News tagged with biological psychiatry

Related topics: brain regions , brain , schizophrenia , depression , nerve cells




Life experiences put their stamp on the next generation: New insights from epigenetics

The 18th century natural philosopher Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that the necks of giraffes lengthened as a consequence of the cumulative effort, across generations, to reach leaves just out of their grasp. This view of ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scopolamine: An old drug with new psychiatric applications

Scopolamine is an anticholinergic drug with many uses. For example, it prevents nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 12, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers spot attention deficits in babies who later develop autism

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine are able to detect deficits in social attention in infants as young as six months of age who later develop Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Published in the current issue of Biological Ps ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Feb 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

If you are impulsive, take modafinil and count to 10

Poor impulse control contributes to one's inability to control the consumption of rewarding substances, like food, alcohol, and other drugs. This can lead to the development of addiction. FDA-approved medications for alcoholism, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 01, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Disulfiram: New support for an old addiction drug

Disulfiram was the first medication approved for the treatment of alcoholism over 50 years ago. It works, at least in part, by preventing the metabolism of an alcohol by-product, acetaldehyde. High levels of acetaldehyde ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 31, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Rats, like humans, return to drinking once punishment is removed

Once heavy drinking impairs function, a variety of punishment-related threats may motivate people to stop drinking: spouses may threaten divorce, employers may threaten job loss, and courts threaten drunk drivers with losing ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 30, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Physicians' brain scans indicate doctors can feel their patients' pain—and their relief

A patient's relationship with his or her doctor has long been considered an important component of healing. Now, in a novel investigation in which physicians underwent brain scans while they believed they were actually treating ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 29, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Evidence mounts for role of mutated genes in development of schizophrenia

Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a rare gene mutation in a single family with a high rate of schizophrenia, adding to evidence that abnormal genes play a role in the development of the disease.

Genetics created Jan 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Borderline personality disorder: The "perfect storm" of emotion dysregulation

Originally, the label "borderline personality disorder" was applied to patients who were thought to represent a middle ground between patients with neurotic and psychotic disorders. Increasingly, though, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 15, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

How do happiness and sadness circuits contribute to bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a severe mood disorder characterized by unpredictable and dramatic mood swings between the highs of mania and lows of depression. These mood episodes occur among periods of 'normal mood', termed euthymia.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 14, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Declining access to electroconvulsive therapy: A clinical choice or an economic one?

Horrific images from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest notwithstanding, modern electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains one of the safest and most effective antidepressant treatments, particularly for patients who do not tolerate ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jan 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Does the brain become unglued in autism?

A new study published in Biological Psychiatry suggests that autism is associated with reductions in the level of cellular adhesion molecules in the blood, where they play a role in immune function.

Autism spectrum disorders created Dec 11, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Drug helps women who stop smoking keep weight off

A medication being tested to help smokers kick the habit also may help avoid the weight gain that is common after quitting but only in women, according to a study published in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry. This i ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Dec 10, 2012 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Oxytocin produces more engaged fathers and more responsive infants

A large body of research has focused on the ability of oxytocin to facilitate social bonding in both marital and parenting relationships in human females. A new laboratory study, led by Dr. Ruth Feldman from Bar-Ilan University ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Dec 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Next-generation treatments for Fragile X syndrome

A potential new therapeutic strategy for treating Fragile X syndrome is detailed in a new report appearing in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, from researchers led by Dr. Lucia Ciranna at University of Catania in Ita ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Nov 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast