Study Strengthens Link between Virus and Weight Gain
Unlike some news outlets that are shortening this story down to “viruses cause obesity,” I appreciated Scientific American’s balanced and well-written article that explains how preliminary this research is (it was done on chickens, for gawdsakes!). While it may have relevance to people combatting weight gain in the […]

Scientific brain linked to autism
I wish I had access to the full text of this article, because it looks like one of those articles which is not a study at all, just an opinion piece (it’s in a section entitled, Perspectives, which seems to me to suggest it is exactly just that). Opinion pieces, while […]

Public Service Announcement: As another Super Bowl in the United States approaches this Sunday, it’s also a good time to revisit the myth that Super Bowl Sunday is the most active day for domestic violence calls in the year. This pops up every now and again, especially at this time of the year, but there’s […]

There’s been some contradictory research as to whether the Internet is, on the whole, more socially isolating or more socially connecting. A previous study found that the Internet time was cutting into socializing and television watching. According to the most recent research however, it appears that this isn’t entirely the case. The Internet brings people […]

A new book has been published that is written more for mental health professionals, but may be of interest to family members who are interested in learning more in-depth information about schizophrenia.
The book review, from the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, states:

Juvenile-Onset Schizophrenia: Assessment, Neurobiology and Treatment Robert L Findling, S Charles Schulz, editors. Baltimore (MD): […]

Single workout can lift mood in depressed patients
A single 30-minute walk on a treadmill can give a temporary emotional lift to patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, the results of a small study suggest.
Researchers found that among 40 men and women recently diagnosed with major depression, those who spent just a half hour on a […]

Helping Patients Help Themselves
Increasingly psychologists are extending the impact of their work by recommending self-help groups, books, movies and more. With insurers limiting the number of sessions available to the client, “homework” or actions consumers can take to understand their problems and care for themselves enhance therapy.
As well, psychologists are expanding their services to […]

In reviewing grant applications for the NIMH, you come across pretty stark reviews of the literature in terms of the efficacy of certain treatments for certain disorders. In reviewing such an application today, I’m reminded how poor the 2- and 3-year outcomes are for the treatment of depression, across a wide range of treatment modalities […]

Judge rips state on care for mentally ill children
It’s very sad that I live in what is perceived to be a very progressive state, but that when you look beyond the facade of state government and services here in Massachusetts, you find quality no better than many very poor states.
The Boston Globe reports today […]

“It’s easier to become abstinent from alcohol if you quit smoking at the same time.”

More reasons to love and hate our favorite star. Sunlight is positively, if counterintuitively, linked to an increased risk of suicide, while too little sun causes vitamin D deficiency, a factor newly implicated in schizophrenia.
Suicides peak in May and June in the Northern Hemisphere and in November and December in the Southern Hemisphere. Indeed, the […]

Nicotine…
While only one in four Americans now light up, cigarette use hovers near 90 percent among schizophrenics. But for folks with this personality disorder, smoking may be a form of self-medication. Nicotine, it seems, counteracts some of the impairments caused by schizophrenia and the drug most often used to treat it.
In experiments at Duke University […]