Canadian teenagers are among the largest consumers of cannabis worldwide. The damaging effects of this illicit drug on young brains are worse than originally thought, according to new research by Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a psychiatric researcher from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. The new study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, suggests [...]
A new theory on the role of developmental experiences is presented in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psycosomatics. Medically unexplained (or ‘functional’) symptoms (MUS) are physical symptoms that prompt the sufferer to seek healthcare but remain unexplained after an appropriate medical evaluation. Examples of MUS also occur in veterinary medicine. For example, domestic cats [...]
University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have pinpointed the prime factors identifying which elderly persons are at the highest risk for developing major depression. The researchers, led by Jeffrey M. Lyness, M.D., professor of Psychiatry at the Medical Center, reported their findings in an article in the December issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry. [...]
For most parents, soothing a child’s anxiety is just part of the job. But for a parent whose child has obsessive-compulsive disorder, soothing anxiety and helping with behaviors linked to the disease could lead to more severe symptoms, University of Florida researchers say. Often, parents of children with OCD will help their children complete rituals [...]
Do your kids want a Wii, a PlayStation or an Xbox 360 this year? This holiday gift season is packed with popular gaming systems and adrenaline-pumping, sharpshooting games. What’s a parent to do? Is there any redeeming value in the hours that teens spend transfixed by these video games? According to a new study in [...]
Tiantan Puhua Neurosurgical Hospital announced today the first known successful stem cell therapy treatment in China, and one of the first in the world, of an American citizen inflicted with the debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Tiantan Puhua applied the unique procedure, specifically designed for Parkinson’s patients, to 52-year-old Penny Thomas of Hawaii who says she has [...]
Enhancing the response to teen depression and suicide is the focus of a new planning grant announced on June 12 by the Stanford Medical Center. The $100,000 grant, funded by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics, will support collaboration among Palo Alto-area providers of health care [...]
FINDINGS: Historically, authorities have used broad media campaigns to encourage the public to prepare for disasters – an approach that has proven largely ineffective. For this new study, UCLA researchers sought to test novel, culturally tailored, informal social networking approaches to improve disaster preparedness, using data on 231 Hispanics in Los Angeles County. Researchers randomly [...]
A Minnesota program that provides psychiatric medications to low-income patients received a 2009 Community Leadership Award honorable mention from America’s Health Insurance Plans. The awards, which were announced at AHIP’s annual Institute in San Diego, recognize programs that address a community need. The Mental Health Drug Assistance Program provides 24/7 access to stop-gap psychiatric drugs [...]
Daniel Dennett of Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences has been selected as an AAAS Fellow for transformational contributions to philosophy of the cognitive sciences and philosophy of biology, which have become the most rapidly advancing fields in philosophy of science. Election as Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. [...]