http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Belief in God may significantly improve the outcome of those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness, according to a recent study conducted by McLean Hospital investigators. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-faith-god-positively-treatment-individuals.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:04 EST news286045296 Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence—a critical time for brain development—and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause severe mental illness in those predisposed to it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-mouse-links-adolescent-stress-severe.html Neuroscience Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:00:09 EST news277653353 Unemployment poses a significant burden on the public no matter what the cause. But for those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness, chronic unemployment is often coupled with significant health care costs. A Rhode Island Hospital study compared unemployment rates among those with various psychiatric disorders, and found that borderline personality disorder is associated with as much unemployment as bipolar disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-borderline-personality-bipolar-disorders-similar.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:51:02 EST news274445289 Physicians are prescribing anti-depressants for stroke patients without first giving them a proper diagnosis, they are over-treating some patients, and overlooking others, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-screening-post-stroke-depression-inadequate-inconsistent.html Cardiology Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:26:09 EST news268277163 Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) are physical complaints, such as headaches, pain, fatigue, and dizziness, that cannot be explained medically. These symptoms affect 10-30% of children and adolescents and account for 2-4% of all pediatric doctor visits. A new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that infants with regulatory problems (i.e., feeding, sleeping, and tactile reactivity) and/or maternal psychiatric problems may have an increased risk of FSS in later childhood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-link-infants-regulatory-behaviors-maternal.html Pediatrics Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:00:02 EST news267895511 The suicide rate in the U.S. Army now exceeds the rate in the general population, and psychiatric admission is now the most common reason for hospitalization in the Army. These concerning trends are described by Timothy Lineberry, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist and suicide expert for the Army, in the September edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In the article, he also outlines steps to assess and address military suicide—an issue he calls a major public health concern. Dr. Lineberry proposes greater use of gun locks, improving primary care for depression, and better monitoring for sleep disturbances, among other steps. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-mayo-clinic-suicide-expert-outlines.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:32:02 EST news266499114 Two papers that will appear in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, both receiving advance online release, may help identify gene variants that contribute to the risks of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or Tourette syndrome (TS). Both multi-institutional studies were led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, and both are the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the largest groups of individuals affected by the conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-gwas-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-tourette-syndrome.html Genetics Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:10:01 EST news264143328 (Medical Xpress) -- Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a cause-and-effect relationship between two well-established biological risk factors for schizophrenia previously believed to be independent of one another. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-link-biological-factors-schizophrenia.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 17 Jul 2012 06:36:30 EST news261725780 Men suffering from psychiatric problems when diagnosed with cancer are more likely to die from the disease, according to a new study part-funded by the Wellcome Trust. The findings also reveal that those with psychiatric illness are likely to be older when they are diagnosed with cancer, possibly indicating a delay in diagnosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-links-mental-health-problems-poor.html Cancer Thu, 24 May 2012 08:31:04 EST news257067055 When thousands of psychiatrists attend their field's largest annual meeting each year, the presentations they hear about research into drug treatments report overwhelmingly on positive results. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-bias-mental-health-drug-major.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 22 May 2012 10:51:53 EST news256902703 Among 6-month-old infants, a history of intrauterine antipsychotic medication exposure was associated with significantly lower scores on a standard test of neuromotor performance, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-links-intrauterine-antipsychotic-medication-exposure.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:03 EST news252590368 A new study conducted by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers shows that a majority of medical students in Yemen believe that chewing the plant khat is harmful to one's health but they would not advise their patients to quit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-focuses-khat-yemeni-culture.html Addiction Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:06:10 EST news250340764 In a national Swedish adoption study, the risk for drug abuse appears to be increased among adopted children whose biological parents had a history of drug abuse, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-drug-abuse-children-family-genetics.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:02 EST news250167338 A pioneering new study finds that a specific type of computerized cognitive training can lead to significant neural and behavioral improvements in individuals with schizophrenia. The research, published by Cell Press in the February 23 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals that 16 weeks of intensive cognitive training is also associated with improved social functioning several months later and may have far-reaching implications for improving the quality of life for patients suffering from neuropsychiatric illness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-reality-brain-behavior-schizophrenia.html Neuroscience Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:01:41 EST news249138056 (Medical Xpress) -- Computer programs can be taught to differentiate between the brain scans of healthy adolescents and those most at risk of developing psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety and depression, according to research published yesterday in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The research suggests that it may be possible to design programs that can accurately predict which at-risk adolescents will subsequently develop these disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-individuals-anxiety-mood-disorders.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:52:19 EST news248593901 Experiencing a psychiatric episode within the first 30 days post-partum appears to be associated with an increased risk of developing bipolar affective disorder, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-post-partum-psychiatric-episodes-linked-bipolar.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:56:59 EST news242325737 New research from Scotland has shown that the rate of death in men and women hospitalised for chest pain unrelated to heart disease is higher in those with a history of psychiatric illness than without. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-prior-hospitalization-mental-illness-death.html Cardiology Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:20:44 EST news241928429 Researchers from Taiwan have confirmed a bidirectional relation between schizophrenia and epilepsy. The study published today in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), reports that patients with epilepsy were nearly 8 times more likely to develop schizophrenia and those with schizophrenia were close to 6 times more likely to develop epilepsy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-bidirectional-relationship-schizophrenia-epilepsy.html Medical research Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:13:30 EST news235620802 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered molecular-level changes in the brains of women with major depressive disorder that link two hypotheses of the biological mechanisms that lead to the illness. Their results, published online this week in Molecular Psychiatry, also allowed them to recreate the changes in a mouse model that could enhance future research on depression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-molecular-evidence-brain-depressed.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:02:22 EST news235389693 A history of psychiatric illness such as depression or anxiety before a traumatic brain injury (TBI), together with other risk factors, are strongly predictive of post-TBI psychiatric disorders, according to an article published in Journal of Neurotrauma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-factors-psychiatric-symptoms-traumatic-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 12 Jul 2011 09:49:39 EST news229682961 An international team of scientists lead by researchers from Duke University and Johns Hopkins University have discovered a key "switch" in the brain that allows neurons to stop dividing so that these cells can migrate toward their final destinations in the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-brain-affect-schizophrenia-conditions.html Genetics Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:03:58 EST news221313824