Food Found to Affect the Brain’s Reward System

New research shows that exposing rats to a context associated with eating chocolate activates a part of the brain’s reward system known as the orexin system; this helps explain why eating can be triggered by environmental cues even in the absence of hunger. The findings could help scientists develop new drug treatments for overeating.

As the rate of obesity steadily rises in the United States and abroad, researchers are trying to find out more about how palatable foods affect the brain. It seems that especially tasty foods elicit brain responses similar to those elicited by drugs such as cocaine and nicotine, pointing to a general involvement in the brain’s “reward” system.

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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: On-Screen and Off

If you’ve ever watched the show “Monk” starring Tony Shalhoub, you know it’s about a detective who has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The seven-year-old series was created by David Hoberman, who struggled with OCD as a teenager. According to a poll taken by the Obsessive Compulsion Foundation, people with OCD don’t mind the emphasis on their disease. In fact, OCD sufferer Patricia Perkins told HealthyPlace.com, “That’s my kind of humor.”

Co-executive producer Fern Field told Palm Springs’ Desert Sun that Shalhoub actually spent a few days with a doctor whose specialty is treating patients with OCD. “The doctor said within a couple of hours he thought he had a new patient because Tony was so good at it,” she said.

She also explained, “‘Monk’ was never a show about someone with OCD who happened to be a detective. It’s about a detective who happens to have OCD. I’ve done a lot of work with the disability community and that’s always been very, very important. Your disability is not who you are. Your disability is something you just happen to have. And, as we get older, we’re all going to have some kind of disability.”

Now another television series is concentrating on OCD cases. A&E’s “Obsessed” is a reality show that documents the treatment of people with anxiety disorders, including OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and hoarding.

The Obsessive Compulsion Foundation says OCD affects one in 50 adults in the United States, and that twice that many have had it at some point in their lives. “Obsessed” says that anxiety disorders are “the world’s most common mental illness.” But John Tsilimparis, a marriage and family therapist who runs and outpatient program in cognitive behavioral therapy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said it’s only been taken seriously as a medical issue for about 20 years.

Tsilimparis said it’s similar to how alcoholism was considered a joke when Otis the drunk was featured on the Andy Griffith show in the 1960s. “Addiction and OCD have similar qualities,” he told the Desert Sun. “Otis drinks or somebody does drugs for the same reason somebody overcleans. Most people with OCD will say, ‘I know what I do is unreasonable, I know what I do seems crazy, but I can’t stop doing it.’ The addict who’s a chronic relapser does the same thing.

“It might be a joke to somebody who has no experience with it. You might say, ‘God, just stop cleaning.’ Well, if it was that easy for them, they would have done it a long time ago,” he said.

“Obsessive compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder that’s comprised of obsession as well as compulsion,” Tsilimparis said. “They’re time consuming, they’re distracting, and they have to interfere with normal daily living routines. In other words, the difference between somebody with OCD and somebody who just suffers from regular anxiety is they spend a lot of time dealing with these compulsions.”

He continued, “The difference between obsessions and compulsions are, obsessions are basically these persistent impulses—these ideas, images, lists of thoughts—that are often very, very disturbing and anxiety provoking. The compulsions are these repetitive physical acts that are performed in response to the obsession in hopes of mitigating anxiety. You have to have both of those components to distinguish somebody who has free-floating anxiety (from) OCD.”

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Medical History of Mental Disorders Lacking in Doctor’s Office

Anytime a patient visits the doctor’s office, a medical history is taken or updated. This history includes things like whether or not there is heart disease or cancer in the family, the number of surgeries a patient has had, and if he or she is allergic to any type of medication.

When it comes to mental disorders however, nothing is asked and therefore, generally nothing is said. Science Daily recently published a piece that examined the research findings at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP). In this study, researchers found that 30 minutes or less of question-and-answer about the family history or depression, anxiety or substance abuse is enough to predict a patient’s approximate risk for developing such a disorder.

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Young Men Living with Parents More Likely to be Violent and Have Alcohol Problems

A new study by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London finds that young men who stay at home with their parents tend to be more violent than those who live independently. Researchers also found that men still living at home in their early twenties have fewer responsibilities and more disposable income to spend on alcohol.

Science Daily reports that this group makes up only four percent of the UK’s male population but that it is responsible for 16 percent of all violent injuries in the last five years. In the US and UK, delaying social independence and remaining in the parental home have become more common over the past 40 years.

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Teen Drinking Linked to Behavioral Problems

Teens who drink heavily are more likely than their peers to have behavioral and attention problems and suffer from anxiety and depression, new research finds.

Science Daily reports that a team led by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology based their research on a study of nearly 9,000 Norwegian teenagers aged 13-19 years. Eighty percent of the teens said they had tried alcohol, and 29 percent said they had been drunk more than ten times in their lives.

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Drug Patterns Uncovered through Wastewater

A team of researchers has mapped patterns of illicit drug use across the state of Oregon by sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated. According to a Science Daily article, their findings provide a one-day snapshot of drug excretion that can be used to better understand patterns of drug use in multiple municipalities over time.

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Strained Work Partner Relationships Breed Stress

Work life can be stressful for a number of people and some industries have proven to cause more stress than others. Now, a new study presented in a Science Daily piece finds that a good partner relationship can act as a buffer for those exposed to work-related stress.

“The relationship reduces the negative effects of this kind of stress on our health. But poor relationships will amplify the negative effects,” said Ann-Christine Andersson Arntén in a new doctoral dissertation from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in the Science Daily. “A positive approach and successful stress-management techniques also help to reduce the negative effects of work-related stress.”

That partnership can have the opposite effect if the relationship creates stress. This stress can be intertwined within the job and create a much greater risk for burn-out and poor health.

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New Study Argues Against Single Depression Gene Theory

While many studies argue that a single gene helps to determine one’s risk of depression in response to a serious reversal in the person’s life – a lost job, divorce or other event – when the theory was tested through scientific scrutiny, it did not prove to be valid.

According to a piece in the New York Times, when the original finding emerged, it created a sensation as it provided a plausible explanation for why some people are able to bounce back from adversity while others never seem to recover.

The new report is not trying to suggest that the interactions between genes and life experiences have no meaning. It instead argues that nailing down those factors more precisely is much more difficult than scientists were led to believe just a few years ago.

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Do Tumors in Cancer Patients Produce Depression?

It isn’t out of the realm of understanding to hear that a person fighting cancer would have some mental reaction to their condition, such as depression. Depending upon the individual’s prognosis, a teetering between life and death can greatly impact the person’s outlook on life.

Now it seems that depression associated with cancer patients is being generated by the cancer itself. The Times of India reported on findings produced by researchers at the University of Chicago. The research team determined that tumors produce chemicals, which can then produce negative mood swings.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective in Treating Insomnia

Cognitive behavioral therapy is often used in treating substance abuse as a way of getting an individual back on a normal track of life. While it has seen some success in this area, researchers are also finding that it may help those suffering from chronic insomnia.

Science Daily reported that a research abstract presented at the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies found that 50 to 60 percent of participants in a study of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia experienced remission of their primary sleep difficulty when in treatment.

Lead author, Ryan Wetzler, Psy.D, C.B.S.M. of Sleep Medicine Specialists in Louisville, Ky., noted that the study results suggest that multi-component CBT-I could be an effective approach for people who experience chronic insomnia, even if anxiety and depression are present.

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