Publications on Mental Health Topics

Adult gambling addiction tied to childhood trauma, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Aug 2017.

“Men with gambling addictions are more likely than their peers to have endured childhood traumas like physical abuse or violence at home, and treatment needs to address this underlying stressor, researchers say...Compared with men who rarely if ever placed wagers, the men with a pathological addiction to gambling were more than twice as likely to have witnessed violence at home or to have experienced physical abuse or assault growing up. They were also more than three times as likely to have suffered a serious or life-threatening injury as kids. ”

Internet searches on suicide went up after "13 Reasons Why" released by Netflix, by Madhumita Murgia, The Washington Post, Jul 31 2017.

“Now a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that within the same three weeks, Internet searches about suicide were significantly higher than expected.  “Our analyses suggest 13 Reasons Why, in its present form, has both increased suicidal awareness while unintentionally increasing suicidal ideation,” the authors wrote. “The most rising queries focused on suicidal ideation. For instance, ‘how to commit suicide’, ‘commit suicide’ and ‘how to kill yourself’ were all significantly higher.”  Overall, suicide queries were 19 percent higher in the 19 days following the series’ release, “reflecting 900,000 to 1.5 million more searches than expected,” the paper reported. ”

Experts Answer Reddit Questions About Transgender People, by Brittney McNamara, Teen Vogue , Jul 28 2017.

“Transgender people have fought a long and hard battle to be recognized as exactly what they are: human beings. While some strides were made in recent years, this fight was shoved back into the spotlight after President Trump took office, reversing certain civil rights for transgender people, particularly young people in schools. Again, that battle has been spotlighted this week, after Trump seemingly reversed a right won just a year ago for transgender people to serve openly in the military. ”

A suicide attempt in an Army unit can lead to more, study finds, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Jul 26 2017.

“Within Army units, the risk of suicide attempts among soldiers increases as the number of attempts made within the past year in their unit rises, according to the study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday. In other words, the greater the number of previous suicide attempts in a unit, the greater the individual risk of a suicide attempt for a soldier in that unit, said Dr. Robert Ursano, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Department of Defense's Uniformed Services University...The study involved data on 9,512 enlisted soldiers who attempted suicide between 2004 and 2009, documented in administrative and medical records...After analyzing the data, the researchers found that soldiers were more likely to attempt suicide if assigned to a unit with one or more previous suicide attempts in the past year, and that risk increased as the number of previous suicide attempts went up.   ”

Living healthily, learning more could cut dementia cases by a third, by Kate kelland, Reuters, Jul 20 2017.

“Learning new things, eating and drinking well, not smoking and limiting hearing loss and loneliness could prevent a third of dementia cases, health experts said on Thursday...These included staying in education beyond age 15, reducing high blood pressure, obesity and hearing loss in mid-life, and reducing smoking, depression, physical inactivity, social isolation and diabetes in later life. If all these risk factors were fully eliminated, the experts said, one in three cases of dementia worldwide could be prevented.    ”

Nearly Half of All Murdered Women Are Killed by Romantic Partners, by Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, Jul 20 2017.

“Over half of the killings of American women are related to intimate partner violence, with the vast majority of the victims dying at the hands of a current or former romantic partner, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today. The CDC analyzed the murders of women in 18 states from 2003 to 2014, finding a total of 10,018 deaths. Of those, 55 percent were intimate partner violence-related, meaning they occurred at the hands of a former or current partner or the partner’s family or friends. In 93 percent of those cases, the culprit was a current or former romantic partner. ”

How bulimics' brains are different, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Jul 18 2017.

“Two separate studies on bulimia and the brain published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology this month shed new light on the eating disorder, as it relates to feelings of acute stress and hunger or satiety...The new studies, which involved magnetic resonance imaging or MRI, not only offer a better understanding of a patient's brain on bulimia, they may hold clues to improving treatment options in the future...'Research has validated that there is a very strong relationship between bulimia and the brain, helping us to better understand that there is a strong biological basis for this disorder,' Chase said, adding that environmental factors such as life events, relationships or stress can also play a role in an eating disorder.  ”

Sleep disruption increases Alzheimer’s-related protein levels, by Anne Harding, Reuters, Jul 11 2017.

“Disrupting deep sleep boosts the amount of an Alzheimer’s disease-related protein called amyloid-beta in the fluid bathing the brain and spinal cord, new research suggests. And poor-quality sleep over time was associated with higher levels of tau, a different Alzheimer’s-associated protein, in the cerebrospinal fluid, Dr. Yo-El Ju of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues found. 'The worse someone’s sleep quality, the more their amyloid beta and tau increase, and both amyloid beta and tau are involved in Alzheimer’s over the long-term,' Ju told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. 'I don’t think people should worry about Alzheimer’s disease after one bad night. I do think chronic sleep disruption increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.' ”

The children most likely to be bullied by their own friends, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Jul 7 2017.

“'I definitely got bullied by people who I cared about and I definitely had people I thought were my friends that weren't,' said Averill, now 39, as she reflected on her middle school friendships. She added that her weight was often the target of the teasing...Two separate studies published in June support Averill's idea that overweight or obese children are more likely to have "frenemies" than non-overweight children...The researchers found that overweight children not only were less likely overall to be nominated than their non-overweight classmates, they were 1.65 times more likely to be disliked...'This negative social environment is important to address because it can have a negative impact on overweight children's mental health and because it is a barrier to overweight kids adopting healthy habits,' she said, adding that stigmatizing obesity does not motivate children to lose weight. 'Overweight kids who experience peer rejection and social isolation are likely to exercise less, have greater food intake and have fewer positive role models for healthy habits and a healthy weight.' ”

Mindfulness Training Helps People with Chronic Pain Reduce Opioid Use, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Jun 29 2017.

“Emerging research suggests psychological support can help patients at high risk of developing chronic pain reduce use of opioids and live a fulfilling life...A new Canadian study of 343 post-surgical patients shows that an innovative, multidisciplinary hospital-integrated pain program can achieve reductions in pain and anxiety. In the two-year study, researchers found that patients who received psychological services in addition to medical pain-management strategies had greater reductions in opioid use, and their mood improved. ”

Positive parenting may offset brain effects of poverty, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Jun 29 2017.

“A positive parenting style might protect kids from the negative effect that growing up in poverty is thought to have on their brain development, Australian researchers say...The research team found that neighborhood, but not family-level, economic measures were associated with differences in brain development between early adolescence and the late teen years. The most disadvantaged kids showed differences from others in the brain’s temporal lobes in particular, which could affect stress, memory and language, the study authors write in JAMA Psychiatry...Positive parenting behaviors, however, seemed to moderate the negative effects of the poor environment, especially in the brain region known as the amygdala, which has a central role in regulating emotions. ”

Experts Answer Reddit Questions About Transgender People, by Brittney McNamara, Jun 26 2017.

Teens’ Poor Body Image Tied to More Drinking, Smoking, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Jun 22 2017.

“New research finds that the way a teen feels about their appearance can significantly impact their health and wellness...The finding supports prior work that discovered people with negative body image are more likely to develop eating disorders and are more likely to suffer from depression and low self-esteem. ”

Brain Inflammation Linked to OCD, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Jun 22 2017.

“A new Canadian brain imaging study finds that brain inflammation is more than 30 percent higher in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD than in people without the condition...'Our research showed a strong relationship between brain inflammation and OCD, particularly in the parts of the brain known to function differently in OCD,' said Dr. Jeffrey Meyer, senior author of the study and Head of the Neuroimaging Program in Mood & Anxiety in CAMH’s Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute. 'This finding represents one of the biggest breakthroughs in understanding the biology of OCD, and may lead to the development of new treatments.' ”

Teens are still having sex, most use contraception, by Victoria Knight, CNN, Jun 22 2017.

“Ninety percent of females now report using contraceptives, compared with 80% in 1988. Males also reported more contraceptive use, from 84% in 1988 to 95% from 2011 to 2015...Aligned with these results, the rates of teen pregnancy and births in the US have been steadily decreasing since the early 1990s. In 2015, a historic low of 22.3 births per 1,000 teens was recorded. ..'This new data really confirms the continuation of trends that we've been seeing for many years now in teen sexual health," she said. "My take-away message from these trends over the years is that young people are doing a great job at making responsible decisions about their sexual health. I think it really shows that when we equip young people with the knowledge and the skills to protect their sexual health, they're capable of making decisions best for them.' ”