Mental Health

Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)

(Medical Xpress)—The existential psychologist Rollo May wrote that "depression is the inability to construct a future"1 while Lionel Tiger stated that "optimism has been central to the process of human e ...

Neuroscience created Apr 02, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 5 | with audio podcast feature

Effects of stress on brain cells offer clues to new anti-depressant drugs

Research from King's College London reveals the detailed mechanism behind how stress hormones reduce the number of new brain cells - a process considered to be linked to depression. The researchers identified a key protein ...

Neuroscience created May 06, 2013 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mouse brain made transparent: Method enables 3-D analysis of brain's fine structure and connections (w/ video)

Combining neuroscience and chemical engineering, researchers at Stanford University have developed a process that renders a mouse brain transparent. The postmortem brain remains whole—not sliced or sectioned in any way—with ...

Neuroscience created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research shows how two brain areas interact to trigger divergent emotional behaviors

New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine for the first time explains exactly how two brain regions interact to promote emotionally motivated behaviors associated with anxiety ...

Neuroscience created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Amputee phantom pain linked to brain retaining picture of missing limb

Changes in the brain following amputation have been linked to pain arising from the missing limb, called 'phantom pain', in an Oxford University brain imaging study.

Neuroscience created Mar 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

One in five U.S. kids has a mental health disorder, CDC reports

(HealthDay)—As many as one in five American children under the age of 17 has a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, according to a new federal report.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 16, 2013 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Father absence in early childhood linked to depression in adolescent girls

(Medical Xpress)—New research from the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol shows that girls whose fathers were absent during the first five years of life were more likely to develop depressive ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 15, 2013 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Flu in pregnancy may quadruple child's risk for bipolar disorder

Pregnant mothers' exposure to the flu was associated with a nearly fourfold increased risk that their child would develop bipolar disorder in adulthood, in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

To suppress or to explore? Emotional strategy may influence anxiety

When trouble approaches, what do you do? Run for the hills? Hide? Pretend it isn't there? Or do you focus on the promise of rain in those looming dark clouds? New research suggests that the way you regulate ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 13, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Study finds brain system for emotional self-control

Different brain areas are activated when we choose to suppress an emotion, compared to when we are instructed to inhibit an emotion, according a new study from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Ghent University.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 09, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study sees link between mom's flu, bipolar risk for children

(HealthDay)—Women who come down with the flu during pregnancy may be at increased risk of having a child who develops bipolar disorder, a new study suggests.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds health insurance helps lower-income Americans avoid depression, diabetes, major financial shocks

Enrollment in Medicaid helps lower-income Americans overcome depression, get proper treatment for diabetes, and avoid catastrophic medical bills, but does not appear to reduce the prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure ...

Health created May 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Risk of depression influenced by quality of relationships, research says

The mantra that quality is more important than quantity is true when considering how social relationships influence depression, say U-M researchers in a new study.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Sniffing out schizophrenia: Neurons in the nose could be the key to early, fast, and accurate diagnosis

(Medical Xpress)—A debilitating mental illness, schizophrenia can be difficult to diagnose. Because physiological evidence confirming the disease can only be gathered from the brain during an autopsy, mental health professionals ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Children's brain processing speed indicates risk of psychosis

(Medical Xpress)—New research from Cardiff and Bristol universities shows that children whose brains process information more slowly than their peers are at greater risk of psychotic experiences.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast


Mental health describes a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder. From the perspective of 'positive psychology' or 'holism', mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Mental health can also be defined as an expression of emotions, and as signifying a successful adaptation to a range of demands.

The World Health Organization defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". It was previously stated that there was no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined. There are different types of mental health problems, some of which are common, such as depression and anxiety disorders, and some not so common, such as schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder.

Most recently, the field of Global Mental Health has emerged, which has been defined as 'the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide'.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Latest Spotlight News

The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal'

New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death. By altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re-educates cancer ...

Do salamanders hold the solution to regeneration?

Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...

Scientists identify molecular trigger for Alzheimer's disease

Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer's disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons ...

Practice makes perfect? Not so much

Turns out, that old "practice makes perfect" adage may be overblown. New research led by Michigan State University's Zach Hambrick finds that a copious amount of practice is not enough to explain why people ...

Older prostate cancer patients should think twice before undergoing treatment

Older prostate cancer patients with other underlying health conditions should think twice before committing to surgery or radiation therapy for their cancer, according to a multicenter study led by researchers in the UCLA ...

New test better detects elephantiasis worm infection

A new diagnostic test for a worm infection that can lead to severe enlargement and deformities of the legs and genitals is far more sensitive than the currently used test, according to results of a field ...

Researchers develop model for better testing, targeting of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors

University of Minnesota Medical School researchers from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, in partnership with the University's Brain Tumor Program, have developed a new mouse model of malignant peripheral ...

New immune system discovered

(Medical Xpress)—A research team, led by Jeremy Barr, a biology post-doctoral fellow, unveils a new immune system that protects humans and animals from infection.

Study shows how bilinguals switch between languages

(Medical Xpress)—Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate "sound systems" for each language, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.

Neurons that can multitask greatly enhance the brain's computational power, study finds

Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made much progress in mapping the brain by deciphering the functions of individual neurons that perform very specific tasks, such as recognizing the location ...