We know from past studies that depression in adults is linked to heart disease and risk of serious complications. New studies have found that teens who were depressed as children are more likely to suffer from obesity, increased likelihood of smoking cigarettes, and living sedentary lives. This increases heart risks later in life, even when […]
It has been announced that the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) will be adding a new type of somatic symptom disorder. The new category will eliminate the requirement that somatic symptoms must be “medically unexplained”, and will instead be shifted to focus on “excessive” responses […]
You may be familiar with the body’s fight-or-flight response – that “adrenaline rush” that results from your sympathetic nervous system kicking in. It may be that feeling you get right before writing a final exam, or while being chased by an angry dog. Well actually, along with adrenaline, the hypothalamus in the brain controls the […]
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is widely perceived as a problem only in children. The Canadian Mental Health Association defines it as a disorder that “reduce[s] the child’s ability to pay attention” and outlines the effects of ADHD on children, which can include violent behaviour, low self-esteem, physical pains, and social difficulties. The Association does not, […]
Loneliness has been found to significantly affect ones mental and physical health both in the short and long term. Three major findings include: 1.Loneliness adversely affects how one behaves and it increases the resistance of blood flow through the cardiovascular system. 2.Loneliness is linked to higher cortisol levels in the morning; altered gene expression in […]
Researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center have reported that twenty-three percent of women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This PTSD diagnosis is especially seen among African-American and Asian women, as well as women under the age of fifty. This […]
Researchers discovered that the peptide tied to the neurotransmitter hypocretin increased in people when they were happy and decreased when they were sad. This is related to increased alertness and mood in humans. The groundbreaking discovery gives direction for future research on the potential treatment of depression and similar disorders affecting mood. Hypocretin deficiency can […]
Behaviourists from ETH Zurich have demonstrated that the interplay between infection during pregnancy and stress in puberty may play a key in the development of schizophrenia in mouse models. The prevalence of schizophrenia is around one percent, and this disorder is usually not diagnosed until adulthood. Scientists have long suspected a role of adverse environmental […]
French scientists find that sleep walking is an under diagnosed condition, known to affect 4% of adults, which take a serious toll on quality of life and daytime moods when compared to a control group. The condition arises when part of the the brain is in NREM sleep while the other part of the brain […]
The largest genetic study of mental illness to date has found a common genetic risk in autism, ADHD, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Previously thought to be quite distinct from one another, this study shows a bridging of the boundaries between these conditions. After genetic screening of 61,000 people across 19 countries (some with one of […]