Suicide Recommendations Lead To Drop In Suicides Across England And Wales
According to new research published by The Lancet, there has been a substantial decrease in suicide rates among health authorities across England and Wales that adopted a new range of suicide recommendations...

Measures Must Be Taken To Prevent Depression In Adolescents
As one of the most common, unrecognized and untreated health problems among young people, tackling depression is a serious priority for countries worldwide. The psychiatric disorder causes serious social and educational problems for patients, as well as leading to increased risk of suicide and substance abuse...

Depressed Patients Accurately Distinguished From Healthy Controls By Blood Test
The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool...

New Study May End 2 Decades Of Suspicion: Does Borna Disease Virus Cause Mental Illness?
Over the past 30 years, numerous studies have linked Borna disease virus (BDV) with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder and dementia. Genetic fragments and antibodies to this RNA virus, which causes behavior disorders in a range of mammals and birds, have been found to be prevalent in psychiatric patients, but study results have been inconsistent...

A Parent's Nurturing Results In Larger Hippocampus In Children
A recent study by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, states that children whose mothers showed them love and affection from the very beginning have brains with a larger hippocampus, which is a key part of the brain involved with...

Hope For Those With A Depressive Disposition
Good news for the 13 per cent of the population with depressive personality traits: their negative outlook does not have to be permanent. This has been shown by psychologist Rachel Maddux in new research from Lund University in Sweden. Depression is a serious and sometimes devastating health problem which affects millions of people worldwide...

Military Suicide Rates Rose
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, between 2005 and 2007, suicide rates among individuals serving in U.S. military services increased, particularly among those in the regular Army and National Guard. The study, which included the entire active duty U.S...

How A Parent's Education Can Affect The Mental Health Of Their Offspring
New research sheds light on cycle of low socioeconomic status and depression Could depression in adulthood be tied to a parent's level of education? A new study led by Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, a medical sociologist from McGill University, suggests this is the case...

Family History Of Psychiatric Disorders May Shape Intellectual Interests
A hallmark of the individual is the cultivation of personal interests, but for some people, their intellectual pursuits might actually be genetically predetermined. Survey results published by Princeton University researchers in the journal PLoS ONE suggest that a family history of psychiatric conditions such as autism and depression could influence the subjects a person finds engaging...

Overworking Linked To A 2-Fold Increase In The Likelihood Of Depression
The odds of a major depressive episode are more than double for those working 11 or more hours a day compared to those working seven to eight hours a day, according to a report is published in the Jan. 25 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE...

Shedding Light On How The Brain Adapts To Stress
Scientists now have a better understanding of the way that stress impacts the brain. New research, published by Cell Press in the January 26 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals pioneering evidence for a new mechanism of stress adaptation and may eventually lead to a better understanding of why prolonged and repeated exposure to stress can lead to anxiety disorders and depression...

The Effects On The Brain Of Magic Mushrooms
Brain scans of people under the influence of the psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, have given scientists the most detailed picture to date of how psychedelic drugs work...

Mental Illness Affects 1 In 5 Americans
In the past year, 45.9 million Americans above the age of 18 years, or 20% of 18 year-olds, experienced mental illness, according to a new national report. Mental illness amongst those aged between 18 and 25 years (29.9%) was more than double as high, compared with people aged 50 years or older (14.3%)...

Major Public Health Campaign Called For By Stanford Dean To Fight Epidemic Of Unnecessary Suffering
The amount of needless suffering caused by both acute and chronic pain in the United States is a major, overlooked medical problem that requires improved education at multiple levels, stretching from the implementation of new public health campaigns to better training of primary care physicians in pain management...

Mephedrone Users In The UK Are Ready To Try The Next Legal High, Despite The Risks
Since mephedrone was made illegal in the UK in 2010, the street price of the drug has risen while the quality has degraded, which in turn may have reduced use of the drug. New research published online reveals that young people who continued to use mephedrone after it became illegal would switch to a new legal high if it were pure and rated highly by their friends or on the Internet...