Psychiatry / Psychology
63 percent of RA patients suffer psychiatric disorders, with depressive spectrum conditions most lik
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Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday 12 June 2009: Over half (63%) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) also suffer from psychiatric disorders, with the majority of these (87%) occurring in the depressive spectrum, according to the results of a new study presented today at EULAR 2009, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Copenhagen, Denmark. Interestingly, over half (52%) of the patients studied indicated that they had experienced stress events before the onset of their RA.
The study also revealed a number of other interesting findings about the emotional burden of RA:
* Cognitive dysfunction was diagnosed in 23% of patients, with 16% of this attributed to depression
* A third (33%) suffered from sleep disorders
* Those with depression also exhibited more severe RA (measured by X-ray), greater functional insufficiency and pain, as well as having received less aggressive treatment than patients without depression. (No significant differences in age, duration of illness, gender or DAS28* scores were noted between the two groups)
* Significantly, cognitive impairments were found more often (p=0.02) in patients older than 50 years (39% vs. 9%)
* The age of the first prednisone intake was significantly higher (p<0.05) in patients with depression compared to those without (48 vs. 30 years)
Relationship found between napping, hyperactivity, depression and anxiety
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Napping may have a significant influence on young children’s daytime functioning, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday, June 8 at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Results indicate that children between the ages of 4 and 5 who did not take daytime naps were reported by their parents to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression than children who continued to nap at this age.
According to lead author Brian Crosby, PhD, postdoctoral fellow of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, previous studies have shown that poor or inadequate sleep is linked with symptoms of hyperactivity, anxiety and depression; researchers involved in this study were happy to demonstrate the potential importance of napping for optimal daytime functioning in young children, as napping is often overlooked in favor of nighttime or total sleep.
Antidepressant curbs cancer-related mental ills
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People with cancer often suffer mental impairment, but it seems this can be alleviated by treatment with Paxil, an SSRI-type antidepressant, according to results of a National Cancer Institute-supported study.
The findings were reported this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Orlando.
“Cancer and its treatment impact important areas of cognitive function such as attention and memory, which are essential to patients’ effective psychosocial functioning and quality of life,” Dr. Pascal Jean-Pierre, from the University of Rochester, New York and colleagues point out in a meeting paper.
Drinking to up mood tied to alcoholism, depression
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People who drink to cope with the blues are more prone to becoming depressed and at greater risk of alcohol dependence, a new study shows.
The study team sought to determine whether drinking to manage mood might be related to both alcoholism and depression by looking at 5,181 twins aged 30 and older. Twin studies allow scientists to tease out the effects of environment and genes on certain traits.
Kelly C. Young-Wolff of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and her colleagues found that drinking to manage mood was strongly inherited and accounted for basically all of the genetic and environmental influences shared by depression and alcohol dependence.
Researchers find promotion is bad for mental health and stops you visiting the doctor
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New research by economics and psychology researchers at the University of Warwick has found that promotion on average produces 10% more mental strain and gives up to 20% less time to visit the Doctors.
In a research paper entitled “Do People Become Healthier after Being Promoted” Chris Boyce and Professor Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick questioned why people with higher job status seem to have better health. A long-held assumption by researchers is that an improvement to a person’s job status, through a promotion, will directly result in better health due to an increased sense of life control and self-worth.
The researchers tested this. They drew upon the British Household Panel Survey data set, collected annually between 1991 and 2005, with information on approximately 1000 individual promotions. They found no evidence of improved physical health after promotion – nor that self-assessed feelings of health declined.
Mothers’ bereavement does not raise autism risk
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Severe stress during pregnancy has been proposed as a risk factor for autism, but a new study finds that at least one source of such stress appears unrelated to the disorder.
The study, which analyzed records on 1.5 million children born in Denmark, found no evidence of an increased autism risk among children whose mothers lost a close family member shortly before or during pregnancy.
The findings, reported in the journal Pediatrics, suggest that mothers’ bereavement—as an indicator of substantial stress—does not contribute to autism risk.
Risk of progression to dementia overestimated
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People with mild cognitive impairment appear to have a lower risk of progressing to full blown dementia than previously thought, according to a new report.
Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal brain function and dementia/Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s estimated that up to 15 percent of people with mild cognitive impairment go on to develop dementia, Dr. Alex J. Mitchell, of the University of Leicester, and Dr. M. Shiri-Feshki, of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, note in a report in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
Psychiatric disorders are common in adults who have had anorexia
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The study was initiated in 1985. A total of 51 teenagers with anorexia nervosa were studied, together with an equally large control group of healthy persons. The groups have been investigated and compared several times as the years have passed.
“This study is unique in an international perspective. It is the only study in the world that reflects the natural course of anorexia nervosa in the population”, says Elisabet Wentz, Associate Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
The research group has published new results from the study in two scientific journals: the British Journal of Psychiatry and the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Heightened Level of Amygdala Activity May Cause Social Deficits in Autism
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Something strange is going on in the amygdala – an almond-shaped structure deep in the human brain – among people with autism.
Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered an increased pattern of brain activity in the amygdalas of adults with autism that may be linked to the social deficits that typically are associated with the disorder. Previous research at the UW and elsewhere has shown that abnormal growth patterns in the amygdala are commonly found among young children diagnosed with autism.
The amygdala is popularly associated with the “fight-or-flight response” in dangerous situations. But it has other functions, including identifying faces and situations and evaluating social information such as emotions.
Stigma worse for “gender-typical” mentally ill
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How we feel towards a mentally ill person has a lot to do with how closely that person’s symptoms hew to gender stereotypes, new research shows.
People “don’t have much sympathy” for someone with more stereotypical problems, specifically a woman with major depression or an alcoholic man, Dr. Galen V. Bodenhausen of Northwestern University in Chicago explained in an interview. But when a person’s symptoms are out of line with these stereotypes—say, an alcoholic woman or a depressed man—we will view them more positively, and want to help them, he said.
Stereotypes of the mentally ill fall into two categories: “violence/dangerousness” or “dependency/incompetence,” Bodenhausen and Dr. James H. Wirth of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana note. Men are more likely to be seen as violent, while women are typically seen as dependent.
Need for control drives assisted suicide seekers
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People who request a doctor’s help in dying are doing so out of a desire to remain independent and in control, new research from Oregon shows.
At the time the study was done, Oregon was the only state in the US where physician-assisted suicide was legal; Washington state has since passed a nearly identical law, Dr. Linda Ganzini of Oregon Health & Science University noted in an interview with Reuters Health.
When Oregon passed its law in 1994, Ganzini added, the perception had been that people seeking help in dying would be vulnerable minority women without access to good end-of-life care. But these findings show that the real story is quite different, she said; “these are overwhelmingly white, well-educated, economically advantaged people who have a strong need to be in control.”
Studies link heart, diabetes risks with dementia
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Taking steps to stave off diabetes and heart disease may improve a person’s chances of staying mentally sharp later in life, several research teams said on Monday.
In one study, U.S. researchers found the same cluster of metabolic disorders that raise a woman’s risk for heart disease and diabetes also increase her chances of memory declines later in life.
A second study found that a history of diabetes and high cholesterol hasten the rate of mental declines in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Ecstasy could help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder
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Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (March 9th, 2009) – Ecstasy may help suffers of post-traumatic stress learn to deal with their memories more effectively by encouraging a feeling of safety, according to an article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology published today by SAGE.
Studies have shown that a type of psychological treatment called exposure therapy – where the patient repeatedly recalls the traumatic experience or is repeatedly exposed to situations that are safe but still trigger their traumatic feelings – can be effective in relieving stress responses in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxious conditions. The therapy works by helping the patient to re-learn the appropriate response to the trigger situation, a process known as extinction learning.
But this approach can take some time, and 40% of patients continue to experience post-traumatic stress even after their treatment. To improve outcomes, scientists have been investigating the use of drug therapies to enhance the effect of exposure therapy, making the result of exposure to the fear trigger easier, faster, and more effective. MDMA (the pharmaceutical version of Ecstasy) is one such drug.
Young Adults With PTSD May Be More Likely to Attempt Suicide
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—but not exposure to traumatic events without the development of PTSD—may be associated with subsequent attempted suicide in young adults, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Approximately 421,200 to 842,400 Americans age 15 to 24 attempt suicide every year, according to background information in the article. “History of a suicide attempt has been identified as one of the best predictors of a future attempt as well as completed suicide,” the authors write. Suicide was the third leading cause of death among U.S. young people in 2005.
Holly C. Wilcox, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Baltimore, and colleagues studied 1,698 young adults of a group of 2,311 who had been tracked since entering the first grade in Baltimore public schools. Fifteen years later, 90-minute interviews were conducted with the participants (average age 21) to assess the occurrence of traumatic experiences, suicide attempts and the development of PTSD.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Female Soldier
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As of September 30, 2008 over 200,000 women were serving on active duty in the U.S. military. While women are technically barred from serving in combat they are serving in support positions in combat areas in greater numbers. This new role for women in the military brings with it new physical and mental health concerns, namely post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for those exposed to combat-related trauma.
According the National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD is a condition that develops after a distressing ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. This harm may have happened to the person who develops PTSD or to a friend or loved one, or may have simply been witnessed by the person who develops PTSD. People with PTSD may suffer flashbacks to the traumatic event, become aggressive or withdrawn, have nightmares, or become emotionally numb or even violent. Symptoms of PTSD usually appear about three months after the traumatic event.
PTSD affects approximately 2.6% of the U.S. population. Among military personnel serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), that percentage climbs as high as 17%. In the general population, women suffer from PTSD at almost twice the rate as do men. Why are women more susceptible to PTSD? Animal models have shown that male and female rats react to stress differently. For example male rats are more prone to develop memory impairments in response to stressors. In addition, women have been shown to ruminate over non-traumatic negative events more than men, who tend to use more distraction-based coping techniques. While these behaviors may pose evolutionary advantages for each sex, they also may contribute to the increased incidence of PTSD in women. Surprisingly, female soldiers suffer from PTSD at about the same rate as do male soldiers. More study is needed to determine whether the degree of trauma experienced by female soldiers is less severe, due to the differences in job assignments.
