Mind/Body
Coming Off Medication
March 6, 2012
Article by Guy Holmes and Marese Hudson in Mind
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Categorized in: Community, Medication Tapering/Withdrawal, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Making Sense of Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs
March 6, 2012
Website of Mind, U.K.
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Categorized in: Community, Medication Tapering/Withdrawal, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Positive Expectations for the Future Improves Quality of Life
March 6, 2012
In a pilot study at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, researchers found that Future-Directed Therapy (FDT) improved quality of life and relieved depressive symptoms in a sample of 16 patients with major depressive disorder. The results are published in February’s issue of CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics.
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Categorized in: Adult, Depression, Disorders, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Humor As Effective As Medication in Treating Agitation in Dementia
March 6, 2012
In “the first major study of the impact of humour therapy on mood, agitation, behavioural disturbances and social engagement in dementia,” researchers in Australia found both short and long-term decreases in agitation.
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Categorized in: Adult, Community, Dementia, Disorders, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research
Vitamin D Benefits Depressed Adolescents
March 6, 2012
Low levels of vitamin D were found in a sample of 54 depressed Swedish adolescents, with a positive correlation between vitamin D and well-being. Vitamin D supplementation resulted in significant improvement of symptoms related to depression.
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Categorized in: Depression, Disorders, Mind/Body, Research
International Review of Psychiatry Focuses on Recovery
March 6, 2012
The February International Review of Psychiatry focuses on recovery, from mental health “Trialogues” in Austria, to social equality in Canada, to policy shifts from an illness to a wellness focus in England and New Zealand, to community-based learning in Scotland, to the rise of the anti-psychiatry and civil rights movement in the United States.
International Review of Psychiatry → Discuss → (more…)
Categorized in: Community, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research
Oxytocin Improves Emotion Recognition in Schizophrenia
March 4, 2012
Oxytocin, a natural hormone with a role in social behaviors, has been shown to improve social behaviors in people with autistic spectrum disorders and to improve both positive and negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia diagnoses. Researchers at the NIMH in Bethesda and at King’s College and the Institute of Neurology in London found that oxytocin also improved the ability of people with schizophrenia diagnoses to recognize facial emotions. The results were published in the February issue of Psychological Medicine.
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Categorized in: Adult, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Becoming Dialogical: Psychotherapy or a Way of Life?
March 1, 2012
“Becoming Dialogical” is a 2011 article by Jaakko Seikkula about the shifting focus in Open Dialogue from speech to the entire embodied human being in the present moment.
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Categorized in: Community, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Review of Evidence for Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Depressive Disorders
March 1, 2012
Researchers in Germany review and evaluate the evidence for non-pharmacological treatment of depressive disorders, finding an “adequate level of evidence” for psychotherapeutic intervention, marital/couples/family therapy, guided self-help and behavioral activation treatments. The article appears in this month’s Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials.
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Categorized in: Adult, Community, Depression, Disorders, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychotherapy, Research
Treating Schizophrenia With Computer Games
March 1, 2012
Nature reports on U.C.S.F. emeritus professor Michael Merzenich’s bid for F.D.A. approval for computer games that aim to succeed at treating schizophrenia “where modern medicine has largely failed.” Merzenich’s project builds on his successes with interventions targeting brain neuroplasticity, and research showing the positive results of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia through computer training.
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Categorized in: Adult, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Computerized Training Restores Neural Activity, Social Function in Schizophrenia
March 1, 2012
After cognitive training with computers, schizophrenia patients in this study by researchers at the San Francisco Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the University of California showed improved activation in the medial prefrontal cortex that corresponded with improved reality monitoring and, in the long-term, better social functioning. The results were published in the February 23, 2012 issue of Neuron.
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Categorized in: Adult, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
EEG Shows That Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Improves Brain Function in Bipolar Disorder
February 29, 2012
In a study of 12 patients with bipolar disorder and 9 controls, researchers found that after an 8-week training in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy the patients showed improved attention as well as more normalized brainwave patterns in areas of the brain associated with attention. The results were published today in BMC Psychiatry.
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Categorized in: Adult, Bipolar, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research
CBT Helpful For Benzo Discontinuation
February 29, 2012
CBT helps in benzo discontinuation, over and above relaxation training and contact with a therapist. Published in Behaviour Research and Therapy.
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Categorized in: Medication Tapering/Withdrawal, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research
NH Wins $10 Million to Expand Fitness Program
February 24, 2012
New Hampshire’s SHAPE program to promote physical fitness for the mentally ill has been so successful that the federal government has awarded $10 million to expand the service.
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Categorized in: In the News, Industry, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment
Psychosis as a Basic “Disturbance of Self”
February 22, 2012
Researchers in Australia and the U.K. found that a basic disruption of the sense of ownership of one’s experience and a lack of self-agency differentiated 49 patients at “ultra high risk” for psychosis from 52 matched healthy controls. This finding, the researchers say, is of both diagnostic and theoretical value, “shedding light on core phenotypic features of schizophrenia spectrum pathology.:”
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Categorized in: Disorders, In the News, Industry, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Some Avoid Antipsychotics Because They Value Psychosis
February 17, 2012
Side effects, mistrust, stigma, forgetfulness and lack of insight have all been studied as reasons that up to 75% of people with a schizophrenia diagnosis discontinue antipsychotic medication. Researchers in Germany, Switzerland and the U.K. explore the possibility that this choice may also be motivated by a preference for experiences that medication may eliminate. Psychosis is perceived by some as having benefits, the researchers say, while negative symptoms are perceived as debilitating. The researchers suggest finding treatments that are sensitive to the positive gains of positive symptoms for some, but ameliorate negative symptoms as desired. The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin.
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Categorized in: Adult, Antipsychotics, Community, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychiatric Drugs, Recovery/Empowerment, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is Effective in Bipolar Disorder
February 14, 2012
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy increased mindfulness, lowered depressive mood symptoms, lessened attentional difficulties, and increased emotion-regulation abilities, psychological well-being, positive affect, and psychosocial functioning in a sample of 12 patients with bipolar disorder. The results are published in the February issue of CNS Neurosciences & Therapeutics.
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Categorized in: Adult, Bipolar, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research
Childhood Maltreatment Reduces Hippocampal Volume
February 14, 2012
Researchers at Harvard University, in the largest and most detailed study on the topic to date, found that childhood maltreatment is significantly associated with reduced hippocampal volumes. Reduced hippocampal volumes have been implicated with chronic and first-episode schizophrenia, depression, dissociative identity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disorder. This is the first study to demonstrate that the condition is associated with childhood maltreatment irrespective of diagnosis. The results were published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Categorized in: Adult, Bipolar, Childhood Adversity/Trauma, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Trauma/Distress
Responding to Madness With Loving Receptivity: a Practical Guide
by Michael Cornwall, Ph.D.
February 14, 2012
In my last three blogs I posed the question- “If madness isn’t what psychiatry says it is, then what is it?” Now I’m asking- “If madness isn’t what psychiatry says it is, then how should we respond to madness?’ Here …
Full Article
Categorized in: Blogs, Community, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research, Trauma/Distress
Beliefs About Illness and Rehabilitation Predict Outcome in Depression
February 13, 2012
Researchers in Germany found that in a sample of 98 patients, beliefs about illness and rehabilitation predicted outcome for depression independent of medical or sociodemographic factors.
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Categorized in: Adult, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Religion and Spirituality Protect Against Depression
January 31, 2012
In The American Journal of Psychiatry, a longitudinal study of 114 persons at high risk for depression found that those who reported more religiosity at 10 years were 75% to 90% less likely to be depressed at 20 years. An editorial in the same issue discusses the historical and current relevance of religion and spirituality to clinical work and the validity of empirical research on the topic.
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Categorized in: Adult, Community, Depression, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychotherapy, Recovery/Empowerment, Research
Stress Associated With Brain Shrinkage in Healthy People
January 26, 2012
In studies of healthy people experiencing stress, Yale researchers found tissue loss in brain areas regulating emotion, self-control and other behaviors.
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Categorized in: Adult, Anxiety, Disorders, In the News, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Trauma/Distress
Evidence That Sadness When Bereaved is Not Illness
January 25, 2012
While the DSM-IV recognizes that depressive symptoms are sometimes normal in bereaved individuals, this “Bereavement Exclusion” is targeted for elimination from the DSM-V. However researchers from NYU find that the evidence supports validity for the “Bereavement Exclusion” and its importance in preventing over-diagnosis of depression.
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Categorized in: Adult, Depression, Disorders, DSM, In the News, Industry, Mind/Body, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Trauma/Distress
