Behavioral Health News
Study Examines Risk of Suicidal Thoughts Among Childhood Cancer Survivors
Some may call an adult who survived childhood cancer blessed. For some of those survivors, this description misses the mark. In fact, these survivors have an increased risk for suicidal thoughts, even if it has been decades since their last cancer treatment.
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The Aftermath of Terrorism: How Exposure Affects Alcohol Consumption and Posttraumatic Stress
When a terrorist attack occurs, such as the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, there are many victims apart from those killed or injured in the attack. Many people who experience the effects of exposure to the attack and interpersonal loss can experience posttraumatic stress.
The Dangers of Copycat Suicide
When a high-profile or celebrity commits suicide, it’s predictably all over the news. In fact, you can’t escape the mass media coverage. Not only do the headlines scream out from the front pages of newspapers, but the television coverage is blatantly exploitative, prying into every nook and cranny of the celebrity’s life – before, during and after the suicide. Then, there’s the Internet and satellite TV, which greatly expand the global reach of the news. The result is that all these factors contribute to social learning that magnifies the danger and increases the probability of widespread copycat suicide pandemics.
Women at Greater Risk of Depression after Stroke
Depression is a common side effect for a person who has suffered a stroke. In fact, it happens in as many as one-third of patients. According to a large new review of studies in the field, post-stroke depression is associated with greater disability, a reduced quality of life and an increased risk of death.
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Researchers Identify Gene Deletion that Leads to Learning and Behavior Issues
When an individual has challenges in their learning and behavior, parents and doctors usually want to know why. Now, a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report said that the loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior.
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Series Examines Treatment Gap for Disorders in Low and Middle Income Countries
Treating mental and neurological disorders and substance abuse is imperative if an individual hopes to lead a productive life. For those living in low and middle income countries, as many as 90 percent of these disorders go untreated, creating a “treatment gap.”
Science Daily recently posted a release highlighting a new series by PLoS Medicine that aims to help close this gap. A six-part series, it explores the best ways to treat disorders in low- and middle-income countries. The series also examines how treatments should be scaled up and how they should be delivered.
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Ethnic Pride Good for Mental Health
Can your ethnicity play into your mental health? According to a new study, it can. This study, carried out by researchers at Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago and Walden University, and featured in a Science Daily release, found that most adolescents who belong to an ethnic minority group wrestle with self-esteem and identity issues unique to their social group.
Early Intervention for Behavioral Problems in Autistic Children Could Negate Medication
While it is often said that children do not come with training manuals, one type of child just might. The Science Daily recently posted a release that examined a study evaluating the serious behavior problems associated with children suffering from autism and related conditions. This Yale University study found that serious behavior problems can be reduced with a treatment plan that includes medication combined with a structured training program for parents.
Depressed Individuals Tend to Exaggerate Symptoms
Do you remember when you had a sore finger as a child and mom would make it feel better by simply applying a band aid and a kiss? It is quite likely that the finger did not hurt as much as we would like to believe and when we received the attention and comfort desired, the pain went away.
Much of this same concept applies for those who are dealing with depression. This is not to say they have made up their depression, but instead that their depression is leading to the creation of symptoms that may or may not actually exist.
Science Daily recently examined this phenomenon in a post which featured new research that found those who feel depressed tend to recall having more physical symptoms than they actually experienced. According to the study, depression – and not neuroticism – is the cause of over-reporting.
Psychologist Jerry Suls is a professor and collegiate fellow in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He attributes the findings to the fact that depressed individuals recall experiences differently. As a result, these individuals tend to dwell on and exaggerate the bad.
“People who felt depressed made the most errors when asked to remember their physical symptoms,” Suls said. “They tended to exaggerate their experience. For 30 years, the hypothesis has been that neuroticism is behind inflated reports of symptoms. We’re saying no — depression appears to be the big player,” Suls said. “We discovered that people high in neuroticism but low in depression are not likely to misremember symptoms.”
While this study focused only on women, Suls and colleagues plan to examine results for a group of mixed genders. Those who participated in the studies were considered to be in good health overall. Suls also plans to investigate how depression affects symptoms reported in individuals with chronic illnesses.
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Climate Change Adversely Affects Mentally Ill
Climate change receives a lot of press, but most of this coverage is on the dangers we face in light of a threatened environment. One element that tends to be overlooked is the health consequences of climate change – most notably mental health.
A recent post in the Science Daily notes that leading mental health researchers warn that mental health consequences will be significant, but likely overlooked at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.
These consequences were examined by Dr. Lisa Page and Dr. Louise Howard from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London. Both experts predict the effects of climate change will be felt most by those who with pre-existing serious mental illness. At the same time, there is likely to be an increase in the overall burden of mental disorders worldwide.
Dr. Page commented: “Climate change is assuming centre stage with the upcoming UN conference in Copenhagen. While delegates will discuss the effects of climate change and possible responses by the international governments, we fear that the effects of climate change on mental health will be largely ignored, posing a tremendous risk to the mental health of millions of people in the not-too-distant future.”
Climate change is likely to impact mental health in a number of ways, including natural disasters which have shown to produce adverse psychiatric outcomes in the past that include PTSD, major depression and somatoform disorders; those with chronic mental illness are often overlooked in the aftermath of a disaster in favor of those dealing with trauma; and the knowledge of man-made climate change could in itself have adverse effects on individual psychological well-being.
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