A study found that people taking antipsychotic medications, which can cause weight gain, were able to lower their body mass index and improve their overall health by taking metformin, which lowers blood sugar.
Researchers are exploring a potential link between thyroid deficiency and mental health problems. Though the findings are inconsistent, there is evidence that thyroid medication can help those with depression, even if their thyroid function is normal.
Medications under study may be able to treat Alzheimer’s disease, by targeting the abnormalities that develop in the brain long before the disease manifests.
Researchers believe that bipolar disorder is being overdiagnosed, perhaps because clinicians find it easier to treat than disorders with similar symptoms, such as depression.
A drug being tested in animals appears to help protect them from the harmful effects of radiation. Researchers hope it someday could help people exposed to radiation during cancer treatment, or a nuclear disaster. Radiation can destroy cells in the bone marrow, stomach and intestines. Researchers found out that these cells commit suicide. This is how the body destroys defective cells. But cancer cells resist and keep growing. The new drug blocks cell suicide in a way similar to that used by cancer cells. The Associated Press wrote about the study April 10. It appeared in the journal Science.
In the mental health community, there is debate about whether treatment that leads to higher self-esteem should be a goal in itself, or whether improving self-esteem should come as a result of achieving other goals in one’s life.
In elderly patients, symptoms of depression can be mistaken for symptoms of another medical problem, so it is important for clinicians to consider all physical problems and medications of elderly patients before making a diagnosis.
A genetic testing kit for bipolar disorder is now available to consumers, but because of the many variables involved in genetics, even if a particular gene is identified, it does not necessarily mean that person will go on to develop the disorder.