http://www.health.am/psy/ Depression treatment - Manic depression http://www.health.am/psy/more/abortion-doesnt-up-risk-of-mental-illness-relapse/ In women with a history of mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, getting an abortion does not increase their chances of landing in a psychiatric facility again, suggests a new study from Denmark. Still, those who had an abortion had a higher overall readmission rate both before and after the procedure than women who gave birth. Some researchers—as well as political opponents of abortion - have suggested that aborting a fetus can take a serious psychological toll on women, although doctors who do the procedures argue that’s generally not the case. “We’re not saying that this group of women is necessarily doing really, really well. What we’re saying is that the procedure itself doesn’t seem to be associated with a higher risk of readmission,” said Trine Munk-Olsen, from the University of Aarhus, one of the study’s authors. 2012-02-08T22:53:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/antiretroviral-therapy-not-associated/ A study of more than 300 children and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) revealed no association between specific antiretroviral therapy and the severity of psychiatric disorders. In “Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease Severity, Psychiatric Symptoms, and Functional Outcomes in Perinatally Infected Youth,” Principal Investigator Sharon Nachman, M.D., of Stony Brook School of Medicine, and colleagues detail this finding and others in the Online First edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adult Medicine. Children living with HIV often develop psychiatric and behavioral disorders. A major concern for health professionals is if the severity of HIV illness or use of specific antiretroviral therapy regimens put these children at an increased risk for mental health problems. “Our study indicates that specific antiretroviral therapy and severity of HIV infection in children and adolescents are not necessarily associated with the level of mental health problems experienced by these patients, which counters the conventional thinking about the relationship between HIV and the development of psychiatric disorders,” says Dr. Nachman, Associate Dean for Research, and Professor of Pediatrics at Stony Brook School of Medicine. 2012-02-07T08:51:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/what-to-do-if-you-suspect-alzheimers/ An appointment is missed. A bill goes unpaid. A television remote winds up in the freezer. Are these harmless senior moments or worrisome warning signs that a parent may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease? Surveys consistently show that Alzheimer’s is the second most feared disease in America, after cancer. Among those 55 and older, Alzheimer’s sometimes comes out on top. After a prolonged period of ever-increasing cognitive devastation, the disease is invariably fatal. So it may seem there’s nothing to lose by putting off a diagnosis as long as possible. 2012-02-06T10:53:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/is-alzheimers-caused-by-contagious-proteins/ There’s been a lot of excitement over a paper that suggests a surprising way Alzheimer’s may progress in the brain. Based on work on a unique mouse model, researchers suggest that at least one of the abnormalities that drives the disease may spread from nerve cell to nerve cell like a virus. That’s a stunning proposal, since there are only rare examples that proteins in the brain can “spread” in this way, aside from actual infectious agents like viruses or bacteria. So it’s worth taking a closer look at exactly what the researchers mean by “spread.” For most of us, the concept conjures up something that is physically transmitted or passed on from one thing - in this case a cell - to another. Indeed, in their paper, published in PLoS One, the scientists describe a novel mouse strain that was genetically engineered to carry the human version of the gene for tau, which is one of two major proteins that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Not only did the mice express tau in the same regions of the brain as humans do, but, the scientists say, they saw tau appear in cells that weren’t engineered to contain the gene. Plus, these cells were connected to the cells that were. 2012-02-03T14:34:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/magnetic-therapy-for-depression-becoming-more-popular/ A new magnetic therapy that treats major depression “is rapidly gaining momentum,” said Dr. Murali Rao of Loyola University Medical Center, one of the first Chicago-area centers to offer the treatment. Nearly 300 centers in the United States now offer the treatment, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The treatment sends short pulses of magnetic fields to the brain. At Loyola, about two-thirds of Rao’s TMS patients so far report that their depression has significantly lessened or gone away completely. Before receiving TMS, Nan Miller had failed nine antidepressants and suffered increasingly severe cycles of depression over seven years. There were times when she couldn’t get out of bed or eat. “I just wanted to die,” she said. She had even tried electroconvulsive therapy (formerly known as electroshock), but did not want to consider that option anymore. 2012-02-03T14:30:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/blood-test-accurately-distinguishes-depressed-patients/ The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool. In a paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, a team including Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers reports that a test analyzing levels of nine biomarkers accurately distinguished patients diagnosed with depression from control participants without significant false-positive results. “Traditionally, diagnosis of major depression and other mental disorders has been made based on patients’ reported symptoms, but the accuracy of that process varies a great deal, often depending on the experience and resources of the clinician conducting the assessment,” says George Papakostas, MD, of the MGH Department of Psychiatry, lead and corresponding author of the report. “Adding an objective biological test could improve diagnostic accuracy and may also help us track individual patients’ response to treatment.” The study authors note that previous efforts to develop tests based on a single blood or urinary biomarker did not produce results of sufficient sensitivity, the ability to detect the tested-for condition, or specificity, the ability to rule out that condition. “The biology of depression suggests that a highly complex series of interactions exists between the brain and biomarkers in the peripheral circulation,” says study co-author John Bilello, PhD, chief scientific officer of Ridge Diagnostics, which sponsored the current study. “Given the complexity and variability of these types of disorders and the associated biomarkers in an individual, it is easy to understand why approaches measuring a single factor would not have sufficient clinical utility.” 2012-02-02T08:56:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/comprehensive-angelman-syndrome-clinic/ February 3, 2012 marks the grand opening of the UNC Comprehensive Angelman Syndrome Clinic at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD). Funded in part by the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, this new clinic brings together multiple subspecialists into one setting to address the complex medical and psycho-educational needs of individuals with Angelman syndrome and their families. Depending on the specific concerns, patients and their families have access to a clinical geneticist, neurologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, speech language pathologist, physical/occupational therapist, genetic counselor, social worker, and nutritionist. “This is one of the few clinics in the nation dedicated to Angelman Syndrome, but is unique in including all of the above disciplines, making it a ‘one-stop-shop’ for these complex cases,” said CIDD director, Joseph Piven, MD, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Psychiatry at UNC. “The CIDD is committed to doing research and linking research with clinical practice to bring the best care to our patients.” 2012-01-31T21:43:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/early-intervention-may-curb-dangerous-college-drinking/ The first few weeks of college are a critical time in shaping students’ drinking habits. Now Penn State researchers have a tailored approach that may help prevent students from becoming heavy drinkers. “Research shows there is a spike in alcohol-related consequences that occur in the first few weeks of the semester, especially with college freshmen,” said Michael J. Cleveland, research associate at the Prevention Research Center and the Methodology Center. “If you can buffer that and get beyond that point and safely navigate through that passage, you reduce the risk of later problems occurring.” The researchers tested two different methods of intervention on incoming freshmen - parent-based intervention and peer-based intervention. Cleveland and his colleagues found that students who were non-drinkers before starting college, and who received the parent-based intervention, were unlikely to escalate to heavy drinking when surveyed again during the fall semester of their first year. Students who were heavy drinkers during the summer before college were more likely to transition out of that group if they received either parent-based intervention or peer-based intervention. However, if a heavy-drinker received both interventions, there was no enhanced effect.  2012-01-30T18:10:01-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/marijuana-push-in-colorado/ Proponents of marijuana have argued for years that the drug is safer than alcohol, both to individuals and society. But a ballot proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts in Colorado, likely to be on the November ballot, is putting the two intoxicants back into the same sentence, urging voters to “regulate marijuana like alcohol,” as the ballot proposition’s title puts it. Given alcohol’s long and checkered history - the tens of thousands of deaths each year, the social ravages of alcoholism - backers of the pro-marijuana measure concede there is a risk of looking as if they have cozied up too much, or are comparable, to old demon rum. “Why add another vice, right?” said Mason Tvert, a co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which has led the ballot drive. “But we’re not adding a vice; we’re providing an alternative.” 2012-01-27T14:01:00-08:00 http://www.health.am/psy/more/walk-away-from-depression/ Exercise and depression research has demonstrated that exercise helps depression quickly. One exercise and depression study showed that the improvement in mood begins just ten minutes after you start exercising. Mood was found to continue to get better for up to twenty minutes. Another exercise and depression study found depression had improved after participants had walked on a treadmill for thirty minutes a day for only ten days.  Antidepressant medication usually takes at least two to three weeks to begin improving mood. More lasting change in mood was found to have occured after study participants exercised for just two to three weeks. 2012-01-27T13:42:00-08:00