C Carbon

Treatment of severe depression with magnetic stimulation is moving beyond large mental health centers and into private practices nationwide, following more than two decades of research on the treatment. Yet even as concern about its efficacy fades, one potential side effect--seizures--continues to shadow the technology. [More]



Mental health - Depression - Major depressive disorder - Health - Disorders

There’s a strange whiff in the media air, a sort of polyamory chic in which liberally minded journalists, an aggregate mass of antireligious pundits and even scientists themselves have begun encouraging readers and viewers to use evolutionary theory to revisit and revise their sexual attitudes and, more importantly, their behaviors in ways that fit their animal libidos more happily .

Imagine being twelve years old. Imagine coming home after school and finding your big sister’s lifeless body hanging from a rafter in your home’s stairwell. Phoebe Prince’s little sister did not have to imagine this scenario, because she lived it. She arrived home after school in South Hadley, Mass., last January 14 and discovered that her sister had committed suicide by hanging herself, a result of enduring extreme and relentless bullying at the hands of her peers. [More]



Suicide - Bullying - South Hadley Massachusetts - South Hadley High School - South Hadley

Ketamine --a powerful anesthetic for humans and animals that lists hallucinations among its side effects and therefore is often abused under the name Special K--delivers rapid relief to chronically depressed patients, and researchers may now have discovered why. In fact, the latest evidence reinforces the idea that the psychedelic drug could be the first new drug in decades to lift the fog of depression. [More]



Mental health - Major depressive disorder - Psychedelic drug - Health - Disorders

Ketamine --a powerful anesthetic for humans and animals that lists hallucinations among its side effects and therefore is often abused under the name Special K--delivers rapid relief to chronically depressed patients, and researchers may now have discovered why. In fact, the latest evidence reinforces the idea that the psychedelic drug could be the first new drug in decades to lift the fog of depression. [More]



Mental health - Major depressive disorder - Psychedelic drug - Health - Disorders

Despite kids’ protests, enforcing early bedtimes may be good for their mental health. Teens who are allowed to go to bed later are more likely to suffer from depression--probably for the simple reason that they are not getting enough sleep, a recent study suggests.

Columbia University scientists found that depression was 24 percent more common in teens whose parents let them go to bed at midnight or later than in kids whose moms and dads required them to hit the pillow by 10 p.m. The night owls were also 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts.

Clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of new drugs are expensive investments for pharmaceutical companies and other funding organizations--and failures can mean scrapping years of pricey work and going back to the drawing board. Perhaps it is little wonder then that this industry has backed a higher percentage of clinical trials with positive outcomes than either foundations or the government, according to a new study of more than 500 recent drug trials. The results of the analysis were published online August 2 in Archives of Internal Medicine . [More]



Clinical trial - Pharmaceutical industry - Business - Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals - Pharmaceuticals

Assistive technology that helps severely paralyzed people navigate the world and communicate with others often taps into whatever abilities the disabled retain, such as blinking or moving the mouth and tongue. Now, for the first time, researchers have invented a device that allows the paralyzed to write, surf the Web and steer an electronic wheelchair--all by sniffing. Initial tests, described July 26 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), suggest that many severely paralyzed people can easily master the "sniff controller," which offers certain advantages over other technological aids. <!-- [More]



Disability - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - Wheelchair - Technology - Assistive Technology

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Mental health - Health - Oceania - Australia - Policy and Advocacy

A couple of studies on perception. First, there’s now visual data to back up the idea that everything looks kinda gray when you feel blue.

Researchers examined how the retina responds to different black-and-white contrast situations. They did the tests on healthy subjects and on patients with depression. Turns out that depressed people have much lower retinal responses--even if they’re on antidepressants. And the worse the depression, the worse the performance of the retina.