From all of us at Psych Central, we wish you and yours a very Happy New Year in 2006!

A Political Debate On Stress Disorder
The chickens are coming home to roost for the Bush Administration as it begins to see the indirect costs of fighting “quick” conflicts overseas — conflicts that linger on and on and on. Guess what they found? The more soldiers you send to combat, the more they end up with […]

About 1 in 10 US teens face major depression
Nearly one in 10 American teenagers experienced major depression last year and fewer than half were treated, according to government statistics released on Thursday that doctors say confirm the problem is still overlooked among young people.
Overall, 9 percent of teenagers, or 2.2 million, were depressed, with older […]

In an amazing example of real-life psychology sensation and perception research, the British Medical Journal published an interesting study this week. People pour 20-30% more alcohol into short, wide glasses than into tall, narrow ones of the same volume, but they wrongly believe that tall glasses hold more, finds a study in this week’s British […]

A Sudden Shift in Moods
The Washington Post has an informative article about cyclothymic disorder. This disorder is basically a milder, longer-term form of mild bipolar disorder (bipolar II disorder), and often gets little of the attention slathered in bipolar disorder. Yet it still ends up affecting over 2 million Americans each and every year.

Cyclothymic disorder, […]

Impulsivity, alcohol linked to suicide
Men with severe depression are more likely to commit suicide if they abuse alcohol and have “cluster B” personality disorder, which relates to impulsive and/or aggressive behavior, new study findings suggest.
“Why some patients with major depressive disorder die by suicide while others with seemingly the same disorder do not, is a […]

Japan’s humanoid robots
Robots, you see, are wonderful creatures, as many a Japanese will tell you. They are getting more adept all the time, and before too long will be able to do cheaply and easily many tasks that human workers do now. They will care for the sick, collect the rubbish, guard homes and offices, […]

For the Most Needy, A Tough Switch
Unbelievably, the new Medicare Part D plan will nicely screw those who most need their medications.
What I’m having a hard time understanding is why more people aren’t up in arms about these changes. “It doesn’t affect me.” Fine, it’s going to affect your parents or grandparents though, and it’s […]

Discussion About Cyclothymia, Bipolar Disorder and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., who is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School engaged in an online chat on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 on these topics. This transcript is available at The Washington Post and makes for an interesting read on seasonal affective […]

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I’m writing a story about […]

The recipe for success: get happy and you will get ahead in life
The Guardian has this interesting article about research conducted showing that how generally happy you are influences how successful you will be in your life. This is the exact opposite expectation many people have, which is thinking similar to,
“If I only had […]

Pills for Losers
If you haven’t heard of hoodia or green tea extract, you haven’t been checking your e-mail or spending much time on the Web. Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year banned ephedra, the long-standing leader among supplements promoted to help people lose weight, hoodia and green tree extract have taken a […]