Meta-cognitive therapy and ADHD

Meta-cognitive therapy (MCT) uses cognitive-behavioural principles and methods to teach skills and strategies in time management, organisation and planning. A study by Mary Solanto from the Mount Sinai Medical Center looked into how effective MCT might be in treating adults with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). 88 adults with ADHD were randomly assigned to have MCT or to take part in a support group. After 12 weeks the MCT group was significantly more improved.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/31/meta-cognitive-therapy-mct-for-adult-adhd/12478.html

A synthetic hormone used to treat people with osteoporosis could also help some people with schizophrenia. Researchers from Monash University in Australia compared the effectiveness of the synthetic oestrogen raloxifene to a placebo. In a small-scale study involving post-menopausal women the drug was found to have a significantly greater impact on psychosis symptoms than a placebo and to enhance people's memory and learning capacity. The type of oestrogen used in the study does not have the side effects on breast, uterus and ovarian tissue associated with other forms of oestrogen.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/31/estrogen-aids-women-with-schizophrenia/12488.html

Massage and depression

Researchers from I-Shou university in Taiwan have been reviewing studies into the effectiveness of massage in treating depression. They looked at 17 studies, covering a total of 786 people. In 13 of the studies massage was compared to another treatment such as Chinese herbs, relaxation or rest while in the other four studies massage was compared to not being treated at all. Overall the studies found that massage had 'potentially significant' effects in alleviating the symptoms of depression. This could be because of the relaxing effects of the massage, the bond built up between a masseur and their client or massage causing the body to release the 'trust' hormone oxytocin.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE62T4AK20100330?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Speedy marking, higher grades

Marking students' work more quickly might actually improve their grades. Researchers from the University of Alberta studied students giving a four-minute presentation to their classmates. The students were told when they would receive their marks and asked to predict their grades. The students who were told they would receive their marks earlier performed better but actually predicted their grades would be worse, suggesting that it was the fear factor of getting quick feedback that lay behind the improvement in marks.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100330115927.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Teletherapy for PTSD

Although teletherapy can seem impersonal it does have a number of advantages. It is cheaper and is more suitable for people who find it hard to get into hospital, either for psychological or geographical reasons. Stephane Guay, from the University of Montreal, studied people with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) who had either between 16 and 25 sessions with a therapist via a teleconference, or face-to-face therapy. Both groups saw a significant decrease in their post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety symptoms and 75-80% overcame their PTSD; there was no difference in effectiveness between the two groups. However, the telemedicine participants were still treated in hospital as their treatment involved exposure to stress and it was felt to be important that someone was with them in case they reacted badly to it.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/24/teletherapy-for-ptsd-found-effective/12351.html

Genes and autism

Anthony Monaco from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University and a team of international researchers have been looking into the links between genes and autism in a study of 661 families in the U.K., the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. The team looked at four genes they thought might be linked to autism and found that two - LRRN3 and LRRTM3 - were significantly associated with susceptibility to autism. LRRN3 is thought to play a role in the development and maintenance of the nervous system while LRRTM3 is thought to be involved in organising the connections between brain cells.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100325102415.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Loneliness, misery and the web

In the context of human history the Internet is still a relatively recent development and no-one is quite sure of its psychological consequences. Irena Stepanikova from the University of South Carolina studied over 13,000 people asking them about their Internet use, loneliness and life satisfaction. Some took part in 2004, others took part in 2005 and 754 people participated in both years. The study found participants who reported spending more time browsing the web also tended to report being lonelier and less satisfied with life. Time spent instant messaging, in chat rooms and newsgroups, and in emailing was also linked with more loneliness. Among the people who took part in 2004 and 2005 increased web browsing was associated with increased loneliness and decreased life satisfaction. But it is unclear whether web use increases loneliness and unhappiness, loneliness and unhappiness lead to increased web use or whether there is a third factor that lies behind all three.

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/03/large-longitudinal-study-finds.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BpsResearchDigest+%28BPS+Research+Digest%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Family therapy and upset tummies

Functional abdominal pain - which has no physical cause - is a common problem in children. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle looked into the effectiveness of family therapy in treating unexplained stomach pain in a study of 200 pairs of parents and children. The children's ages ranged from seven to 17 and half were assigned to a social learning/cognitive behaviour therapy group while the other half were given educational materials. Both groups showed improvement but the family therapy group showed a greater reduction in pain severity. The children in the therapy group also showed greater increases in their ability to distract themselves and ignore their pain and their parents also responded in a more appropriate manner. Previous research has shown that responding in a concerned and fearful way to a child's stomach pains can actually make the problem worse.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE62N40920100324?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Stress, TV and obesity make unholy trinity for under-pressure workers

Stress, low levels of physical activity and obesity make up an unholy trinity in under-pressure workers. Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center studied 2,782 employees at a large factory in upstate New York. The researchers found that after stressful days workers went home and vegetated in front of the television and the more they watched TV the fatter they became. Those employees who watched four or more hours of TV a day were 150% more likely to be obese than those who watched two hours or less. People who worked in the most stressful conditions had body-mass indices on average one point higher than those who worked in less stressful jobs and at times of redundancy the consumption of high-fat and high-calorie snacks from the vending machines increased.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/25/workplace-stress-linked-to-obesity/12382.html

Teenagers and risk taking

Confirming what most parents probably know already researchers from University College London have found that teenagers are more likely to take risks than children or adults. The researchers' study involved 86 boys and men aged between 9 and 35 who played a computer gambling game. The teenagers took the most risks with risk-taking behaviour reaching a peak at fourteen. The teenagers were able to appreciate the pros and cons of their behaviour but got more of a 'buzz' out of the risk itself than other age groups. The scientists hope the study can be applied to other forms of risk-taking such as drinking, smoking and taking drugs.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324211144.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Loving mums keep boys out of trouble

Boys who have a closer relationship with their mothers are more likely to be better behaved as they get older. Researchers from Reading University reviewed 69 studies of children under 12 and found that boys who never have a close relationship with their mothers are more likely to be aggressive and suffer mental-health problems. Boys who are able to seek comfort from their mothers as children grow up to be calmer, more self-confident and more empathetic. The study also found that relationships between mothers and sons can break down from a young age if children are repeatedly dismissed when trying to turn to their parents for help.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7514256/Mothers-love-keeps-sons-on-the-straight-and-narrow-study-finds.html

Calling all Twitterers

For those of you who use Twitter Carolyn Friedman and the team at the Radiography Schools website have compiled a list of the top 100 Twitter feeds to keep up to date with the latest heath news. You can find the list at

http://radiographyschools.org/?page_id=88

There is also now a Twitter account for the Mental Health Update blog which you can find at

http://twitter.com/bethlem_library

Heavy drinkers, unhealthy lifestyles

People who drink more than is good for them are also unhealthy in lots of other ways. Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research studied 7,884 people. They defined risky drinkers as those who on average drank more than three drinks a day, women or men who drank more than four or five drinks respectively at a sitting and people who were identified as at-risk drinkers using a commonly-used screening test. They found that risky drinkers were also more likely to smoke, less likely to use their seatbelts and eat healthily and less likely to see their doctors regularly. However, people who drank moderately - one to three drinks a day - were healthier than teetotallers, former drinkers, light drinkers (less than one drink a day) and heavier drinkers.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322092049.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Exercise programme helps new mums

An exercise and health-education programme can help new mums to feel happier and reduce their risk of postnatal depression. Researchers from the University of Melbourne studied 161 new mums. 62 of them did an hour of exercise with their babies - led by a physical therapist - followed by half an hour of parenting education once a week. 73 of the women received educational materials but did not take part in the classes and 26 received neither. There was a significant improvement in wellbeing scores and depressive symptoms in the women taking part in the exercise classes compared to the other two groups and the improvement continued four weeks after the completion of the programme. The number of women identified as at risk for potential depression before the classes started was reduced by 50% after the intervention.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322182026.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Down the slippery slope of Alzheimer's

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage which can sometimes - although not always - lead on to Alzheimer's disease. A study of 1,158 people by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has found that people with MCI often go downhill quickly. The average age of the participants in the study was 79. 149 of them had Alzheimer's disease, 395 had MCI and 614 had no thinking or memory problems. The participants took regular tests of their memory and thinking skills. The thinking skills of people with MCI declined twice as fast, per year, as those who had no cognitive problems while the skills of those with Alzheimer's disease declined four times as fast.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322171008.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Motherhood and suicide

In 1897 Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, put forward the idea that being a parent makes people less likely to kill themselves. Because of the relatively-low numbers of suicides it has been quite hard to test this theory but a team of researchers led by Dr Chun-Yuh Yang from Kaoshiung Medical University looked at data on 1,292,462 women over a 20-year period. They found that mothers were less likely to kill themselves. Women who had two children were 39% less likely to take their lives than women with one and women with three children were 60% less likely. The researchers thought that having children raised mothers' happiness and self-esteem and that mothers tended to have more supportive social networks. Another reason, of course, could be that the responsibility of looking after children makes it very difficult for mothers to end their lives.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7498063/Having-children-can-raise-a-womans-self-esteem.html

New study sheds light on prescribing patterns

In the U.S. the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has been looking into the prescription of psychiatric drugs such as antipsychotics, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs. The study used data from the 2005 National Disease and Therapeutic Index, a national sample of around 4,000 doctors carried out by IMS health. It found that antipsychotic drugs were only actually used for schizophrenia/psychosis just over a third (35%) of the time and were actually used more often (39%) to treat mood disorders. The drugs - which can have serious side effects - were also used to treat dementia (7.4%), anxiety (6%) and ADHD (6%). Antidepressants were mostly used to treat mood disorders (65%) but they were also used to treat anxiety (16%) and schizophrenia/psychosis (2.6%). 28% of prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs were used for non-psychiatric problems including anxiety related to medical treatment (6%), allergic reactions (4%) and back problems (2.5%).

You can find out more about this study at

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183073.php

Comorbidity - drug abuse and mental illness. Guest post by Susan White

There’s a reason why the human brain is deemed the nerve centre of life, because without it functioning as well as it should, it’s better we are dead than alive. This point was brought home to me stronger than ever before a few weeks ago when an old woman who lived in the same condo complex as I was found unconscious in the toilet of her home. She had apparently been in there for more than three days and emergency personnel had to break down her door and evacuate her to a hospital where she is still in a coma.
The poor woman, in her late 50s to early 60s, was mentally ill. I’ve seen her now and then – she would manage to take care of herself, but she seemed to be all alone. It was only after her tragic accident that I came to know a few more facts about her life – she was a well-known doctor who apparently began to abuse drugs after her only son broke off all ties with her. She lost the ability to think clearly because of the drugs and depression, and with each feeding off the other in a vicious cycle, she lost her mind completely.
Mental illness has long been linked to drug abuse, and combined with loneliness, it forms a potent combination that could bring even the strongest of people down. Comorbidity, or the existence of two or more medical conditions or disorders occurring simultaneously in the same person, is never more obvious as in the combination of drug abuse and mental illness. The drug abuse leads to mental illness or vice versa, or a set of genetic and other factors bring on both mental illness and a tendency to abuse drugs.
The most significant factors that affect comorbid drug abuse and mental disorders are:
· Personal trauma: People who suffer unexpected and sudden trauma are often unable to cope with the stress and resort to using drugs as a way to relieve their depression. Their addiction and loneliness leads to further depression and an increased dependence on the drugs.
· Adolescence: When teens and pre-teens experiment with drugs, it affects their brains more significantly than when adults do it. This is because the brain is still undergoing developmental changes and when it is affected by drugs at this stage, it could lead to mental illness later on in life.
· Genetic factors: Some people are more predisposed to mental illness if their immediate family members have suffered it and if they are substance abusers, or vice versa.
The presence of both mental illness and substance abuse symptoms in a patient can cause confusion when they’re to be treated. Unless they’re in the hands of competent medical personnel who know how to identify the symptoms of each and treat them accordingly, the reactions to illegal drugs could be taken as symptoms of mental illness and vice versa.

By-line:
This article is contributed by Susan White, who regularly writes on the subject of Radiology Technician Schools in Texas. She invites your questions, comments at her email address: susan.white33@gmail.com.

Researchers and brain waves

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have been using electroencephalography (EEGs) to measure people's brain waves as they meditate. They found that during meditation theta waves were most abundant in the frontal and middle parts of the brain indicating a state of deep relaxation. Alpha waves - characteristic of wakeful rest - were more abundant at the back of the brain. There were fewer beta waves which are associated with conscious attention and problem solving.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100319210631.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Self-harm: it's in the blood

Catherine Glenn and David Klonsky from the University of British Columbia have been looking into the role of blood in people's experience of self-harm. They studied 64 undergraduate students who cut themselves. The participants had an average age of 19 and 82% of them were girls. Just over half of them said it was important to see blood when they self-harmed saying that it helped them to relieve tension and induce calmness. Other explanations were that 'it makes me feel real,' and shows that 'I did it right/deep enough.' The group who said that seeing blood was important had cut themselves more than seven times as often and were more likely to say that they self-harmed as a way of regulating their own emotions. They also reported more symptoms consistent with bulimia and borderline personality disorder.

You can find out more about this research at

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2010/03/sight-of-their-own-blood-is-important.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BpsResearchDigest+%28BPS+Research+Digest%29&utm_content=Google+Reader