Researchers believe they may have found a new form of treatment that will help depression - a brain pacemaker. Two large, lengthy and in depth studies have shown that a brain pacemaker can treat depression as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr. Ali Rezai, head of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the studies, said the technique known as deep brain stimulation helped the most severely depressed patients improve significantly. During the study there were no serious side effects found with using the brain pacemaker.
A new study shows that it may be just as common for people to develop a mental illness as it is for them to get lung cancer, heart problems or have a stroke. The study was published about a week ago in an online edition of Molecular Psychiatry. The study tracks new cases of substance abuse, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders among more than 34,000 U.S. adults.
After researchers interviewed the study participants, they counted the number of people who had a specific mental disorder for the first time in their lives between 2004 - 2005. The figures listed below do not count those who have pre-existing conditions.
The results of the study found that:
- 1.7% developed alcohol dependency
- 1.51% developed major depression
- 1.12% developed generalized anxiety disorder
- 1.02% developed alcohol abuse
- 0.62% developed any panic disorder
- 0.53% developed bipolar I disorder
- 0.44% developed a phobia
- 0.32% developed drug dependency
- 0.32% developed social phobia
- 0.28% developed drug abuse
- 0.21% developed bipolar II disorder
The study found that men were more likely to suffer from alcoholism and substance abuse disorders while women were more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. For bipolar disorder, there were no gender trends seen. It was also noted that all of the disorders were more common in the younger study participants.
Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.
A new study suggests that over 300,000 of our U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq & Afghanistan. The study also revealed that over 320,000 have suffered from brain injuries. What is really sad and shocking is that only about half have sought treatment for their problems.
The researchers in the study said that those who have not sought out treatment for their mental health conditions can suffer from long-term consequences for themselves and for the Americans they are fighting to protect.
The 500-page study is the first large-scale, private assessment of its kind — including a survey of 1,965 service members across the country, from all branches of the armed forces and including those still in the military as well veterans who have left the services.
Read more at MSNBC.
Researchers recently discovered that medications, or stimulants such as Ritalin, used to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in children does not increase their risk later in life for drug abuse or substance abuse.
Over the years, there has been a debate over whether ADHD medications are the best method to treat the disorder. ADHD symptoms include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. There have been some experts who worry that using ADHD drugs could make children susceptible to drug or substance abuse later on.
A team led by Salvatore Mannuzza of New York University followed for 17 years a group of 176 young men who had been prescribed Ritalin for ADHD as boys. Those who began taking Ritalin at ages 6 or 7 had essentially the same rate of drug abuse as young adults — 27 percent — as a group of young men who did not have ADHD and did not take Ritalin — 29 percent.
Those with ADHD who started taking Ritalin at a slightly older age — 8 through 12 — did have a higher rate of future drug abuse — 44 percent, the study found.
Mannuzza said it was premature to conclude it was the Ritalin, rather than the mere fact of having a condition like ADHD, that increased their likelihood of later drug abuse.
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Researchers believe that schizophrenia could possibly be caused by several different mutations in several genes that interfere with normal brain development.
Schizophrenia, which affects approximately 1% of all adults, is a complicated mental health disorder that includes hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking.
The experts who study schizophrenia have been trying to unravel for years the causes and the role that genetics plays in this complicated illness.
DNA deletions and duplications that disrupt genes are far more common in schizophrenics, the researchers found.
These disrupted genes often are related to pathways critical for brain development. They involve creating the infrastructure in which neurons communicate, as well as such functions as neuronal growth and migration and cell death.
Researchers at the University of Washington and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, looked at DNA from 150 schizophrenics and from 268 healthy people. The genetic duplications and deletions were found in about 15% of schizophrenics and only 5% of healthy people. When the National Institutes of Health conducted their study, they came up with almost the same results when they looked at a group who had developed schizophrenia as children, with 20% having the genetic differences. Schizophrenia that begins in childhood is believed to be a more genetically driven illness.
Medications used to treat schizophrenia tend to work for treating the hallucinations and delusions for a while, but not for the long-term. Researchers are hoping with this new research more drugs will be created or made available to help schizophrenics for the long-term.
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The latest research shows that post-traumatic stress disorder may be associated with the number and length of hospital stays and greater mental healthcare utilization in urban primary care patients. These findings appear in the current issue of Medical Care.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center interviewed primary care patients to examine overall prevalence of traumatic exposure and select behavioral health outcomes in addition to PTSD, including major depression, substance dependence and chronic pain.
Medical News Today states:
Among the participants, the researchers found that 80 percent had one or more trauma exposures. Compared to participants with no trauma exposure, subjects exposed to trauma were significantly more likely to be males, unmarried, have substance dependence and depression. They also had more mental health visits than those with no trauma exposure.
Among the participants, 22 percent had current PTSD. Compared to participants without PTSD, those with PTSD were significantly more likely to be female, to have an annual income of less than or equal to $20,000, have substance dependence and depression. PTSD participants also had more hospitalizations and mental health visits.
According to the researchers, among urban primary care patients PTSD is associated with greater health care use: both mental health visits and hospitalizations.
Previous studies have shown that PTSD and trauma exposure have a large impact on health care costs and use. Most of these studies were done on veteran men and women who had been the victims of sexual assault.
Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.
Want to know if you or a loved one may be bipolar? Well all you have to do is to order a kit for almost $400 online and you can find out! No, I’m not joking - about being able to purchase the kit that is. The big question is are these kits really and truly able to detect gene mutations that are seen in patients with bipolar disorder?
Dr. John Kelsoe, a prominent psychiatric geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, has devoted his career to finding the biological roots of bipolar disorder. He believes that he has found the gene mutations that are closely tied to the illness. In February of this year, Kelsoe began selling his bipolar genetic test kits online.
These types of test kits are not being favored among the medical community because they receive very little government oversight and many of these types of kits are being sold as tools for making serious medical decisions.
Kelsoe, 52, acknowledges that bipolar disorder probably results from a combination of genetic factors and life experiences, and that the presence of these gene variations does not at all mean that someone will, in fact, develop the disease. He admits, too, that his findings about the genetic basis of the illness are far from complete.
But he said his test is a vital starting point toward moving away from the notoriously tricky practice of diagnosing bipolar disorder based purely on a person’s behavior.
“The goal of this is to try and help doctors make an accurate diagnosis more quickly so the patient can be treated appropriately,” Kelsoe said. “Anything is going to help, even if it just helps a little bit.”
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Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.
I have recently started suffering from panic attacks so while researching information, I uncovered some things about panic disorders that I thought would be worth sharing here on Chronic Health Blog. I have had two episodes over the past few weeks that have left me in fear to have children or visitors in my home and I’m also afraid to go anywhere else because of this. I started having panic attacks due to noise levels from children in my house and in relatives’ houses. I have found myself unable to stay in the house or have the intense urge to run away when I can’t handle the sounds any longer. I wrote about my recent experiences with panic attacks today on Fighting Fatigue.
What Is Panic Disorder?
Panic disorder is when people experience spontaneous, out-of-the-blue panic attacks, and are preoccupied with the fear of a recurring attack. Panic attacks occur unexpectedly and can even occur during sleep.
A panic attack is defined as the abrupt onset of intense fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes and includes at least four of the following symptoms:
- A need to escape
- A feeling of doom
- Sweating
- Heart palpitations
- Trembling
- Shortness of breath
- Choking feeling
- Chest pain/discomfort
- Dizziness/lightheadedness
- A fear of losing control or going crazy
- A sense that things aren’t real
- Chills
- Heat flush
- A fear of dying
Symptoms of panic disorder can mimic serious illnesses such as heart disease, thyroid problems, and breathing disorders. Because of this, diagnosing panic disorder may be a long process and many trips to the emergency room and/or doctor’s office may be made before finding out what’s wrong.
It is common for panic disorder to develop during early adulthood and is three times more likely to occur in women than men. Approximately one out of 75 people will experience a panic attack at some point in their life. Having panic disorder is usually found in conjunction with another physical or mental illness the patient suffers from.
How Is Panic Disorder Treated?
Panic disorder is usually treated using a combination of therapies: psychiatric, cognitive and medication. Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications are typically used to treat panic disorder. Cognitive behavior treatments are used also to help a patient deal with what is happening to them and how to take control of it.
British and Australian researhers found in a latest study that happiness may be inherited. A study of nearly 1,000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins found genes control half the personality traits that make people happy while factors such as relationships, health and careers are responsible for the rest of our well-being.
One of the researchers on the study said they found it surprising that around half the differences in happiness were genetic.
The volunteers who participated in the study ranged in age from 25 years old to 75 years old. They were asked a series of questions about their personality, how much they worried and how satisfied they were with their lives. People who were sociable, hardworking, active and stable tended to be happier.
A new study shows that blood tests could be used to diagnose and assess certain mental illnesses and how severe they are, including bipolar disorder.
Currently, mental health issues such as depression and bipolar disorder are diagnosed by the symptoms a patient notes having and whether or not the doctor feels they have the mental illness. By using this method, patients can, and are, misdiagnosed.
But now researchers have found that there are 10 genes that can be detected in the blood that could help a physician better diagnose their patients.
Dr. Alexander Niculescu, III, a psychiatrist at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, who led the research published Tuesday by the journal Molecular Psychiatry said:
“Patients aren’t sure how ill they really are, and neither is the clinician — sometimes dismissing their symptoms, sometimes overestimating them. Having an objective test for disease state, disease severity, and especially to measure response to treatment, would be a big step forward.”
There is still more work that needs to be done to confirm this information and it could be five years yet until these tests are available to use.
Researchers feel that with this test, patients will be diagnosed properly and will get the correct medications they need to treat their illness. It won’t be a guessing game any longer.
Source: Blood Test Could Reveal Bipolar Disorder
