Science News from 2007

Manic Phase of Bipolar Disorder Benefits from Breast Cancer Medication

Press Release • September 12, 2007

The medication tamoxifen, best known as a treatment for breast cancer, dramatically reduces symptoms of the manic phase of bipolar disorder more quickly than many standard medications for the mental illness, a new study shows.

NIMH Funds Additional New Research on Autism

Science Update • September 11, 2007

NIMH is funding several new grants that will further our understanding of autism spectrum disorder, which is marked by a pervasive impairment in communicating, expressing emotion, and relating to others socially.

Global Survey Reveals Significant Gap in Meeting World's Mental Health Care Needs

Press Release • September 06, 2007

Mental disorders rank among the top ten illnesses causing disability—more than 37 percent worldwide—with depression being the leading cause of disability among people ages 15 and older, according to the Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors published in 2006.

New Research to Help Youth with Mental Disorders Transition to Adulthood

Science Update • September 05, 2007

As young people with mental health disorders transition from adolescence to adulthood, they frequently face new and difficult challenges such as the loss of state-issued benefits like Medicaid and foster care, or loss of family-based insurance coverage.

Rates of Bipolar Diagnosis in Youth Rapidly Climbing, Treatment Patterns Similar to Adults

Press Release • September 03, 2007

The number of visits to a doctor's office that resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents has increased by 40 times over the last decade, reported researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Studies Refine Understanding of Treatments for Bipolar Disorder

Science Update • September 01, 2007

Two new studies provide additional details on best practices for treating people with bipolar disorder, a sometimes debilitating illness marked by severe mood swings between depression and mania.

Bipolar Youth Show Distinct Pattern of Brain Development

Science Update • August 28, 2007

The first picturess of the brain changing before-and-after the onset of pediatric bipolar disorder reveal a distinct pattern of development, when compared to that seen in healthy youth or in childhood onset schizophrenia.

Suspect Schizophrenia Genes Act Together to Thwart Working Memory

Science Update • August 28, 2007

Two gene variants implicated in schizophrenia interact to degrade the brain's ability to process information, NIMH researchers have discovered.

Unpleasant Words Trigger Strong Startle Response in People with Borderline Personality Disorder

Science Update • August 22, 2007

Adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) showed excessive emotional reactions when looking at words with unpleasant meanings compared to healthy people during an emotionally stimulating task, according to NIMH-funded researchers

Gene Triggers Obsessive Compulsive Disorder-Like Syndrome in Mice

Press Release • August 22, 2007

Using genetic engineering, researchers have created an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - like set of behaviors in mice and reversed them with antidepressants and genetic targeting of a key brain circuit. The study, by National Institutes of Health (NIH) -funded researchers, suggests new strategies for treating the disorder.

Behavioral Interventions Effective for Preschoolers with ADHD

Science Update • August 15, 2007

Two types of early interventions designed to reduce symptoms of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschoolers may be effective alternatives or additions to medication treatment, according to a recent NIMH-funded study.

New Studies Search for Clues to Mental Illness in Gatekeepers of Gene Expression

Science Update • August 10, 2007

What goes awry in the brain to cause mental illness may ultimately be traced to glitches in genes - but not necessarily the parts of genes commonly suspected.

Half of Children With Autism May be Diagnosable Soon After Their First Birthday

Science Update • August 10, 2007

About half of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can be diagnosed soon after their first birthday; others with the disorder may appear to develop normally until that age and then falter or regress during their second year, NIMH-funded researchers have discovered.

Gene Predicts Better Outcome as Cortex Normalizes in Teens with ADHD

Science Update • August 06, 2007

Brain areas that control attention were thinnest in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who carried a particular version of a gene in a study by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Parents' Diagnoses Help to Distinguish Childhood Bipolar Disorder from Severe Mood Dysregulation

Science Update • August 06, 2007

The parents of children who have bipolar disorder are more likely to have bipolar disorder themselves than the parents of children who have severe mood dysregulation (SMD).

New Technique Pinpoints Crossroads of Depression in Rat Brain

Science Update • August 02, 2007

NIMH-funded scientists have developed a new high-speed technique for imaging brain activity and used it to pinpoint a circuit signal in rats that may be at the crossroads of depression — a possible "final common pathway" where different causes of, and treatments for, the disorder appear to converge.

Success or Failure of Antidepressant Citalopram Predicted by Gene Variation

Press Release • August 01, 2007

A variation in a gene called GRIK4 appears to make people with depression more likely to respond to the medication citalopram (Celexa) than are people without the variation, a study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, has found.

Faster-Acting Antidepressants Closer to Becoming a Reality

Press Release • July 24, 2007

A new study has revealed more about how the medication ketamine, when used experimentally for depression, relieves symptoms of the disorder in hours instead of the weeks or months it takes for current antidepressants to work.

Improvement Following ADHD Treatment Sustained in Most Children

Press Release • July 20, 2007

Most children treated in a variety of ways for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement after three years in a major follow-up study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

New Research to Study Program that Improves Police Interactions with Mentally Ill

Science Update • July 12, 2007

A new grant funded by NIMH will examine the effectiveness and utility of a program designed to improve police interactions with people who have mental disorders

New Insights on how Mental Health is Influenced by Culture and Immigration Status

Science Update • July 11, 2007

A special issue of Research in Human Development, published in June 2007, examines current trends in prevalence and risk factors for mental disorders across the lifespan in diverse U.S. minority populations

Study Offers Glimpse of Molecules That Keep Memories Alive

Science Update • July 02, 2007

Working memory is a kind of temporary-storage system in the brain. Unlike long-term memory, it stores disposable information we must keep in mind only transiently, for tasks at hand. But how?

Violence in Schizophrenia Patients More Likely Among Those with Childhood Conduct Problems

Press Release • July 02, 2007

Some people with schizophrenia who become violent may do so for reasons unrelated to their current illness, according to a new study analyzing data from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE).

New Study Will Examine Effects of Excluding Anti-anxiety Medications in Medicare Part D Coverage

Science Update • June 22, 2007

A new research grant funded by NIMH will examine the costs and benefits of excluding a commonly prescribed class of anti-anxiety medications—benzodiazepines—from coverage in the new Medicare Part D program. Medicare Part D, the prescription drug coverage plan for people insured by Medicare, went into effect in January 2006.

Male Veterans Have Double the Suicide Rate of Civilians

Science Update • June 12, 2007

Male veterans in the general U.S. population are twice as likely as their civilian peers to die by suicide, a large study shows

Gene Variants Linked to Suicidal Thoughts in Some Men Starting Antidepressant Treatment

Science Update • June 07, 2007

Some men who experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors after they first start taking antidepressant medications may be genetically predisposed to do so, according to the latest results from the NIMH-funded Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study

Antipsychotic Medications for Schizophrenia on Equal Footing in Improving Patients’ Thinking Skills

Science Update • June 04, 2007

Patients with schizophrenia taking antipsychotic medications experience a small improvement in thinking and reasoning skills (neurocognition), but no one medication appears to be better than the others in improving these skills during the first two crucial months of treatment, according to the latest results from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE).

NIMH Funds Research for Early Intervention in Childhood Bipolar Disorder

Science Update • June 04, 2007

NIMH recently approved funding to test the effectiveness of an early intervention in children at high risk for developing bipolar disorder.

Genetic Roots of Bipolar Disorder Revealed by First Genome-Wide Study of Illness

Press Release • May 08, 2007

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows.

Bipolar Spectrum Disorder May Be Underrecognized and Improperly Treated

Press Release • May 07, 2007

A new study supports earlier estimates of the prevalence of bipolar disorder in the U.S. population, and suggests the illness may be more accurately characterized as a spectrum disorder.