CBT - how well does it work in the real world?

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in treating depression in clinical trials but there is less evidence about its effectiveness in the 'real world.' Researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz studied 229 people referred to an outpatients' clinic with depression between 2001 and 2008, of whom 174 completed the full course of treatment. Their levels of depression were measured over the course of their therapy and these showed a "significant alleviation of depressive symptoms." 61% of all the patients achieved a 50% improvement of their symptoms and whether they were taking antidepressants or not had little impact on their improvement. The results were encouraging but not quite as good as those found in clinical trials.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/191602.php

Depression and abdominal obesity

Depression can make you fat but being fat does not necessarily make you depressed. Researchers from the University of Alabama used data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, a long-term study of 5,115 men and women aged between 18 and 30 who were followed over 20 years. At five-year intervals the participants were weighed, had their waist-hip ratios measured and were asked about their mood. Everyone gained weight over the course of the study but those who started the study feeling depressed increased in abdominal obesity and BMI at a faster rate. After five years their waist was, on average, 1.5cm thicker and by year 20 it was 2.6cm higher. However, a high initial BMI and waist circumference did not influence the rate of change in symptoms of depression over time. Reports have shown that cortisol - a hormone linked to stress - is also related to depression and abdominal obesity so this could be the link.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609171853.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Bipolar and high blood pressure

There is already an established link between bipolar disorder and heart disease and diabetes and now there is evidence that the condition could also be linked to high blood pressure. Researchers from Michigan State University studied 99 people who had been hospitalized for bipolar disorder. Nearly half of them had high blood pressure and the younger someone was when they were first diagnosed as bipolar the more likely they were to develop high blood pressure. The patients who had high blood pressure also had higher levels of mania.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610171716.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Study finds sixth-formers not quite bright young things

You might think that sixth formers would be bursting with youthful energy and full of the joys of Spring but a study by researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey suggests that they are more likely to be drowsy and depressed. The study involved 262 high-school students with an average age of 17.7 years. Over half of them (52%) had excessive daytime sleepiness and these students were three times as likely to have strong depression symptoms. 30% of the students had strong depression symptoms while 32% had some symptoms of depression. The students reported getting an average of 6.1 hours sleep on a school night and 8.2 hours on a weekend night; well short of the recommended nine hours.

You can read more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609083221.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Borderline personality disorder, self-harm and suicide

People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are said to be 'stable in their instability.' They have a terror of being alone with great efforts being made to avoid real or imagined abandonment. People's moods are extremely unstable and inappropriate anger and impulsive behaviour are common. People with BPD are much more likely to engage in self-harm and suicidal behaviour and researchers from the University of Bristol carried out an in-depth study interviewing four women with a history of self-injury and overdosing. They found that suicide and self-harm attempts could be triggered off by distressing events either a long time ago (such as child abuse) or more recently e.g. interpersonal conflict or negative thoughts about themselves. An overdose was seen as a last resort once self-injury had become insufficient as a means of self-help to manage feelings of desperation and isolation. The study found that the women felt ambivalence towards death with an overdose "appearing to depict an attempt to resolve unbearable feelings through an unarticulated 'cry for help.'"

Brooke, Stu and Horn, Nick - The meaning of self-injury and overdosing amongst women fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for 'borderline personality disorder.' Psychology and psychotherapy: theory, research and practice June 2010, 83(2), 113-128

Winter woes for bipolar sufferers

People with bipolar disorder often show variations in their moods throughout the seasons or at different times of the day. Researchers from the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki studied 122 people. 32 of them had bipolar disorder, 40 of them were first-degree - i.e. in the same nuclear family - relatives of people with bipolar disorder and 50 were unaffected controls. Among bipolar disorder sufferers and their relatives those who reported seasonal variations in mood and behaviour scored worse on tasks of manipulating shapes, visuospatial reasoning, auditory attention, working memory and verbal memory than those with no seasonal variation. Patients and relatives tested in Spring, Summer or Autumn performed better than those tested in Winter but there was no association between season and test scores among the unaffected controls.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/06/08/seasonal-affective-disorder-its-not-just-for-winter-anymore/14370.html

Young men smart more from cupid's arrows

Contrary to the popular stereotype it could be young men who are more affected by the ups and downs of romance than young women. Researchers from Wake Forest University in North Carolina studied more than a 1,000 unmarried youngsters - aged between 18 and 23 - as part of a long-term study of mental health and the transition to adulthood. They found that the young men were more reactive to the quality of ongoing relationships and had greater emotional benefits from the positive aspects of a romantic relationship. The men were more affected by the quality of a relationship while the women were affected by whether they were in a relationship or not. The women expressed their emotional distress by depression while the men tended to develop substance problems i.e. got stoned or drunk.

You can read more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100608135114.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Not-so-early babies and special needs

Babies born just a week prematurely could be at a slightly greater risk of autism and learning disabilities. Researchers from Glasgow University analysed the birth history of more than 400,000 school children and found that those born between 37 and 39 weeks had a 5.1% chance of developing special educational needs compared to 4% for those born at 40 weeks. Of the 400,000 children studied 18,000 were classified as having special needs including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, dyslexia, deafness and poor vision. The research is significant as most elective caesarean sections - an operation carried out more and more frequently - are performed at 39 weeks.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/7812547/Babies-born-a-week-early-at-greater-risk-of-autism.html

Smoking and mental health

Second-hand smoking has been associated with a range of physical health problems and new research now suggests that it might be linked to an increased risk of psychological problems too. Researchers from University College London studied 8,155 people in Scotland who took part in the Scottish Health Survey in 1998 or 2003. They filled out a questionnaire about their mental health problems and admissions to psychiatric hospitals were checked over six years of follow-up. Exposure to second-hand smoke was assessed by measuring levels of cotinine - a by-product of the breakdown of nicotine - in saliva. Non-smokers who had a high level of exposure to second-hand smoke had higher odds of mental distress. Smokers and non-smokers with a high level of of exposure to second-hand smoke were both more likely to be hospitalized for depression, schizophrenia, delirium or other psychiatric conditions.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607165625.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Survey shows true toll of Iraq

Not surprisingly soldiers who have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq often come back with mental health problems. But the true extent of the problem is difficult to measure and there has been little research into what other problems soldiers might have. Scientists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research collected anonymous mental-health surveys from 18,305 soldiers between 2004 and 2007. The surveys were collected three and 12 months after deployment. The study found that the prevalence of PTSD ranged from 5.6%-11.3% and that of depression from 5%-8%. Alcohol misuse or aggressive behaviour was present in about half of the people affected by PTSD or depression.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607165621.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Adolescence and attachment in Asia Minor

In recent years attachment theory has become one of the main ways in which psychologists think about people and their development through childhood and adolescence into adulthood, their problems and their relationships with other people. Attachment theory all hinges on the relationship between a child and its primary caregiver - usually their mother. People with secure attachment expect others to be accepting and responsive and are comfortable with intimacy and autonomy. People with preoccupied attachment are thought to have had inconsistent support, low sensitivity, high proximity and compulsive caregiving during their childhood and, as a result, have developed a style of relating to people in which they become excessively vigilant, very anxious and ambivalent. People who experienced a fearful attachment style have both a desire for closeness as well as a need for space and independence. They desire social contact but this desire is inhibited by fear of rejection. Finally, people with dismissing attachment have had an inconsistent and unsupportive relationship with their parents and have a negative view of themselves and others. They tend not to trust others and are more self-sufficient and cynical, are poor communicators and are independent. Researchers from Ege University in Turkey studied the effect of different attachment styles on 384 children aged between 11 and 16. The children filled out questionnaires to assess their attachment style and their development. The children with a secure attachment style had higher levels of good behaviour, less emotional symptoms, less hyperactivity and better relationships with their peers. A fearful attachment style was associated with more emotional symptoms and greater difficulties overall. A dismissing attachment style was significantly associated with more emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, lower levels of good behaviour and more problems overall.

Keskin, G. and Cam, O. - Adolescents' strengths and difficulties: approach to attachment styles Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing June 2010, 17(5), 433-441

Social support and senior centres

Despite the negative aspects of old age - declining health and loss of loved ones - research has shown that forming and maintaining a good network of friends can have a positive effect on people's physical and emotional health. S.A. Fulbright from the University of Arkansas studied 257 older adults who used senior centres in the area to see what effect they had on improving people's lives. The study found that 88% said that they attended the centres for friends and social support. 94% of them had made close friends at the centres and 94% said that their lives had improved since they started going there. 86% said that they had made friends they felt they could rely on when needed and these people were much less likely to be depressed.

Fulbright, S.A. - Rates of depression and participation in senior centre activities in community-dwelling older persons Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing June 2010, 17(5), 385-391

Fighting self stigma

People with mental-health problems often suffer from stigma from the rest of society which can take a negative view of mental illness. In some cases people internalize this stigma - so-called 'self-stigma' - and lose their self-esteem and self-confidence. A team of researchers led by Professor Roe from the University of Haifa studied the effectiveness of a treatment called Narrative Enhancement Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which aims to give people with mental illness the necessary 'tools' to deal with self-stigma. They compared 21 people who completed the treatment with 22 who were placed on a waiting list. Those who participated in the treatment showed reduced self-stigma and an increase in their quality of life and self-esteem.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100513093731.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Early to bed, early to rise ...

Children who have enough sleep and go to bed at regular times do better at school. Researchers from SRI International, an independent American research institute studied 8,000 four-year-old children. They asked their parents about their children's bed times when they were nine months old and four years old and carried out developmental assessments when they were four. Having a regular bedtime was the most constant predictor of positive developmental outcomes. Scores for receptive and expressive language, phonological awareness, literacy and numeracy were all higher in children who had rules about their bed times. It is recommended that children this age get 11 hours sleep a night.

You can read more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/7807049/Children-with-regular-sleep-patterns-smarter-at-school.html

Want to know the truth? Give someone a pencil.

An old-fashioned pencil might be a better way to work out whether people are telling the truth than a high-tech lie detector. Aldert Vrij from the University of Portsmouth got 31 people from the police and military to go on a mock mission to pick up a package from another agent and deliver it elsewhere. Half the participants were told to tell the truth about their mission while the other half were asked to lie. The participants were also asked to draw the scene of the package pick up. The 'liars' tended not to draw the agent whom they had picked up the package from whereas the 'truth tellers' did. 80% of truth tellers and 87% of liars could be correctly classified on this basis alone. The truth tellers were equally divided (53% vs 47%) between those who drew the scene from a first-person perspective and those who drew it from a birds-eye view whereas the liars nearly all (81%) went for a birds-eye view. The accuracy of the drawing test was actually better than other psychological tests or lie detectors.

You can find out more about this study at

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/06/drawing-out-truth.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BpsResearchDigest+%28BPS+Research+Digest%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Moving kids and mental troubles

Having a nomadic childhood can have negative long-term consequences for people's health and happiness. Researchers from the University of Virginia studied 7,108 American adults who were followed for ten years. The participants, who were between the ages of 20 and 75, were asked how many times they had moved as children and about their psychological well-being, personality type and social relationships. The more times people moved as children the more likely they were to report lower life satisfaction and psychological well-being even after taking age, sex and education levels into account. Those who moved most frequently also had fewer good-quality relationships. People who were assessed as being introverted or neurotic suffered more from frequent moves. This could be because introverted children find it harder to make new friends after moving and that neurotic children have more negative reactions to stressful life events.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100603172213.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Urine test could lead to quicker autism diagnosis

A simple urine test could be used to diagnose autism earlier and far more cheaply than current methods. People with autism often have gastrointestinal problems as well and they have a different range of bacteria in their guts from unaffected people. These gut bacteria produce different by-products in people's urine and a team of researchers from Imperial College London and the University of South Australia studied this in a sample of 101 children aged between three and nine. 39 had previously been diagnosed with autism, 28 did not have autism themselves but had autistic siblings and 34 had neither. The study found that each of the groups had a distinctive chemical fingerprint which they hope will allow an earlier age of intervention than current tests which rely on measuring children's social, communication and imaginative skills.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/06/04/urine-test-for-autism/14300.html

IQ and suicide risk

Having a low IQ in early adulthood is linked to a higher risk of suicide - at least in men. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust studied 1.1 million men in Sweden who all took IQ tests when they did their national service. Over the next 24 years at least 18,000 of them had had to go to hospital at least once after trying to kill themselves. Even after allowing for age and socioeconomic status men with lower IQ scores were increasingly likely to have attempted suicide at least once, with the most common method being poisoning. The researchers can only speculate on the reasons for this link but two theories are that people with higher IQs have a greater capacity for problem solving and that they find it easier to talk about their problems with other people.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190898.php

Cannabis and schizophrenia - new evidence to add to the debate

Much ink has been spilt and many trees sacrificed debating the links between smoking cannabis and schizophrenia. Researchers from Stony Brook University in New York have added to the debate with a long-term study following 229 patients for ten years after they were first admitted to a psychiatric hospital. They compared the patients' use of marijuana - both recently and over their lifetimes - with how old they were when their symptoms started and how severe those symptoms currently were. Two-thirds of the participants had smoked cannabis at some point in their lives. The people who had used cannabis before being hospitalised had worse symptoms of psychosis than those who hadn't and were admitted at a younger age. Patients whose symptoms had become worse said they were smoking more cannabis next time they were interviewed and people who started smoking more cannabis developed worse symptoms.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65150620100602?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Wake up - but there's no need to smell the coffee

A cup of coffee in the morning is no more effective than a placebo at sharpening up people's thought processes. Researchers from the University of Bristol studied 379 people who were deprived of caffeine for 16 hours before being given either caffeine or a placebo. The participants then took a series of tests to measure their attentiveness, memory and vigilance. The study found "little difference" in the results between the coffee users and those who were given placebos. In cases where the caffeine did make an improvement this was actually a case of bringing caffeine users performance back up to the levels of non caffeine users.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7797972/Coffee-does-not-make-the-brain-more-alert.html