Patient/caregiver roles often take the place of a partnership, researchers say
TUESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) — Although many wedding vows include the phrase “in sickness and in health,” a stroke can put that promise to the test by causing major relationship problems for married couples, according to British researchers.
The University of Ulster study included 16 [...]
Archive for the ‘mental health’ Category
13 Nov
Stroke Puts Stress on Spousal Relationship
12 Nov
Radical Medicine, Radical Treatment
Treatment for mental illness took a turn in the mid 1940’s with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and insulin shock therapy and the use of frontal lobotomy. In modern times, insulin shock therapy and lobotomies are viewed as being almost as barbaric as the Bedlam “treatments”. The effect of a lobotomy on an overly excitable patient often [...]
11 Nov
Emotions Increase Or Decrease Pain, Say Researchers
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) — Getting a flu shot this fall? Canadians scientists have found that focusing on a pretty image could alleviate the sting of that vaccine. According to a new Université de Montréal study, published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), negative and positive emotions [...]
11 Nov
Women, Depression & Stroke
Women More Likely Than Men To Suffer Depression After Stroke
ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) — Depression occurs in as many as one-third of patients after a stroke, and women are at somewhat higher risk, according to a large new review of studies. Post-stroke depression is associated with greater disability, reduced quality of life and an increased [...]
10 Nov
Depressed and Pregnant? Flu Shot May Be Needed
MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women who are depressed may suffer severe symptoms if they catch seasonal flu, a new study suggests.
Ohio State University researchers assessed depressive symptoms and took blood samples from 22 pregnant women before they received a seasonal flu shot. Those with significant symptoms of depression had a stronger inflammatory [...]
8 Nov
Hunting For The Prozac Gene
ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2009) — Prozac works wonders for some depressed people, but not for others. In some cases, patients derive little benefit and at worst, it can lead to bizarre hallucinations and fits of rage. Researchers and doctors remain puzzled as to what causes the wide range of reaction to Prozac and similar antidepressants.
The [...]
4 Nov
Deep Brain Stimulation Gives Hope For Very Severe Depression
ScienceDaily (Nov. 3, 2009) — Thanks to a new method, there is a reason for hope for patients with very severe depression. Physicians at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne have treated ten patients with deep brain stimulation. This involved implanting electrodes in the patients’ nucleus accumbens. This centre has a key role in [...]
30 Oct
Depersonalization Disorder: A Feeling of Being ‘Outside’ Your Body
What causes depersonalization disorder? How is it treated?
Mayo Clinic psychiatrist Daniel Hall-Flavin, M.D., answers:
Depersonalization — a feeling of unreality or of being “outside” your body — can be a syndrome or a symptom of another mental disorder. It’s often associated with anxiety and stress.
When you feel anxious or stressed out, you may breathe [...]
27 Oct
Phone Counseling for Depression Rings With Promise
TUESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) — An intensive telephone counseling program for people with depression offers substantial benefits at moderate cost, U.S. researchers say.
They studied 600 people who were randomly assigned to one of three types of care for their depression. One group received telephone care management, which included five outreach calls for monitoring, support, [...]
27 Oct
Depression Often Goes Untreated in Working Moms
TUESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) — More than 65 percent of U.S. mothers with depression don’t receive adequate treatment, a new study has found.
Black, Hispanic and other minority mothers are least likely to receive adequate treatment. Mothers with health insurance are three times more likely to receive adequate treatment than those without insurance, wrote the [...]
17 Oct
Depression and Children
Know the Facts:
~~ As many as one in every 33 children may have depression.
~~ Once a young person has experienced a major depression, he or she is at risk of developing another depression within the next 5 years.
~~ Children under stress, who experience loss, or who have attention, learning or conduct disorders are at a [...]
16 Oct
Antidepressant; Suicidal Thoughts in Men
Popular Antidepressant Associated With A Dramatic Increase In Suicidal Thoughts Amongst Men, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2009) — Nortriptyline has been found to cause a ten-fold increase in suicidal thoughts in men when compared to its competitor escitalopram. These findings are published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.
The research was carried out by Dr. [...]
10 Oct
Recession Adds to Ranks of Americans With Depression
THURSDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) – Unemployed Americans are four times more likely than those with jobs to report symptoms of severe mental illness, such as major depression, according to a new national survey that reveals the mental health toll of the recession.
The poll of 1,002 adults aged 18 and older also found that people [...]
3 Oct
Fewer Than 50 Percent Of Men And Women With Depression Seek Treatment
ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2009) — Fewer than half of men and women in Ontario who may be suffering from depression see a doctor to treat their potentially debilitating condition, according to a new women’s health study by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). What’s more, many hospitalized for [...]
27 Sep
Antidepressants in pregnancy up heart defect risk
By Anthony J. Brown, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – September 25, 2009 – If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.
However, the vast majority of children born to [...]
14 Sep
Treating Workers’ Mental Woes May Boost Productivity
But not treating problems resulted in roughly same outcome, research shows
THURSDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) — Treatment can help workers with mental health problems return to near-normal productivity, but not treating people who have high levels of mental stress seemed to have the same effect, researchers report.
In the study, investigators looked at statistics regarding mental [...]
10 Sep
Severe, Lasting Depression Tied to Heart Patient Deaths
MONDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthDay News) — Certain depressed patients who suffer from heart disease have nearly double the risk of dying over a seven-year period compared with other depressed patients, researchers say.
The patients most at risk are those who suffer from the most severe depression within a few weeks of being hospitalized for a cardiac [...]
10 Sep
HOARDING
Definition
Hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets in unsanitary conditions.
Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding [...]
9 Aug
U.S. Spending on Mental Health Care Soaring
Rate of increase now outstrips that for heart disease, cancer, data shows
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) — U.S. spending on mental illness is soaring at a faster pace than spending on any other health care category, new government data released Wednesday shows.
The cost of treating mental disorders rose sharply between 1996 and 2006, from $35 [...]
10 Jun
Cancer Diagnosis May Tax Physical, Mental Health
Treatment, too, affects quality of life, studies show
TUESDAY, June 9 (HealthDay News) — A cancer diagnosis can take a physical and mental toll in the years after treatment, a new study says.
Bryce B. Reeve of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and a team of researchers looked at the health-related quality of life of [...]
5 May
More Americans taking drugs for mental illness
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) – May 5, 2009 – Many more Americans have been using prescription drugs to treat mental illness since 1996, in part because of expanded insurance coverage and greater familiarity with the drugs among primary care doctors, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
They said 73 percent more adults and 50 percent more children [...]
3 May
Millions of Kids Live With Substance-Abusing Parents
THURSDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) — Almost 12 percent of children in the United States live with a parent who has a substance abuse problem, says a federal government study released this week.
Living in this type of home environment can cause long-lasting mental and physical health problems, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental [...]
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