Researchers found that less than half of a group of children who had symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had been definitively diagnosed with the condition, and fewer were receiving treatment.
Research into autism disorders has found evidence that genetic factors play an important role in the disorder’s development. Meanwhile, others are looking for behaviroal indicators in babies that could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment.
Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the more common mental illnesses affecting older people. Medication may not be the best treatment option because older patients tend to be more prone to side effects.
A survey of women who had recently been diagnosed with depression found that at least half of them had opted for an alternative form of treatment, such as massage or yoga, in addition to conventional forms of treatment such as medication and therapy.
People with borderline personality disorder may benefit from a new form of therapy that helps patients learn how to properly mentalize, or make emotional sense of their thoughts and feelings in relation to others.
People with Parkinson’s disease may get worse at a slower pace if they have high levels of a substance called urate in their blood. That’s the conclusion of a study of 800 people with mild Parkinson’s. People with high urate levels were only half as likely as others to get much worse in a two-year period. They lost fewer brain cells that produce a substance called dopamine. Therefore, they did not need medicine to replace it. Researchers are planning another study that will give patients a supplement called inosine. The body converts inosine to urate. USA Today wrote about the study April 16. It was in the journal Archives of Neurology.
People who have been depressed may be more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease later, a study suggests. The study included 486 people, ages 60 to 90. They did not have any form of dementia when the study began. In the next 6 years, 33 developed Alzheimer’s disease. In the study group, 134 people had consulted a doctor because they felt depressed. They were 2.5 times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as others in the study. Researchers said the cause is not clear. More research is needed. The study was published April 8 in the journal Neurology.
ADHD has become the most common mental health issue in preschool children. Some study has been done on giving medication to preschoolers with ADHD, but training parents to change their responses to their child’s behavior is believed to be more effective.
An analysis of the lyrics of popular songs found that approximately 40% had some sort of reference to drug or alcohol use. Whether or not this has any effect on the behavior of teenagers is unclear.
Psychotherapy by phone is not as effective as face-to-face therapy, but people participating in phone therapy are less likely to end the treatment than those receiving in-person therapy.