Watching New Love as It Sears the Brain - New York Times (Free reg. req’d)

New love can look for all the world like mental illness, a blend of mania, dementia and obsession that cuts people off from friends and family and prompts out-of-character behavior - compulsive phone calling, serenades, yelling from rooftops - that could […]

Running an online community — any online community — requires a level of devotion and dedication that challenges even the most altruistic soul. When I left Mental Health (ne’ Help) Net in 1999 to go pursue my dot.com pot of gold, I sighed a sigh of relief in having the burden of responsibility of running […]

Two ISMHO members join the ever-growing blogging community. The always intriguing and good for reading psychologist John Suler and online therapist Jassy Timberlake just began their blogs, so I thought this would be a good time to welcome them! Check them out as their contributions grow…

For some depressed kids, therapy may rival pills
Cognitive-behavioral therapy may be just as effective as antidepressants for depressed teenagers in more affluent families, a government scientist reported Thursday.
But children with severe depression, regardless of family income, appear to need the medication to recover, said Benedetto Vitiello, chief of the child and adolescent psychiatry branch at […]

Teen girls with ADHD at higher risk of mental illness
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a serious problem for teenage girls, and those who have it appear to be at much higher risk for mental illness by age 17, a Harvard Medical School researcher reported Tuesday.
The largest, most thorough study so far comparing girls with ADHD […]

Sleeping on the job

Most of us come up with our best ideas when we are about to nod off, says a study. So is it time the boss put beds in the workplace?
With longer working hours and shrinking lunch breaks, is it any surprise that stressed British workers find their bed a more creative space […]

Share now, pay later
Many people take pills prescribed for others; they save money but risk their health.
Family physician Mary Frank couldn’t understand why one elderly patient with high-blood pressure wasn’t responding to his medication. She had been steadily increasing his dose, but his blood pressure remained unstable.
Finally, the man admitted he had been sharing his […]

Natural-Born Liars — Why do we lie, and why are we so good at it? Because it works
Deception runs like a red thread throughout all of human history. It sustains literature, from Homer’s wily Odysseus to the biggest pop novels of today. Go to a movie, and odds are that the plot will revolve around […]

11 Steps to a Better Brain
It doesn’t matter how brainy you are or how much education you’ve had - you can still improve and expand your mind. Boosting your mental faculties doesn’t have to mean studying hard or becoming a reclusive book worm. There are lots of tricks, techniques and habits, as well as changes […]

Suicide hotline only open from 9 to 5
A Canadian province will shut its 24-hour suicide hotline and replace it with one that operates only during business hours.
Prince Edward Island, a small province on Canada’s East Coast, says it is too expensive to operate the hotline around the clock. Starting June 1, it will be open […]

$77 billion in lost income is attributed to ADHD annually in USA
US household income losses due to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) total nearly $77 billion each year, according to a new analysis of the national large-scale survey, “Capturing America’s Attention,” presented today at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting in Atlanta.
“ADHD, a life-long disorder, […]

Female Drinking and Brain Damage
Women Face Greater Memory Loss Than Men
Medical research continues to reveal greater health risks for women who drink compared to men. The latest studies show that females, even young women, face more brain damage than men who drink the same amount for the same period of time.
Previous studies have found that […]