long lasting for teenagers

Scientists often follow people who take part in research studies to see how they are getting on later. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina did exactly this with 327 depressed teenagers who had taken part in a 36-week study into methods of treating depression. The follow-up found that even a year after the end of active treatment the teenagers still felt benefits in terms of lower levels of depression and suicidal thoughts.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE5A25IU20091103?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Never judge a book by its cover - but if you do you might be right

Despite advice to 'never judge a book by its cover' people often judge by first impressions, whether it is a profile picture on a social-networking site or at a job interview. Now new research by psychologists at the University of Texas suggests that these judgements can be surprisingly accurate. The psychologists showed the participants in the study photographs of 123 subjects they had never met before. Some of the photographs were in a controlled, 'neutral' pose and others were more natural. The accuracy of the participants' judgements were compared to the self-assessments of the subjects and assesments of the subjects by their three closest friends. Even in the neutral pose the participants could accurately judge some major personality traits including extraversion and self esteem, although most traits were hard to judge from these photographs. However, when the participants saw the natural photographs their judgements were accurate for nine out of the ten personality traits they were asked about. Extraverts smiled more, stood in energetic and less tense ways and looked healthy, neat and stylish. People who were more open to experience were less likely to look healthy and neat but were more likely to have a distinctive style of dress. Men who had a neat and tidy appearance were seen as more conscientious.

Early retirement and better sleep

Sadly, for most people nowadays - barring lottery wins - early retirement is just a distant pipe dream. However, for those people lucky enough to be able to take it it could bring a dramatic improvement in sleep quality. Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland studied 14,714 employees of the French national gas and electricity company Electricite de France-Gaz de France who retired at an average age of 55. All of the participants had reported sleep disturbances at least once before and after their retirement. Overall the prevalence of sleep disturbance fell from 24.2% in the last year before retirement to 17.8% in the first year afterwards. The improvements in sleep were more marked in men, managers, those with demanding jobs and people who worked night shifts. Sleep disturbance got worse as people aged but although it rose again after the first year of retirement it did not reach the levels of people in their last year of work.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/11/02/retirement-improves-sleep/9276.html

Study backs U.K. government's talk-therapy initiative

The U.K. government has been trying to help more people with mental-health problems with its Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. Researchers from Exeter University looked at the effectiveness of the programme in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. They studied 2,017 people who had been treated for depression and anxiety. By the end of their treatment 76% of depression sufferers were either in recovery or remission and 74% of anxiety sufferers were. For all patients (including those who dropped out of treatment) the figures were 61% and 62% respectively. The average length of treatment was short (2hrs 45 mins) and most patients received low-intensity cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), the majority of which was carried out over the telephone.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169515.php

Defining words and diagnosing dementia

Researchers devote a lot of time to diagnosing dementia as quickly as possible as the earlier the condition is diagnosed the more effectively it can be treated. Over 20 years doctors from Oxford have been studying a group of 241 healthy elderly volunteers giving them regular tests designed to measure their thinking or cognitive powers. Looking back over the tests the doctors found that those participants who went on to develop mild cognitive impairment - often seen as a precursor of Alzheimer's - stumbled on tasks involving language expression, learning and recall. They had greater difficulty remembering the names of common objects or animals and explaining the meanings of words and those who were older and scored lower on the language and memory tests tended to deteriorate more quickly.

You can find out more about this research at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8337744.stm

TV, toddlers and aggression

Very young children who watch too much television are more likely to behave aggressively. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children below the age of two but this is more honoured in the breach than the observance. Researchers from the University of Albany in New York studied information from 3,128 mothers whose children had been born between 1998 and 2000. About two-thirds of the mothers said that their three-year-old child watched more than two hours of television a day. Direct child TV exposure and household TV use were both significantly associated with childhood aggression after allowing for other factors such as parent, family, neighbourhood and demographic characteristics.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102171413.htm

Deep-brain stimulation offers hope for severely depressed

A small-scale study of ten patients by researchers at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne has shown some promising results for the use of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) for people with severe depression. The participants in the study had all suffered from severe depression for a number of years and had not been helped by drugs or psychotherapy. The DBS involved using an electric current to stimulate a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens - an important part of the brain's reward system involved in remembering and anticipating good experiences. People with depression often remember only bad things from the past and see little hope for the future so it was hoped that stimulating these parts of the brain would help to overcome this. Five of the participants' well-being improved significantly over a sustained period and even after a year the stimulation of the nucleus accumbens was still as effective. Anxiety also improved, overall brain function was not affected and there were only minor side effects of the treatment but a lot more work needs to be done before DBS can become an established treatment.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102121624.htm

Danger: rose-coloured spectacles can blur your vision

Being in a bad mood could help people see the world more clearly. Researchers from the University of New South Wales induced happy and sad moods in participants by showing them films or asking them to remember positive or negative events. The participants then took part in a series of psychological tests and tasks allowing the researchers to compare people in a bad mood with more cheerful participants. Those participants in a bad mood were less gullible, less likely to make snap decisions based on racial and religious prejudices, less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they had witnessed and better at stating their case using written arguments.

You can read more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6490674/Bad-moods-boost-memory-and-judgement.html

Smoking mums and bad behaviour

Mothers who smoke are more likely to have children who behave badly. Researchers from the universities of York, Hull and Illinois studied more than 14,000 pairs of mothers and children taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study which involves children in the U.K. born between 2000 and 2001. The mothers were asked about their smoking during their pregnancy and about their three-year-old child's behaviour. The study took into account factors such as the mother's age, her level of education and socioeconomic status, family stability and problematic parenting but still found that light smokers were 44% more likely to have badly-behaved boys and heavy smokers 80% more likely. Both heavy and light smokers were also significantly more likely to have boys who were hyperactive or who had attention-deficit disorders. In girls light and heavy smoking in pregnancy were linked to bad behaviour but not hyperactivity or attention problems.

You can find out more about this research at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8339014.stm