Risk Factors
Risk Factors
May 3, 2017
Early Cannabis Use and BDNF Gene Variant Increase Psychosis Risk
Normal variations in genes can affect risk of mental illness. One gene that has been implicated in psychosis risk is known as BDNF. It controls production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that protects neuro...
Risk Factors
October 18, 2016
Depression Elevates Stroke Risk
Depression has been linked to increases in medical problems such as cardiovascular disease. A new study shows that depression is linked to increased risk of stroke, even when symptoms of depression are in remission. -- The...
Risk Factors
October 17, 2016
Smoking Ban in New Jersey Jails Drastically Reduced Deaths of Inmates with Mental Illness
Policy changes by the New Jersey Department of Corrections drastically reduced the availability of tobacco products in New Jersey jails between 2005 and 2014. Prison commissaries reduced their stock of tobacco, prices incr...
Risk Factors
May 4, 2016
Anxiety, Depression, Unstable Mood, and Low-Level Mania Best Predictors of Bipolar Disorder
Researchers are looking for better ways of predicting whether children at risk for bipolar disorder will go on to develop the illness. A 2015 study by David Axelson and colleagues in the American Journal of Psychiatry repo...
Risk Factors
April 15, 2016
Over-Pruning of Synapses May Explain Schizophrenia
A gene that plays a role in the pruning of synapses has been linked to schizophrenia. The gene encodes an immune protein called complement component 4 (C4), which may mediate the pruning of synapses, the connections betwee...
Risk Factors
April 6, 2016
Changes in Sense of Humor May Be Warning Sign of Dementia
A change in a person’s sense of humor could be an early indicator of dementia, according to a 2015 article by Jason Warren and colleagues in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The changes can appear as early as 10 years b...
Risk Factors
January 15, 2016
Diagnosing Childhood Bipolar Disorder: Mom Knows Best
In a talk at the 2015 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, researcher Eric Youngstrom showed that mothers’ evaluation of their children’s psychiatric symptoms was more valid than both teacher ratings...
Risk Factors
August 19, 2015
A Note on Genetic Inheritance
Genetic inheritance is not everything, according to J. Craig Venter, pioneering genetic scientist responsible for sequencing the human genome in 2001: -- “Human biology is actually far more complicated than we imagine. Eve...
Risk Factors
July 3, 2015
“De Novo” Mutations in Dozens of Genes Cause Autism
Two studies that incorporated data from more than 50 labs worldwide have linked mutations in more than 100 different genes to autism. Scientists have a high level of statistical confidence that mutations in about 60 of tho...
Risk Factors
February 23, 2015
Oxytocin Can Block Stress-Induced Relapse of Cocaine Seeking in Animals
Stress can trigger former drug users to begin taking drugs again. In clinical trials, the bonding hormone oxytocin has been found to reduce stress-induced cravings for certain drugs, including alcohol and marijuana. A new ...
Risk Factors
January 20, 2015
Opiate and Alcohol Abuse
Deaths from opiate abuse are occurring in the US at about the same rate as automobile fatalities. At a recent talk, researcher Richard Ries discussed treatment of opiate addictions and the current epidemic of unintended op...
Risk Factors
July 2, 2013
In Veterans, PTSD Is Associated With Autoimmune Illnesses
At a recent scientific meeting, Thomas Neylan and colleagues reported that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be connected to autoimmune illnesses. In this study, 673,277 veterans of the US military who had served i...
Risk Factors
June 18, 2013
Ecstasy Use Increases Serotonin Receptors in Women
MDMA, better known as the drug ecstasy, has been found to reduce serotonin axons in animals. A small study by Di Iorio et al. published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2012 suggests that the drug also has detrimen...
Risk Factors
February 20, 2013
Cardiovascular Problems in Bipolar Disorder May Begin in Adolescence
Adults with bipolar disorder have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and premature death from cardiovascular illness than the general population. At the 2012 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psyc...
Risk Factors
January 15, 2013
Substance Use Among Canadian Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder: The Critical Need for Intervention and Prevention
At the 2012 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), Antoinette Scavone presented a poster on correlates of substance use disorders among Canadian adolescents with bipolar disorder. Parti...
Risk Factors
June 25, 2012
The Explosive Combination of Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse
At the 2012 annual meeting on pediatric bipolar disorder sponsored by the Ryan Licht Sang Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital, Timothy E. Wilens gave a plenary talk on “The Explosive Combination of Bipolar and Su...
Risk Factors
February 17, 2012
Sleep Apnea Common Among Rapid Cyclers
CPAP treatment for sleep apnea -- Kellen and colleagues presented a poster at the 9th International Conference on Bipolar Disorder (ICBD) held in Pittsburgh in 2011, in which they reported that 21% of patients with rapid c...
Risk Factors
January 21, 2011
Uric Acid Increases During Mania
At the 65th Annual Scientific Convention of the Society of Biological Psychiatry this year, Giacomo Salvadore reported that significantly higher levels of uric acid are found in patients with mania compared with normal con...
Risk Factors
January 12, 2011
Almost 40% of Children with Bipolar Disorder May Not Receive Necessary Treatment
An article by Geller et al. in Bipolar Disorders last year illustrates the crisis in the treatment of childhood-onset bipolar illness in the US. The article indicates that almost 40% of the children with a credible diagnos...
Risk Factors
January 3, 2011
Smoking Multiplies Risks for Bipolar Patients
Smoking is associated with a less successful outcome in the naturalistic treatment of bipolar patients, reported Seetal Dodd and colleagues at the 4th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders ...
Risk Factors
October 26, 2010
One Expert’s Personal Treatment Algorithm for Bipolar Disorder in Young Children
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Gagin Joshi of Massachusetts General Hospital, who presented the work on carbamazepine and lamotrigine on page 1 provided us with his own general treatment algorithm for youngsters with bipolar disorder....
Risk Factors
April 29, 2010
More Medical Comorbidities Among Bipolar Population
Goldstein and colleagues interpreted data from the National Epidemiological Survey in 2001-2002 that included 41,682 representative adults in the U.S. population sampled compared with 1,411 found in the community with a di...