Tag: Mental Health

The Dark Truth Behind NYPD Officer Nick Budney's Suicide

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. For too long, men have been silent about mental health and it’s literally killing us. We can change that. Our Healthy Mind, Healthy Body series shines a light on mental health issues that everyone should be talking about. When Nicholas Budney was a kid playing cops and robbers in

Promise of faster, more accessible schizophrenia diagnosis: Researchers explore eye function in schizophrenia as a window into the brain

A portable device common in optometrists’ offices may hold the key to faster diagnosis of schizophrenia, predicting relapse and symptom severity and assessing treatment effectiveness, a Rutgers University study finds. In the study, published in the May 2018 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, researchers used RETeval, a hand-held device developed to record electrical

Genes, environment and schizophrenia: New study finds the placenta is the missing link: Placenta may also hold the key to why developmental brain disorders are more common in males

Hiding in plain sight, new research shines a spotlight on the placenta’s critical role in the nature versus nurture debate and how it confers risk for schizophrenia and likely other neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD, autism, and Tourette syndrome. This new scientific frontier, with far-reaching implications for maternal and child health, creates the possibility that scientists

Depression speeds up brain aging, find psychologists: Psychologists have found a link between depression and an acceleration of the rate at which the brain ages

Psychologists at the University of Sussex have found a link between depression and an acceleration of the rate at which the brain ages. Although scientists have previously reported that people with depression or anxiety have an increased risk of dementia in later life, this is the first study that provides comprehensive evidence for the effect

College Health: Mental Health Issues

How can I develop a healthy social life at college? Definitely keep in touch with friends and family from home, but make sure you develop new friendships at school. You’ll probably meet friends at orientation, in the first few days of school, in your classes, at social events, in the cafeteria, in clubs or sports,

National trial: EEG brain tests help patients overcome depression

Imagine millions of depressed Americans getting their brain activity measured and undergoing blood tests to determine which antidepressant would work best. Imagine some of them receiving “brain training” or magnetic stimulation to make their brains more amenable to those treatments. A national research trial initiated by UT Southwestern in 2012 is generating the first set

Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder

Getting nervous before giving a presentation at school or before a big game is normal – but if you’ve ever felt like you’re going to lose control, have a heart attack, or even “go crazy”, you might have had a panic attack. If you’re so afraid of having another panic attack that you stop participating

Bipolar Disorder

Everyone has ups and downs in their mood or feelings of “moodiness” once in a while. When these ups and downs begin to interfere with normal everyday activities such as school, work, and relationships, there may be a problem. A person with Bipolar Disorder experiences unusual and extreme shifts in mood, energy levels, and behaviors

First robotic system plays tic tac toe to improve task performance

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel have demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of a robotic system that plays Tic Tac Toe with rehabilitation patients to improve real-life task performance. The interdisciplinary research team designed a game with a robotic arm to simulate “3D Functional Activities of Daily Living”

Age affects how we predict and respond to stress at home

A recent study finds that older adults are better than younger adults at anticipating stressful events at home — but older adults are not as good at using those predictions to reduce the adverse impacts of the stress. “Home stress, in this context, might be related to chores, home maintenance and having too much to

Resilience counteracts effects of childhood abuse and neglect on health: They also note acquired resiliency provides coping benefit and a new avenue for treatment

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have determined that psychological resilience has a positive effect on health outcomes for people living with schizophrenia. This is the first study to quantitatively assess the effects of both childhood trauma and psychological resilience on health and metabolic function in people living with schizophrenia. Globally

Humans and others exposed to prenatal stress have high stress levels after birth

Vertebrate species, including humans, exposed to stress prenatally tend to have higher stress hormones after birth, according to a new Dartmouth-led study published in Scientific Reports. While previous research has reported examples of maternal stress experience predicting offspring stress hormones in different species, this study is the first to empirically demonstrate the impact of prenatal

Practicing Tai Chi helps improve respiratory function in patients with COPD: Tai Chi offers a low-cost, easily accessible alternative to pulmonary rehabilitation, study finds

Finding ways to help patients with COPD improve their functional status is an area of interest for pulmonary healthcare providers. Currently, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is used where available to improve exercise capacity and quality of life, but the treatment requires access to trained staff and specialized facilities. A new study in the journal CHEST® looked

Unprecedented psychological distress months after Hurricane Harvey: More than half of Harris County residents are still struggling

Four months after Hurricane Harvey soaked the Houston area and displaced more than a third of the population, an alarming 52 percent of Harris County residents said they were still struggling to recover, according to a new report from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. “What we