Several areas of research have converged over the past several years to give people a better understanding of adolescent risk-taking behavior. For many teens, taking risks and making mistakes (sometimes life-changing) is part of what adolescence is. Fortunately, a more complete understanding of peer influence, parenting, and brain development has been able to explain this […]

Domestic violence and its effects on kids as well as the adults involved is often under-reported and can be forgotten about. Fortunately, a recent report via Reuters covers new research on therapy for victims of domestic violence. Essentially, group therapy has been shown to be beneficial for kids after domestic incidents, but the effects become […]

You know those public service television commercials where some celebrity-of-the-moment encourages you to talk to your kids about sex or drugs or something? Well, not surprising, such talks are of little use.
A study conducted in August 2006 examined longitudinal data from a survey of 5,401 Scottish teenagers. The researchers led by Daniel Wight of the […]

It’s no secret that the amount of prescriptions filled for psychotropic medication has been increasing at a rapid pace. However, most people don’t really just how many people are taking these drugs and how much money is generated by their sale. The PsychCentral Newsroom had a great report on this topic, here is the thumbnail […]

In an article in last Friday’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, there appeared an article from Jeffrey Zaslow entitled, “The Most-Praised Generation Goes to Work.” (You’ll have to take my word for it, as the WSJ is one of the old-media companies that still believes there’s little value to making its articles available to […]

Bebe Moore Campbell, writer and mental health advocate, suffered with a bipolar disorder and died of brain cancer last winter. In 2003 she wrote the award-winning children’s book Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry. Narrated by a young girl, it shows how to understand a mother with mental illness and in particular, passionate bipolar mood swings. […]

As the cultural obsession with Cho continues, it reveals a deep human need to understand, explain, and feel in control of this type of situation. We think that if we can predict every warning sign and every maladaptive personality trait we can avoid these types of situations. Unfortunately, part of living in modern society is […]

There has been a reasonable amount of evidence accumulating that talk therapy is an effective approach to treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A new study covered by United Press International found that certain cognitive-behavioral therapies are shown to be effective for significantly reducing symptoms of the disorder. Ideally, after symptoms are under control for people receiving […]

A little over a year ago, I went through what has so far been the worst string of bad dates in my life. There was one guy who stole one of my CDs when he came to pick me up. Then there was the guy who made a big speech about his ex-girlfriend and […]

I was pleased to see that our NeuroTalk Communities was mentioned in Dr. Orly Avitzur’s article about the benefits of joining an online neurology community in Neurology Now. What a great article touting the benefits of online support groups! I wish there was more positive reporting like this describing the benefits of the Internet’s ability to […]

As predicted, the media is now making some very generalized and meaningless connections between Cho’s hospitalization 16 months ago in 2005, and his actions on Monday. The Los Angeles Times leads the charge,

Weary with grief and struggling to explain their failure to monitor Seung-hui Cho upon his release from a mental hospital 16 months […]

Many of us think about how to keep out hearts and muscles healthy, but few of us think about how to keep our brains healthy. Fortunately, some folks from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have a guide for you to do this. Basically, our brains need upkeep just like other parts of our bodies. Many of us […]