Earlier today we reported on new research that shows a link between a parent’s mental health and an increase in the likelihood of having a child develop autism. The research examined Swedish hospital records of children born between 1977 and 2003 who were diagnosed with autism and compared them with children who were not diagnosed […]

If you suffer from a mental disorder maybe you’d feel more at ease at home — home on the range. At least that’s what a new study out of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences supports.
To assess the benefits of Green care, the researchers asked ninety patients (59 women and 31 men) with […]

Ahh, prior authorization. Those sweet, seductive words that insurance companies lull themselves to sleep at night with dollar signs jumping over a fence in a pasture.
“Prior authorization” means that a doctor can’t prescribe a particular medication (or type of medication) without — you guessed it! — prior authorization from the insurance company. This usually […]

Fear of what others may be thinking of us is common, but exaggerated fears are more common than previously thought. Most research into paranoia (defined as “unfounded mistrust”) involves psychosis and schizophrenia, although it’s been estimated 10-15% of the population suffer such fears. New research finds that lesser degrees affect many more.
Researcher Daniel Freeman at […]

For several weeks, the state of Alaska has been battling the maker of Zyprexa, Lilly, for Medicaid bills incurred when patients taking the drug for Schizophrenia developed diabetes. The NY Times reported on Friday that the $15 million is only “a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages that Ed Sniffen, […]

Just yesterday we were lambasting the lack of science behind the bipolar genetic test on the market. And now this hits the newswire — genetic mutations and schizophrenia.
The new research examined DNA sequences within individuals’ genes, looking for what are called “mutations” — uncommon deletions or duplications that scientists wouldn’t ordinarily expect to find. […]

Keeping Kids Healthy is an award winning, long running public television program about pediatrics and parenting. Their archives feature lots of half-hour productions about mental illnesses and behavioural issues in children. One, about bipolar disorder in children, is the second most viewed video in my Vodpod collection, with hundreds of views compared to dozens for […]

Elyn Saks, a professor from UCLA, speaks candidly about her experience with schizophrenia throughout her childhood, as a student at Vanderbilt, Oxford and Yale, and her career. Saks said she had “nice enough” parents and a reasonably normal childhood, but she started having phobias, night terrors and obsessions at age five. During her […]

Scientists have long believed that since schizophrenia is associated with abnormal brain structure and functioning that a mothers’ stress during pregnancy could adversely affect brain development in the fetus, even causing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Now there is strong evidence to support these assumptions. According to a report in the Archives of General […]

So it looks like Eli Lilly’s new medication for schizophrenia, an injectable form of Zyprexa, will be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year. Why do you need an injectable form of a medication when pills work just as well?
When people don’t want to take their medications.
Furious […]

It has long been hypothesized that it’s unhealthy for pregnant women to change the cat litter, but now more then ever, pregnant women have a reason to hand over the pooper-scooper responsibilities. A recent study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry claims that individuals exposed to the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which is carried […]

A recent post on The Wall Street Journal’s health blog is a review of “The lives they left behind: Suitcases from a state hospital attic”, which is now on display at the New York Public library through the month of January. The display features items left behind from patients who stayed at Willard State […]