http://psychcentral.com/news Psychology, psychiatry and mental health news and research findings, every weekday. Tue, 13 May 2008 13:45:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Despite the belief that inflammatory processes may play a role in Alzheimer's disease and cognition, a new study fails to find evidence supporting an improvement in cognitive function following administration of anti-inflammatory medications. Researchers studied the effective of medications for 30-months finding that the drugs naproxen and celecoxib did not ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/13/anti-inflammatory-meds-do-not-improve-memory/2279.html Researchers in The Netherlands have detected biochemical differences in the brains of individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia). Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a brain imaging technique, was used to detect and provide evidence of a long-suspected biological cause for the dysfunction. The study, is reported in ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/13/brain-imaging-exposes-source-of-anxiety-disorder/2278.html A new study suggests individuals with at least a high school education spend more of their older years without cognitive loss. The protective effective extends to conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and dementia. However, the risk of death is escalated when educated individuals eventually develop mental decline. The study ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/13/education-slows-mental-decline/2277.html Researchers have discovered how abnormalities in microRNAs, a family of molecules that regulate expression of numerous genes, may contribute to the behavioral and neuronal deficits associated with schizophrenia. The findings are illuminated in the journal Nature Genetics as Columbia University professors Maria Karayiorgou, M.D., and Joseph A. ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/13/cellular-origins-of-schizophrenia/2276.html New research using sophisticated computer simulations has allowed a team of physical chemists to show how a minor, seemingly inconsequential gene mutation can begin the cascade to Alzheimer's disease. Historically, the causes of Alzheimer’s have proven very difficult to pin down. In recent years, science has been closing in on solving ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/12/subtle-brain-changes-can-lead-to-alzheimers/2270.html A new report from Australia finds that people with mental illness are not receiving the support they need to improve their health habits. Health promotion programs such as smoking cessation, cardiovascular fitness and overall wellness activities are underrepresented for people living with mental illness. The relative absence of programming to ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/12/health-promotion-lags-for-people-with-mental-illness/2269.html In the first national study of Asians living in the United States researchers discover that for some individuals, strong ties to their ethnicity can guard against the negative effects of racism. For others, strong ties to ethnicity can actually make the negative effects of discrimination worse. And the mental health ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/12/unique-response-to-discrimination-among-us-asians/2268.html A new UK study has found the amount of care provided to aging parents appears to vary by country and if the parent has been divorced or is a widow. While the elderly are cared for by their adult children regardless of their marital status, researchers found British adult children ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/12/parental-care-taking-varies-by-country/2267.html An interesting new study finds that women and men tend to have different types of stress-related psychological disorders. Women have greater rates of depression and some types of anxiety disorders than men, while men have greater rates of alcohol-use disorders than women. In the study of emotional and alcohol-craving responses ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/12/stress-triggers-depression-in-women-alcohol-craving-in-men/2266.html U.S. teenagers who attempt to self-medicate through the use of marijuana or other drugs can end up worsening their depression, says a new report. The report suggests that such drug use could also lead a teen toward other serious mental disorders. The report cites research which it says shows that some ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/09/drugs-depressed-teens-a-dangerous-combination/2264.html Abilify (aripiprazole), a commonly-prescribed antipsychotic medication used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval yesterday for use within children for Bipolar I Disorder, and teens with schizophrenia. The FDA approval was specifically for maintenance treatment of manic or mixed episodes, and as add-on ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/09/abilify-receives-approval-for-expanded-use-in-children-teens/2261.html A new survey recently released by the U.K.'s Department of Health showed that 1 in 8 people would not want to live next door to someone with a mental illness. Mental health charity Rethink has branded the findings on attitudes towards people with mental health problems as "shocking, ignorant, and unacceptable ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/09/mental-illness-stigma-alive-and-well-in-uk/2260.html What are the neurological underpinnings of moral and ethical decision-making in the brain? A group of researchers set about to find some answers to this question in a new study. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois and the California Institute of Technology, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/09/studying-ethical-dilemmas-in-the-brain/2258.html People who suffer from depression may have far fewer of the receptors in the brain that regulate our happiness when compared to non-depressed people. The new study also suggests that the fewer receptors a person has, the more severe their depression. Scans show untreated depressed people have fewer serotonin and opioid ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/08/brains-of-people-with-depression-different/2253.html Two studies published in the past week link our sleep patterns to weight gain, and one of them also links too little or too much sleep to an increase in smoking and alcohol use. According to the survey of 87,000 U.S. adults released yesterday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/08/too-much-too-little-sleep-linked-to-obesity-smoking/2252.html In a study comparing the time it takes for someone with schizophrenia to relapse (go off of treatment), risperidone (Risperdal) long-acting injection (RLAI) was found to offer a longer time before relapse than another commonly prescribed anti-psychotic medication, quetiapine (Seroquel). Data presented from the study showed that the mean time ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/08/risperidone-long-acting-injection-extends-time-to-relapse-in-schizophrenia/2251.html Two studies' results presented yesterday suggest long-term efficacy (up to 12 months) in boys and girls for the ADHD patch (Daytrana), as well as additional information about Intuniv, a new attention-deficit disorder (ADHD) medication not yet on the market. "The findings are significant because only a relatively modest amount of work ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/08/adhd-medications-daytrana-intuniv-show-treatment-promise/2250.html Major mental disorders cost the nation at least $193 billion annually in lost earnings alone, according to recent research. In the new study, Ronald C. Kessler, Ph.D. of Harvard University and his colleagues analyzed data from the 2002 National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative study of Americans age 18 ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/07/mental-disorders-cost-193-billion-in-lost-earnings/2245.html Results of the first national survey of its kind show problem gambling -- described as gambling with three or more negative consequences (for example, gambling more than you intended or stealing money to gamble) in the past year -- occurring at a rate of 2.1 percent among youth 14 to ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/07/1-in-50-teens-may-have-gambling-problem/2244.html There have been at least a dozen school shootings in American schools and universities within the past three years, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 students. In 1998 Oregon’s Thurston High School in Springfield was the scene of a school shooting in which two students were killed and ... http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/07/warning-signs-of-school-shootings/2243.html