A huge happiness and positive thinking industry, estimated to be worth US$11 billion a year, has helped to create the fantasy that happiness is a realistic goal. Chasing the happiness dream is a very American concept, exported to the rest of the world through popular culture. Indeed, “the pursuit of happiness” is one of the…
Category: Psychiatry
Psychosis Symptoms Relieved by Treatment Targeted at Genetic Mutation
An individual structural mutation has been linked to the underlying biology of psychosis and treatment response in a new study. The work also found that treatment of psychosis can be targeted to a specific genetic mutation in patients with psychotic disorders. Genetic mutations that have large effects on psychiatric disease risk are rare, with some…
Brain Activation Patterns May Help Predict Bipolar Disorder Risk
New research indicates that patterns of brain activation during reward anticipation may help identify people most at risk for developing bipolar spectrum disorders. Mania in people with bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD) is often accompanied by impulsivity, including impulsive responses to potential rewards. In this new study, patterns of neural activation during a reward task predicted…
Broccoli Sprout Compound May Restore Brain Chemistry Imbalance Linked To Schizophrenia
A set of chemical imbalances in the brains of people with schizophrenia related to the chemical glutamate has been elucidated by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers in recently published studies using animals and people. They have also dicovered how to regulate the levels using a compound derived from broccoli sprouts. The results advance the hope that…
Growing Up In Poverty Doubles Risk Of Later Psychosis Disorder
Growing up in an impoverished urban neighborhood more than doubles your chances over the average person of developing a psychosis-spectrum disorder by middle adulthood, a new study indicates. Researchers, who followed nearly 4,000 families for more than three decades, say the results suggest that intervention through social policies and investment in neighborhood improvements, as well…
Mindful Body Awareness Training Helps Prevent Drug Addiction Relapse
A new kind of body awareness training helps women recover from drug addiction, new research from the University of Washington indicates. The women made marked improvements, and many of those improvements lasted for more than a year, the researchers report. “We could teach this intervention successfully in eight weeks to a very distressed population, and…
Serotonergic Circuitry Differs In SSRI Resistant Major Depressive Disorder Patients
Differences in growth patterns of neurons of SSRI-resistant patients have been discovered by researchers at Salk Institute. The work has implications for depression as well as other psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia that likely also involve abnormalities of the serotonin system in the brain. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most…
Serotonin Can Regulate Gene Expression Inside Neurons
The neurotransmitter serotonin, known for its role in passing signals between neurons in the brain, is also able to regulate expression of genes within neurons in an unexpected way, according to new research conducted by neuroscientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The discovery may help scientists better understand a range of…
Ketamine Trips Are Uncannily Like Near-death Experiences
First-hand accounts of what it is like to come close to death often contain the same recurring themes, such as the sense of leaving the body, a review of one’s life, tunnelled vision and a magical sense of reality. Mystics, optimists and people of religious faith interpret this as evidence of an afterlife. Skeptically minded…