Category: Mental Health

People with bipolar disorder who maintain long-term lithium therapy may gain some protection against developing dementia.

A study comparing several forms of treatment for cocaine addiction found that while all treatments resulted in decreased drug use, those that focused on changing behavior were more successful.

A small study into political psychology found that those who considered themselves politically liberal responded differently to a stimulus test than did those who considered themselves conservative.

A small study found that people with social phobia who read a negative statement about themselves had increased brain activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex that the control patients did not have.

Research found that child-on-child violence is often regarded as insignificant, but if it occurs repeatedly in a family or school setting, the continued proximity of the attacker can be emotionally traumatic.

Children who experience verbal abuse are at as much risk for developing anxiety or depression as those who are abused physically or sexually. This may be due to the fact that verbal abuse is likely to persist over a lengthy period of time.

Dependent personality disorder, in which people exhibit an excessive need to be cared for by others, has its roots in childhood, particularly if independence is discouraged. Typical treatment approaches are psychodynamic or behavioral therapy.

The questionable results of an experimental program intended to help delinquent teenagers change their behavior illustrate the difference between the power to produce an effect during a controlled trial and success in a real-world setting.

Schizophrenics tend to have a higher incidence of medical problems, possibly because their mental illness prevents them from properly assessing their own health, or their mental health providers are not monitoring their physical condition.

According to two studies, women going through menopause are much more likely to develop symptoms of depression, due in part to changes in hormone production. Hormone replacement may provide temporary relief from severe depression.