Military families may need help with mental health
Tours of duty can last up to 18 months, and studies have shown that one in four children of active-duty service members has symptoms of depression. One in three children experiences excessive worry, and half of children have trouble sleeping, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report. These problems can be even worse [...]
Stress Can Boost Good Habits Too
Getty Images Under stress, we all tend to seek comfort — sometimes in not-so-healthy ways — but a new study suggests that challenging experiences are as likely to promote good habits as they are to support bad ones. In several different experiments, researchers led by Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology and business at the [...]
Students stay silent about mental health problems, survey shows
Mental health charities fear students are suffering in silence. Photograph: Peter Lawson/Eastnews Press Agency Universities should do more to encourage students with mental health problems to seek help, a leading charity has warned. More than a quarter (26%) of students who say they experience mental health problems do not get treatment and only one in [...]
7 ways to boost your mental health (and get better sleep)
The state of your mind is so much more than a diagnosis, says Sarah Hamid-Balma, director of mental health promotion at the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association. “You can be someone who has a diagnosed mental illness and have good mental health,” she says; and conversely, “you can have no diagnosed illness [...]
Relax: It’s Good for Your Genes
Getty Images / Getty Images While it might seem that your body and brain aren’t doing much when you’re on break, relaxing triggers a flurry of genetic activity that is responsible for some important health benefits. When you really relax — using any type of meditative technique such as deep breathing, yoga or prayer — [...]
Brain Scans Can Predict Which Alcoholics Are Most Likely to Relapse
Getty Images/Flickr RF / Getty Images/Flickr RF For any addiction, external cues and stress can trigger cravings that are hard to resist, and the latest research points to an area of the brain that might be responsible for sabotaging recovery. The study, which was published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that those with elevated activity in [...]
Women and Mental Health, A Cause for Concern
In this edition of health and nutrition the columnist will bring you an interview conducted with the executive director of Elementally Wellbeing a charity in the United Kingdom that is having a project in the Gambia called thrive -Gambia that is looking at the mental derange people. Marion Aslan this is what she has to [...]
The dark mood and worry of a health crisis
Often this emotional distress is exacerbated by the effects of treatment such as tiredness, pain, and social isolation. But the impact of all this mental turmoil is under-recognised. Serious health incidents can increase a person’s risk of developing depression or anxiety, according to the mental health organisation beyondblue, which has recently released a new pamphlet to [...]
How Stress Gets Under the Skin: Q&A With Neuroscientist Bruce McEwen
Getty Images / Getty Images - hands of aman drowning on paper work A professor of neuroscience at Rockefeller University, Bruce McEwen investigates how stress affects the mind and brain. He has published over 700 research papers exploring the ways that stress hormones can both damage the brain and lead to beneficial growth. TIME spoke with [...]
Stress and mental illness: an interview with Professor Akira Sawa
Interview conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, BA Hons (Cantab) How did your research into stress in adolescence and mental illness originate? As a psychiatrist I am interested in how stress may play a role in the pathology of adult mental disorders. You may know that most of the major mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, mood-disorder, substance [...]
