Antidepressants and diabetes risk

Long-term use of antidepressants could be linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers from University College London studied more than 150,000 Finnish adults over an average of five years. 1.1% of the participants who were not using antidepressants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the course of the study compared to 1.7% of people who had taken between 200-400 daily doses of an antidepressant and 2.3% among those who had taken 400 or more daily doses. This could be because people taking the antidepressants have the poor health and lifestyle that often go hand-in-hand with type 2 diabetes. However, when the researchers looked at the participants who were suffering from severe depression those taking antidepressants were two-three times more likely than non users to be diagnosed with diabetes, even when taking into account the effects of long-term health conditions, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer.

Why are Indian children better behaved than White ones?

Previous research has shown that, on average, British Indian children are better behaved than White ones but no one knows why. A team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine tried to get to the bottom of this in a study of 14,197 children aged between five and 16, 361 of whom were British Indian. The British Indian children had less behaviour problems although they were just as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Part, although not all, of the British Indian children's advantage was that they were more likely to live in two-parent families and had better academic performance. While less well-off White families were more likely to have badly-behaved children less well-off Indian ones were not.

Goodman, Anna, Patel, Vikram and Leon, David A. - Why do British Indian children have an apparent mental health advantage? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry October 2010, 51(10), 1171-1183

Postnatal depression and exam results - boys suffer but not girls

It is estimated that around 15% of mothers suffer from postnatal depression. Postnatal depression is associated with significant difficulties in mothers' communication with their children including reduced responsiveness and sensitivity and more withdrawn, or at the other extreme more intrusive, behaviour. Several long-term studies have found poor cognitive functioning in children whose mothers suffered from postnatal depression but its long-term effect on academic outcome is unknown. A team of researchers from the universities of Reading and Cambridge studied 89 children, 50 of whose mothers had suffered from postnatal depression. They looked at the effects on GCSE (the post 16 exam qualification in the UK) performance of mothers' depression, IQ, the sex of the child and their earlier cognitive development. Boys, but not girls, whose mothers had suffered from postnatal depression did worse at GCSE. This was mostly accounted for by the effects of childhood cognition problems which persisted throughout the children's childhood. Post-natal depression carried on having negative effects on the mothers' interactions with their children and these also contributed to poorer GCSE performance. Neither recent nor long-term exposure to later maternal depression had significant effects on GCSE results.

Murray, Lynne ... [et al] - The effects of maternal postnatal depression and child sex on academic performance at age 16 years: a developmental approach Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry October 2010, 51(10), 1150-1159

Weight loss surgery and suicide risk

Very fat people sometimes have surgery to make their stomachs smaller and stop them eating so much. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh studied 16,683 people who had had weight-loss surgery between 1995 and 2004. By 2006 31 of these people had killed themselves, a rate of 14 per 10,000 men per year and 5 per 10,000 women - a rate substantially higher than that for other men (2.5 per 10,000) and women (0.6 per 10,000). The researchers were unclear why more people should kill themselves after weight-loss surgery although previous studies have shown that people who have the operation are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety beforehand.

Dealing with rows and preventing divorce

How couples resolve their rows can have an impact on how long their relationships last. Researchers already know that destructive patterns, such as yelling at one another or calling one another names, lead to a higher chance of divorce but researchers from the University of Michigan have been looking into the influence of other patterns of behaviour. They studied 373 couples who were interviewed four times over a 16-year period, beginning in the first year of their marriage. They found that 29% of husbands and 21% of wives reported having no conflicts at all in their first year of marriage yet by the end of the study 46% had divorced. Whether or not couples reported any conflict during the first year of their marriage was not associated with whether they had divorced or not by the end of the study. Couples where both partners dealt with conflict constructively, by calmly discussing the situation, listening to their partner's point of view and trying hard to find out what they were feeling had the lowest divorce rate. Over the whole course of the study men were more likely to use constructive strategies, however, their behaviour stayed the same over the years whereas wives became much more likely to use constructive methods over time.

35-44 is gloomiest decade

35-44 has emerged as the unhappiest decade in a survey carried out by the U.K. relationship charity Relate. More people between the ages of 35 and 44 said they felt lonely or depressed than in any other age group. 21% of people in this age group said that they felt lonely a lot of the time and a similar percentage said that bad relationships - either at work or home - had left them feeling depressed. The same proportion said they felt closer to friends than family and a quarter said that they wished they had more time for their family. 28% of 35-44 year-olds said that they had left a job because of a bad working relationship with a colleague while one in five were worried about the current financial climate. Working long hours, arguments, chores and poor sex were the most common sources of relationship problems.

You can find out more about this survey here

U.K. Government clamps down on chemical cosh for dementia

Over the years the Mental Health Update blog has featured a number of posts about the damaging effects of antipsychotic drugs prescribed as a 'chemical cosh' for people with dementia and now the U.K. Government (probably not, to be honest, influenced by this blog!) has decided to clamp down on their use. Doctors will be told to stop the over-prescribing of the drugs; something that has been linked to 1,800 premature deaths a year. 180,000 patients are prescribed the drugs each year despite the fact that they do not benefit three-quarters of the people given them and can cause strokes. The clamp down on the over use of the drugs comes as part of a dementia plan backed by £200m of funding aimed at diagnosing sufferers earlier and making sure they receive better care in hospitals and care homes.

You can read more about this story here.

Study points to benefits of increasing alcohol taxes

Increasing taxes on alcohol is often seen as a way in which Governments can limit its damaging effects. But does it work? Researchers at the University of Florida have been reviewing a number of studies into this issue. They looked at 50 published research papers and concluded that a 10% increase in alcohol price results in a 5% reduction in consumption while doubling the average state tax on alchol would be associated with a 35% reduction in alcohol-related mortality, an 11% reduction in road-traffic deaths, a 6% reduction in sexually-transmitted diseases, a 2% reduction in violence and a 1.4% reduction in crime.

Friends and family better than tests at spotting Alzheimer's

Researchers devote a lot of time to developing screening tests for Alzheimer's disease but a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis suggests that it might actually be more effective to ask people's friends and families. The researchers developed an eight-point questionnaire called Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8) asking friends and relatives whether people were displaying the following symptoms

• Problems with judgment, such as bad financial decisions
• Reduced interest in hobbies and other activities
• Repeating of questions, stories or statements
• Trouble learning how to use a tool or appliance, such as a television remote control or a microwave
• Forgetting the month or year
• Difficulty handling complicated financial affairs, such as balancing a chequebook
• Difficulty remembering appointments
• Consistent problems with thinking and memory

They gave the questionnaire to the friends and relatives of 251 participants and the participants themselves filled out the Mini Mental State test, a traditional dementia-screening tool. The researchers then evaluated biological signs of dementia in the participants designed to see definitively whether they had the condition. The AD8 test actually tallied more closely with the biological diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

Why people think they are depressed and what do they want to do about it

Over the years researchers have devoted a lot of time to working out the causes of depression. However, there has been a lot less research into what sufferers themselves think causes their depression and whether this influences what kind of treatment they choose. Researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands studied 221 people seeking treatment for depression. The participants were divided into three groups those who thought their depression was due to something within themselves (intraindividual), those who thought it was due to their relationship with others (interpersonal), and those who thought it was due to their brain chemistry (biological). The intraindividual group were more likely to choose cognitive behaviour therapy while the biological group were more likely to opt for drug therapy. Those who thought their depression was due to their relationships with other people had no clear preference about their treatment.

Schweizer, Susanne ... [et al] - Does illness attribution affect treatment assignment in depression Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy September-October 2010, 17(5), 418-426

101 blogs for people with depression

The Nursing Schools.net web site has compiled a useful list of '101 blogs to help you deal with depression.' The site features a number of different sites and resources and you can visit it here

Childhood trauma, cannabis use and psychosis

Although it is still a controversial topic some research has shown that using cannabis in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis. At the same time suffering childhood trauma is associated both with an increased risk of substance misuse and of developing psychosis. A team of Irish researchers tried to get to the bottom of the links between childhood trauma, substance abuse and psychosis in a study of 211 children aged between 12 and 15. They were asked about childhood trauma, cannabis use and any mental-health problems they might be having. The researchers found that both childhood trauma and cannabis use were significantly associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis symptoms. However, the presence of both childhood trauma and early cannabis use significantly increased the risk for psychotic symptoms beyond the risk posed by either factor alone.

Harley, M. ... [et al] - Cannabis use and childhood trauma interact additively to increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in adolescence Psychological Medicine, October 2010, 40(10), 1627-1634

Cognitive problems and schizophrenia - which comes first?

Cognitive problems are considered to be one of the main features of schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether the problems are already there before people's first experience of psychosis or whether developing psychosis has a deleterious effect on people's cognition. A team of researchers from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam studied 58 people, 41 of whom were deemed to be at ultra-high risk of developing psychosis while 17 were unaffected controls. Of the ultra-high risk group 17 developed psychosis during the course of the study. The participants' cognitive performance was assessed at the start of the study and again 18 months later. The people who developed psychosis did not perform any worse at the second test than before they became unwell and the ultra-high-risk group actually performed better on the second test. The control group of unaffected people scored significantly better on test of verbal learning, memory and verbal fluency. So this study at least suggests that problems with cognition come before the development of psychosis and not afterwards.

Becker, H.E. ... [et al] - Neurocognitive functioning before and after the first psychotic episode: does psychosis result in cognitive deterioration? Psychological Medicine, October 2010, 40(10), 1599-1606

Pro-eating disorder web sites can damage healthy women too

Pro-eating disorder (Pro-ED) web sites are designed to convey the idea that eating disorders are a 'lifestyle choice' rather than a mental-health problem. They contain pro-eating disorder statements, tips and tricks on unhealthy eating behaviours, nutritional (dis)information, pictures of unhealthily-thin women ('thinspiration') and interactive components. Although there have been studies on how these sites influence people's attitudes to food and body weight there has been no research into how they actually affect food consumption. Researchers from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania studied 90 college students who spent an hour-and-a-half looking at web sites. A third looked at a Pro-ED web site, a third looked at a healthy eating/exercise site while the rest looked at travel web sites. None of the women had eating disorders and they were all at a healthy weight. The women were asked to keep food diaries and the ones who had viewed the Pro-ED site consumed significantly less calories in the following week - an average of 9,697 compared to 12,167 for the rest of the women. They reported using techniques on the Pro-ED web site to help them eat less and had strong emotional reactions to the site. The changes caused by seeing the Pro-ED sites lasted for about three weeks after the end of the study.

Scarlett, Jett, LaPorte, David J. and Wanchisn, Jill - Impact of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on eating behaviour in college women European Eating Disorders Review, September-October 2010, 18(5), 410-416

Who recovers best from eating disorders?

Eating disorders have the highest death rate of any mental-health problem and can have long-lasting psychological, social and medical consequences. Patients often resist care as recovery threatens some of the things that they believe the eating disorder gives them - identity, attention, maintining control and preventing maturity. A team of researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center studied 33 girls admitted to an eating-disorder programme in an attempt to see which factors helped or hindered them from regaining weight. The girls completed psychological questionnaires at the start of the study and the researchers were able to compare the results of these with who had succeeded in putting on weight. The study found that higher self-esteem and lower perfectionism were both associated with a quicker recovery.

Phillips, Renee ... [et al] - Psychological variables impacting weigh gain rapidity in adolescents hospitalized for eating disorders European Eating Disorders Review September-October 2010, 18(5), 376-384

Young Black women self-harm more but get less help

Young Black women in the U.K. are significantly more likely to harm themselves than people from other ethnic groups but slightly less likely to receive specialist psychiatric assessment and access to follow-up services. Researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Oxford studied 14,997 people who attended emergency departments in Derby, Oxford and Manchester after having harmed themselves. They found that the rate of self-harm among young Black women in Manchester was 10. 3 per 1,000 compared to 6.6 per 1,000 in the White population. The rates of self-harm were not significantly higher among young Black men. The young Black women were slightly less likely to receive a specialist psychiatric assessment after self-harming than White ones.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Diaries take the trauma out of intensive care

On average 1 in 10 patients who stay more than two days in intensive care will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The fragmentary nature of people's memories, which might include isolated moments of clarity between delusions and hallucinations make it difficult for patients to remember what happened to them and make them more likely to develop PTSD. Researchers from the University of Liverpool have been studying the effectiveness of diaries in reducing PTSD. The diaries are compiled by staff and close relatives and feature information about a patient's stay in intensive care, accompanied by photographs. The researchers studied 352 patients from 12 hospitals in six different European countries. 162 of them had the diaries kept for them and these people were found to have half the risk of developing PTSD. The diaries were time consuming for the staff involved but the researchers pointed out that given the cost of treating PTSD this was still cost effective.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Fitter kids have better brains

Children who are fitter tend to have better-developed brains than out-of-shape ones. Researchers from the University of Illinois studied 49 children aged nine to ten. They measured their fitness on a treadmill, used an MRI scanner to measure the volume of their hippocampus and tested their memory. The fitter children tended to have a bigger hippocampus - an area of the brain associated with learning and memory - about 12% larger than the unfit ones. The fitter children also did better on tests of relational memory - the ability to remember and integrate various types of information - but only if their hippocampus was bigger, suggesting that the link between fitness and a larger hippocampus was the crucial one.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.

Researchers give thumbs up to acamprosate

People who are trying to give up drinking sometimes take drugs to stop them relapsing. Researchers from the University of Munich have been looking into the effectiveness of one of these drugs - acamprosate. They reviewed 24 trials involving 6,915 alcoholics who were also receiving non-medical help. Acamprosate prevented relapse in one in every nine patients and increased the number of days patients spent not drinking by an average of three days a month. The risk of a patient on acamprosate returning to drinking was 86% of that of a patient who took a placebo instead. Diarrhoea was the only side effect which was frequently reported.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the link in the title of this post.

Brain scans show healing power of nature

Researchers from the universities of Bradford and Sheffield in the U.K. and the Institute of Medicine and Neuroscience at Julich, Germany, have been investigating the effects of tranquil, natural environments and stressful artificial ones on brain activity. They showed participants in their study pictures of waves breaking on a beach and traffic rushing down a motorway with the same background noise designed to sound similar to waves and traffic noise. The participants' brains were scanned while they watched the videos and the study found that the natural, tranquil scenes caused different brain areas to become connected with one another - indicating that these brain regions were working 'in sync.' The people who watched the traffic on the motorway, however, showed disrupted connections within their brain.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the title of this post.