How does autism affect the rest of the family?

Researchers from the University of Oregon have been looking at how autism affects the families of children who have the condition. They studied 20 families which had a toddler with autism and an older child aged between six and ten who was developing normally and compared them with 23 families with no autistic child. The study found that the older siblings of children with autism were mostly well-adjusted but slightly more likely to develop very mild forms of ADHD with symptoms of fidgeting, movement and attention problems. Not surprisingly the mothers of the children with autism were more likely to suffer from depression than the mothers with unaffected children.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100308132142.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Naltrexone and dual diagnosis

Naltrexone is often used to treat drug addicts and alcoholics. People with schizophrenia often have problems with drug use as well and Ileana Berman from Harvard Medical School led a small-scale study of 37 people to see whether naltrexone could help in treating people with schizophrenia. Over six months half of the study participants were given naltrexone and half were given a placebo. The study found that the participants taking naltrexone actually did worse than those on a placebo suggesting that antipsychotic drugs, psychotherapy and social support are still the best treatment for people with schizophrenia.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181575.php

SSRIs and cataracts

A study of more than 200,000 people in Quebec by researchers at the University of British Columbia has found that there is a statistical - though not necessarily a cause and effect - relationship between the use of SSRI (serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors) antidepressants and the development of cataracts. The study found that people taking SSRIs were 15% more likely to be diagnosed with cataracts or to have had cataract surgery. The drug fluvoxamine was associated with a 51% higher risk while venlafaxine carried a 34% higher risk but there was no connection between fluoxetine, citalopram and sertraline and an increased chance of cataract surgery. But the study did not take into account the effects of smoking which is more common among depressed people and can cause cataracts. It is also important to remember that depression can be a very serious condition while cataracts are fairly easily treated.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100308151100.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

7/7 survivors fail to get treatment

On July the 7th, 2005 Islamic militants killed 52 people and injured 700 in a series of bomb attacks in London. Researchers from University College London have been tracing people caught up in the attacks. They found that while a third of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder only 4% had been referred for specialist treatment by their GP. The study recommended that in future more people exposed to these kind of attacks are traced and offered treatment.

You can find out more about this story at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7399072/One-third-of-77-survivors-had-post-traumatic-stress-research.html

My Mood Monitor checklist helps doctors with diagnosis

A simple one-page questionnaire could be an effective way of screening for mental-health problems in primary care. The My Mood Monitor checklist is made up of 27 questions and is designed to screen for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Researchers from the University of North Carolina studied 647 adults who sought care at the university's Family Medicine Center between July 2007 and February 2008. The participants filled out a questionnaire at the time of their first visit and were then formally interviewed by mental-health professionals. The results showed that the checklist was effective in screening for mood and anxiety disorders 83% of the time and for a specific disorder in 76% of cases.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181596.php

Educational DVDs for toddlers - are they a waste of money?

Toddlers who watch educational DVDs do not improve their vocabularies. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, studied 96 children between 12 and 24 months who were tested on measures of vocabulary and general development. Half of the children were then given an educational DVD to watch in their homes. After six weeks there was no evidence children learned the words specifically highlighted in the DVDs and watching the DVDs was unrelated to measures of general language learning. The children whose parents reported that they begun watching infant DVDs at an early age actually scored lower on a test of vocabulary knowledge. The researchers thought this might be either because parent bought the DVDs for children who were already falling behind or that the parents who bought the DVDs spent less time talking to their children or that the DVDs themselves had a negative effect on children's learning.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100301165612.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Scopolamine might lift depression quicker

Conventional antidepressant treatment usually takes between three and four weeks to become effective so finding quicker-working drugs is of great interest both to clinicians and drug companies. The horse-anaesthetic and recreational drug ketamine has been found to lift mood quickly but researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. believe that they have found another drug that can act just as fast. Scopolamine temporarily blocks the muscarinic cholinergic receptor and was tested in a double-blind trial in which neither the researchers nor the participants knew whether those involved in the study were taking scopolamine or a placebo. Scopolamine was found to reduce symptoms of depression within three days and half of the participants experienced full symptom remission by the end of the treatment period. The effects of the scopolamine lasted for two weeks after people stopped taking it but there will need to be many more trials - including studies of scopolamine's side effects - before doctors can add scopolamine to their prescription pads as a new treatment for depression.

Why deeper is better as far as conversation goes

Deeper could be better as far as conversations go, according to research from the University of Arizona. They got volunteers to wear a recording device which picked up their conversations over four days. The researchers analysed the participants' conversations to see whether they were trivial small talk or weightier discussions and the volunteers also completed assessments of their personalities and levels of happiness. Greater wellbeing was related to spending less time alone and more time talking to others. The happiest participants spent 25% less time alone and 70% more time talking than the unhappiest. However, the kind of conversation was also important and the happiest participants had twice as many deep and meaningful conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7379561/Idle-chit-chat-can-make-you-unhappy.html

Rochester mentoring scheme boosts behaviour

Mentoring has been used in a number of schools to improve results and discipline. The Rochester (New York not Kent) Resilience Project pairs children with a mentor and gets them to learn and practice behavioural and cognitive skills designed to strengthen their ability to manage their emotions and "address specific goals to improve school adaptation." Children are taught how to monitor their own emotions and the emotions of others and to maintain control and regain equilibrium by taking a deep breath, stepping back from emotionally-intensive situations and using an imaginary umbrellas as protection from hurtful words. Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center studied 226 children ranging in age from nursery to Year 3 who were already showin signs of problem behaviour. Some of the children took part in the Rochester Resilience Project while others foremed a control group. The children who took part in the project showed less aggressive and disruptive behavior, concentrated better on tasks, had better social skills and were less shy and more assertive. Compared to the control group they had a 43 in % decrease symptom and 46% less mean "office disciplinary referral). Over the course of the intervention 1.8% of the children in the 'mentored' group were supended compared to 6.1% in the control group.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/08/reducing-classroom-problems-by-teaching-kids-self-control/11933.html

Deep-brain stimulation gets thumbs up for severe cases

Deep-brain stimulation involves implanting electrodes into patients' brains. The electrodes are connected to an impulse generator - usually implanted below the collarbone - and deliver continuous, high-frequency, short electrical impulses aimed at 'resetting' brain circuitry. Jens Kuhn, from the University of Cologne and Theo P.J. Gruender from the Max Planck Institute reviewed studies into the effectiveness of deep-brain stimulation published between 1980 and 2009. They found improvement rates of between 35-70% in treatment resistant OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), depression and Tourette's syndrome with a low rate of side effects.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304075705.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Early cannabis use and psychosis

The link between cannabis use and psychosis is a controversial topic and research into it has often generated more heat than light. The latest study comes from the University of Queensland and involved more than 3,800 21-year-olds. It found that those who had begun using cannabis very early (six or more years before they were 21) were three times more likely to suffer from psychiatric symptoms. Another study of 228 siblings carried out by the same researchers also found a link between early cannabis use and psychosis.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181118.php

More evidence supports a healthy mind in a healthy body

A healthy mind in a healthy body is a wise old saying and one that is increasingly being backed up by research. The latest piece of evidence to support it comes from a study of 725 children by researchers from West Virginia University. They assessed the children's fitness levels and body mass index in Year 5 and again in Year 7 and their academic performance in Year 7. They found that, on average children who were fit in both years performed best academically. The next best performance was among children who were unfit in Year 5 but had become fit by Year 7, then children who were unfit in Year 7 but had been fit in Year 5. The children who were unfit in both years performed worst of all.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302185522.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

GABA and depression

Most mental-health medications aim to increase the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine in the brain, however, scientists are now looking more closely into the effects of another neurotransmitter - GABA. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) dampens down brain activity and imbalances in GABA are thought to be involved in some of the runaway thoughts characteristic of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety. An inability to stop negative thoughts is also thought to be one of the factors leading to depression and researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto looked into the links between levels of GABA and depression in a study of 85 people. 25 had treatment-resistant depression, 16 had major depression but were taking no medication, 19 had major depression but had been successfully treated and 25 formed a healthy control group. Only in the group who had been unaffected by depression did GABA work normally and the less responsive to medication people were the lower the levels of GABA in their brain were.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/03/new-drug-strategy-for-depression/11825.html

Long-term psychoanalysis for young adults - does it work?

Psychotherapy can help with a wide range of different mental-health problems. There is good evidence to support this but little research has been done into whether psychoanalytic psychotherapy is effective in treating young adults. A team of Swedish researchers, led by Annika Lindgren from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm looked into this issue in a study of 134 young adults who underwent long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. The study found that on all the measures used people got significantly better from the time they started treatment to a follow-up check after they had finished. Interestingly a lower therapist-rated alliance - how well the therapist thought they and the patient were working together) was linked to a better outcome; perhaps because of the extra work therapists put in to improve a relationship they saw as less-than-satisfactory.

Lindgren, Annika, Werbart, Andrzej and Philips, Bjorn - Long-term outcome and post-treatment effects of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with young adults Psychology and psychotherapy: theory, practice and research March 2010, 83(1), 27-43

Obsessive thoughts in adolescence - why it's not just people with OCD

In both children and adults obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterised by the presence of recurrent obsessions or compulsions that are time consuming (over an hour a day) or cause mental distress or impairment. Common obsessions include fear of contamination, fear of harm to oneself or other people and urges related to asymmetry or exactness, and compulsions can include excessive washing and cleaning, checking, counting, repeating, touching, or straightening. Over the last 30 years a number of studies have shown that between 80-90% of the non-clinical population experience intrusive thoughts, images or impulses that are similar in content to clinical obsessions - the only difference being the levels of distress caused to people with OCD. Researchers from the University of Manchester studied 62 adolescents - aged between 12 and 14 - to see if the same was true of them. They found that 77% of the participants in the study reported obsessions and that the levels of distress experienced by the children were related to the significance they attached to their intrusive thoughts.

Crye, Jenny, Laskey, Ben and Cartwright-Hatton, Sam - Non-clinical obsessions in a young adolescent population: frequency and association with metacognitive variables Psychology and psychotherapy: theory, research and practice March 2010, 83(1), 15-26

Eating disorders and PTSD

People with eating disorders often suffer with anxiety as well. 75% of people with an eating disorder have experienced at least one anxiety disorder during their lifetime with obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia being the most common. However, there has been little research done into whether people with eating disorders also suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany studied 101 eating-disorder patients. They found that 63.3% of those with anorexia and 57.7% of those with bulimia had experienced at least one trauma. 10% of those with anorexia and 14.1% of those with bulimia fulfilled the study definition for a current diagnosis of PTSD. The patients with an eating disorder and PTSD were more likely to report psychosomatic problems than those without PTSD.

Tagay, Sefik, Schlegl, Sandra and Senf, Wolfgang - Traumatic events, posttraumatic stress symptomatology and somatoform symptoms in eating disorder patients European Eating Disorders Review March-April 2010, 18(2), 124-132

COPP helps people cope with eating disorders

About 30% of patients do not respond to treatment for an eating disorder and between 30-42% of patients who do manage to put on weight have relapses later. After talking to people with long-term eating disorders clinicians in Canada developed the Community Outreach Partnership Programme (COPP) which does not directly concentrate on eating-disorder symptoms but aims to improve people's quality of life while living with an eating disorder, decrease anxiety and depression symptoms, increase people's independence and give them more hope for the future. A team of researchers led by Kim D. Williams from St Paul's hospital in Vancouver studied the effectiveness of COPP in a sample of 31 people with eating disorders. They found that the COPP programme led to significant reductions in 'global distress', hopelessness and eating disorder symptoms and an increase in the participants' BMIs.

Williams, Kim D., Dobney, Tracey and Geller, Josie - Setting the eating disorder aside: an alternative model of care European Eating Disorders Review March-April 2010, 18(2), 90-96

Why a siesta beats an all-nighter

Siestas could be better at boosting people's brain power than all nighters. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley studied 39 healthy young adults. At noon all the participants in the study took part in a rigorous learning task then at 2p.m. half of them had a 90-minute siesta. At six p.m. all the participants did another learning exercise. Those who stayed awake throughout the day became worse at learning while those who took a nap did a lot better and actually improved in their capacity to learn. The researchers found that the memory-improvement process took place in stage 2, non-REM sleep which occurs between deep sleep and REM - the phase of sleep in which we dream.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100221110338.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Attachment, prenatal stress and cognitive development

Babies whose mothers were stressed when they were pregnant could end up with worse cognitive development than their peers. But any effects on cognitive development can be almost completely overcome by good parenting. A study led by Professor Thomas O'Connor from the University of Rochester Medical Centre measured the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 125 women as they underwent amniocentesis. When the children were 17 months old the researchers assessed the baby's cognitive development using puzzles, pretend play and memory tests. They also gauged the quality of the relationship between the mothers and their babies using a test in which children are briefly left alone and then reunited with their mothers. The study found that for children with an 'insecure' attachment to their mothers a high prenatal cortisol level was linked to shorter attention spans and weaker language and problem-solving skills. However, there was no link between prenatal cortisol levels and cognitive development in children who had a secure relationship with their mother.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100225140906.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Diabetes, stress and cognitive decline

There has already been quite a bit of research linking diabetes to cognitive decline and a new study from researchers at Edinburgh suggests that stress can also play a part in this link. The researchers studied more than 900 men and women, aged between 60 and 75 with type-2 (adult-onset) diabetes. They tracked people's memories, information-processing abilities and general intelligence over time and found that those people with higher levels of a hormone called cortisol - known to be associated with stress - had declined more.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222100807.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader