News tagged with brain disorders

Body clocks of depressed people altered at cell level, researchers show

Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync ...

Medical research created May 13, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (19) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Scientists reverse memory loss in animal brain cells

Neuroscientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have taken a major step in their efforts to help people with memory loss tied to brain disorders such as Alzheimer's ...

Neuroscience created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | 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

Study indicates reverse impulses clear useless information, prime brain for learning

(Medical Xpress)—When the mind is at rest, the electrical signals by which brain cells communicate appear to travel in reverse, wiping out unimportant information in the process, but sensitizing the cells ...

Neuroscience created Mar 19, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Drug treatment corrects autism symptoms in mouse model

Autism results from abnormal cell communication. Testing a new theory, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used a newly discovered function of an old drug to restore cell communications ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (16) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Is this peptide a key to happiness?

(Medical Xpress)—What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide? The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 07, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Solving the 'Cocktail Party Problem': How we can focus on 1 speaker in noisy crowds

In the din of a crowded room, paying attention to just one speaker's voice can be challenging. Research in the March 6 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron demonstrates how the brain hones in on one sp ...

Neuroscience created Mar 06, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Portion of hippocampus found to play role in modulating anxiety

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found the first evidence that selective activation of the dentate gyrus, a portion of the hippocampus, can reduce anxiety without affecting learning. ...

Neuroscience created Mar 06, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers find controlling element of Huntington's disease

A three molecule complex may be a target for treating Huntington's disease, a genetic disorder affecting the brain. This finding by an international research team including scientists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Feb 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists pinpoint how deep brain stimulation eases OCD

(HealthDay)—Deep brain stimulation has helped people with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, and new research begins to explain why.

Neuroscience created Feb 24, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Genes for autism and schizophrenia only active in developing brains

Genes linked to autism and schizophrenia are only switched on during the early stages of brain development, according to a study in mice led by researchers at the University of Oxford.

Genetics created Feb 11, 2013 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (30) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Possible role for Huntington's gene discovered

About 20 years ago, scientists discovered the gene that causes Huntington's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects about 30,000 Americans. The mutant form of the gene has many extra DNA ...

Genetics created Jan 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Impaired coordination of brain activity in autism involves local, as well as long-range, signaling

A study based at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) finds that the local functional connectivity of the brain – the extent to which the activity of within a small brain region ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Jan 14, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The best-laid plans: How we update our goals based on new information

Humans are adept at setting goals and updating them as new situations arise—for example, a person who is playing a video game may switch to a new goal when their phone rings.

Neuroscience created Dec 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Where 'where it's at' is at in the brain: Study in rats identifies region that associates objects and space

Conventional wisdom in brain research says that you just used your hippocampus to answer that question, but that might not be the whole story. The context of place depends on not just how you got there, but ...

Neuroscience created Dec 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Mental disorder

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of mental disorders has changed over time and across cultures. Definitions, assessments, and classifications of mental disorders can vary, but guideline criteria listed in the ICD, DSM and other manuals are widely accepted by mental health professionals. Categories of diagnoses in these schemes may include dissociative disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, eating disorders, developmental disorders, personality disorders, ambulatory disorders and many other categories. In many cases there is no single accepted or consistent cause of mental disorders, although they are often explained in terms of a diathesis-stress model and biopsychosocial model. Mental disorders have been found to be common, with over a third of people in most countries reporting sufficient criteria at some point in their life. Services for mental disorders may be based in hospitals or in the community. Mental health professionals diagnose individuals using different methodologies, often relying on case history and interview. Psychotherapy and psychiatric medication are two major treatment options, as well as supportive interventions and self-help. Treatment may be involuntary where legislation allows. Several movements campaign for changes to services and attitudes.

For more information about Mental disorder, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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