NEW YORK - Repetitive magnetic stimulation of the brain may be an effective and safe long-term maintenance therapy for some patients with major depressive disorder, results of a small study suggest.
“There is growing evidence to support the short-term antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), but few published data pertain to the maintenance treatment of patients with DSM-IV diagnosed major depressive disorder,” write Dr. John P. O’Reardon and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
The researchers examined the long-term efficacy of...
OBJECTIVE: Animal-assisted therapy involves interaction between patients and a trained animal, along with its human owner or handler, with the aim of facilitating patients' progress toward therapeutic goals. This study examined whether a session of animal-assisted therapy reduced the anxiety levels of hospitalized psychiatric patients and whether any differences in reductions in anxiety were associated with patients' diagnoses. METHODS: Study subjects were 230 patients referred for therapeutic
New labelling laws by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will make medicines safer. The layout of prescription drug package inserts have been updated for the first time in 25 years, requiring drug makers to provide doctors with easier access to important information about drug safety.
Over the past ten years, the prescribing information for newly approved products has become more complex, and specific information is often difficult to locate in the package insert.
In US hospitals, 300,000 preventable adverse drug events occur every year, many as a result ...
Hikikomori ("pulling away, being confined," i.e., "acute social withdrawal") is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive adolescents and young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives.
The term "hikikomori" refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general, as in the hikikomori issue, as well as those individuals who display behaviors considered...
When the former heavyweight boxing champion, Frank Bruno, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in September 2003, the reaction of the Sun's headline writers to his illness was nothing if not direct. "Bonkers Bruno locked up," screamed its front page. It was intended as a jokey play on words. But even the Sun seemed to realise pretty quickly that it had gone too far: later editions appeared with a much more sympathetic, albeit less snappy "Sad Bruno in mental home". It was a marked improvement on the first headline that was reportedly under consideration: "Loono Bruno".
Humour may be some people's way of coping with adversity, but such headline-writing shows...
How do you deal with difficult, irrational, or abusive people, especially those in positions of authority who have some degree of control over your life?
Ive never met a totally rational human being. Our ability to store and process information is far too imperfect for that. But our emotions are a shortcut. The book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman describes people diagnosed with alexathemia, the condition whereby people either dont feel emotions or are completely out of touch with their emotions. Youd think such people would be hyper-rational, but they arent. They cant even function in society. They have no...
Drugs that treat depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user's immune system in ways that are not yet understood, say scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center and a Canadian research institute.
That's because the investigators found, for the first time, that serotonin is passed between key cells in the immune system, and that the chemical is specifically used to...
Forget learning lines or polishing jokes - having sex may be the best way to prepare for giving a speech.
New Scientist magazine reports that Stuart Brody, a psychologist at the University of Paisley, found having sex can help keep stress at bay.
However, only penetrative intercourse did the trick - other forms of sex had no impact on stress levels at all.
Professor Brody monitored how various forms of sex affected blood pressure levels in a stressful situation.
Stress in the workplace is a major factor in the development of heart disease and diabetes, a study says.
Stress has long been linked to ill health, but the British Medical Journal study may have identified the biological process for the first time.
The study of 10,000 civil servants found a link between stress and metabolic syndrome, which involves obesity and high blood pressure.
Experts said the University College London report was "interesting".
Lead researcher Tarani Chandola said: "Employees with chronic work stress have more than double the odds...