A new drug is being hailed as a breakthrough for the 2.8 million American adults (among 24 million people worldwide) who battle schizophrenia. The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has greenlit Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy, reportedly making it the first major new treatment for the disorder in 70 years. Unlike other antipsychotic drugs, Cobenfy appears to...
Category: <span>Mental health</span>
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What’s driving the rise in ADHD diagnoses among children and adults?
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in children, and the numbers are only expected to rise. The CDC reported that in 2022, more than 7 million (11.4%) U.S. children aged 3–17 years were diagnosed with ADHD, an increase of 1 million compared to 2016. The elevated numbers aren’t limited to children....
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Bright light therapy found to be effective for nonseasonal depressive disorders
Bright light therapy (BLT) is an effective adjunctive treatment for nonseasonal depressive disorder, according to a review published online Oct. 2 in JAMA Psychiatry. Artur Menegaz de Almeida, from the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Sinop, Brazil, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of BLT as an adjunctive treatment for nonseasonal depressive disorders....
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Childhood sleep disturbance linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviors two years later
Association between sleep disturbance at age 10 years and suicidal behavior at age 12 years. Credit: JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.33734 Kids who have a lot of difficulty sleeping are at heightened risk for developing suicidal thoughts and behaviors as they enter adolescence, a new Stanford Medicine-led study found. The research, published recently in JAMA Network Open, tracked more...
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Liver X receptor beta: A new frontier in treating depression and anxiety
In a Bench to Bedside review published in the journal Brain Medicine, researchers Dr. Xiaoyu Song and Professor Jan-Åke Gustafsson from the University of Houston and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) shed light on the therapeutic potential of liver X receptor beta (LXRβ) in treating depression and anxiety. This comprehensive analysis marks a significant step forward in understanding the molecular...
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Scientists may have found the reason why people with schizophrenia hear voices
People with schizophrenia often “hear” voices and sounds even when there are none — up to 80% of people with the mental illness have auditory hallucinations. Scientists have theorized that this happens when a person with schizophrenia struggles to recognize inner speech as self-generated. But nobody had been able to fully explain the mechanisms behind this...
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Drink and drug risk is lower among optimistic pupils with ‘happy’ memories, says study
by Taylor & Francis Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Teenagers with happy childhood memories are likely to drink less, take fewer drugs and enjoy learning, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction Research & Theory. The findings, based on data from nearly 2,000 US high school students, show a link between how pupils feel about the past,...
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Drink and drug risk is lower among optimistic pupils with ‘happy’ memories, says study
by Taylor & Francis Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Teenagers with happy childhood memories are likely to drink less, take fewer drugs and enjoy learning, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction Research & Theory. The findings, based on data from nearly 2,000 US high school students, show a link between how pupils feel about the past, present and future and...
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Up to a fifth of adults have mental health problems in midlife
by University College London Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Baby boomers and Generation X are at the greatest risk of mental ill-health in middle age, finds new UCL research. The study, published today in Psychological Medicine, reveals that 20% of those born in 1970—part of Generation X—19% of baby boomers born in 1946, and 15% of baby boomers born...
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An effective way to increase capacity for mental health
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HEALTH SCIENCES/UW MEDICINE As anxiety and depression rise in the country, primary care clinics, especially in rural areas, are facing increased patient needs. One way to address this is to bolster healthcare providers’ ability to diagnose and treat patients with common mental health disorders. Researchers at UW Medicine found that primary-care physicians...