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Mental Health
British mental health inquiry hears of ‘culture of fear’
A dire shortage of registered mental health nurses in England means that staff struggle to focus on therapeutic care, according to an expert witness...
Alzheimer’s risk factors may be detected before 30 – US study
Alarming findings from a study led by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Butler Ageing Centre suggest that risk...
Despite lofty plans, 90% of mentally ill South Africans still without care
Around 30.3% of South Africans experience a mental disorder in their lifetime – and about 16% of them in any given year – but...
The consequences of abruptly quitting anti-depressants
Specific medications that treat disorders like anxiety, panic attacks and insomnia can be hugely effective – but stopping them abruptly can compound users’ symptoms and...
Age, sex, hormones linked to dementia biomarkers – German study
Scientists say they have found important clues about the roles that age, sex, hormonal changes and genetics might play in how certain biomarkers for...
Blood test on the cards to predict postpartum blues – US study
A simple blood test may soon be able to predict postpartum depression before symptoms appear, hinting at a future where treatments could shift from...
Suicide rates rise among over-50 South Africans
An alarming statistic has been noted among South Africans over 50, according to Discovery Life, which says it has recorded a surge in suicides...
New tests could help ID dementia in older Africans – SA research
International researchers – with the assistance of Wits University and University of Cape Town scientists – have introduced two improved tests that could precisely...
Study links anti-depressants to higher risk of sudden cardiac death
Anti-depressants could increase the risk of sudden cardiac death up to five-fold, suggest Danish researchers, who found patients taking the medications for between one...
New WHO guidance for global mental health policies
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidance to help all countries reform and strengthen mental health policies and systems – most of...
Excessive napping may be tied to dementia – US study
Twenty-four-hour sleepiness, particularly excessive napping, has been associated with a doubled risk of developing dementia, the latest study on disturbed sleep patterns and the...
NSAIDs may lower dementia risk, large study finds
A study examining the relationship between the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medication over certain time frames and the risk for dementia found that...
Move to quit psychiatric medication gains momentum
American author Laura Delano walked away from the treatments that defined her teens and 20s. Now, she’s hoping to create a road map for...
Why CDC’s vaccine-autism study is raising eyebrows
Experts are concerned about the US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention's (CDC) plan to use the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) to probe an...
Postnatal depression linked to brain change during pregnancy – Spanish study
A study from scientists in Madrid has shed new light on what happens in the brains of pregnant women who experience postpartum depression, which...
ADHD scripts in England up by 18% each year since pandemic
The number of prescriptions being issued in England for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has risen by 18% year-on-year since the pandemic, with...
FDA expands access for schizophrenia drug
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has eliminated a longstanding requirement that patients taking clozapine, an anti-psychotic used for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, to submit...
GLP-1 receptor agonists not linked to suicide – UK cohort study
The findings from a large cohort study have suggested no link between glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and suicide, according to the researchers.
Use of...
Common painkiller in pregnancy tied to ADHD risk – US study
Children may have a higher risk of developing ADHD if their mothers used paracetamol – also known as acetaminophen – during pregnancy, adding weight...
Scientists study man who defied predicted genetic Alzheimer’s
People who inherit one very rare gene mutation are virtually guaranteed to develop Alzheimer’s before they turn 50, but an American man has confused...
Things really do seem better in the morning – London study
In the most comprehensive study of its kind, scientists have found that generally, the world feels brighter when you wake up – that people...
Legalised cannabis tied to more schizophrenia cases – Canadian study
Scientists have suggested that Canada’s legalisation of cannabis may be linked to an escalation in schizophrenia cases, according to their research findings.
Over a 16-year...
Global study gives snapshot of nurses’ mental health burden
A first-of-its-kind study provides an insight into the substantial mental health burden on nurses around the world, the research documenting the impact of three...
Can you die of a broken heart?
Heartbreak – a common trope in fiction – is called takotsubo syndrome in the real world, but is relatively rare, accounting for only about...
Major review shows common meds linked to reduced dementia risk
In the largest systematic review of its kind, covering more than 1m cases of dementia from the records of more than 130m people, researchers...
Green tea reduces cognitive decline – Japanese study
For centuries, people have extolled the health benefits of green tea, like reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, maintaining skin health, promoting weight loss,...
J&J’s ketamine nasal spray approved by FDA
The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded approval for Johnson & Johnson’s ketamine-derived nasal spray, Spravato, to allow it to be used as a...
Dementia diagnosis and life expectancy – Dutch review
The average life expectancy of people diagnosed with dementia ranges from nine years at age 60 to 4.5 years at age 85 for women,...
Loneliness tied to cardiac, stroke and infection risk – China-UK study
Interactions with friends and family may keep us healthy because they boost our immune system and reduce our risk of diseases like heart disease,...
New dementia drugs still won’t be accessible to the poorest
Experts say that treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s or lessen its effects are on the horizon as the fight against dementia enters a “new era”,...
US dementia cases may double by 2060, study finds
In a worrying prediction, scientists say the risk of developing dementia anytime after age 55 among Americans is 42% – especially for women, blacks...
Millions of mental diagnoses linked to lead in petrol – US study
A recent study has suggested that a history of lead in petrol – going back to as early as the 1920s – could be...
SA mental health and motherhood guidelines ineffective without resources
In South Africa, mothers and pregnant women suffer from high levels of mental health issues, with at least one out of every three experiencing...
Un flags increase in young people with mental disorders
According to alarming statistics from the United National Children’s Fund (Unicef), one in seven young people between 10 and 19 lives with a diagnosable...
Teens’ anxiety, depression, rises after four hours’ screen time, say experts
Teenagers who spend four or more hours in front of the screen each day are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, according to a new report from...
Doctor blames US politics for unpublished puberty blocker study
An influential doctor and advocate of adolescent gender treatments said she had not published a long-awaited study of puberty-blocking drugs because of the charged...
Meditation may worsen mental health issues, warns expert
Because mindfulness is free, and something you can practise at home, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues....
Convicted murderer Lauren Dickason served with deportation order
South African doctor Lauren Dickason has reportedly been served with a deportation order by Immigration New Zealand after having been found guilty of murdering...
Tragedy sparks concern over medicinal cannabis oversight
A recent tragic case in Australia has cast a spotlight on the booming but little-policed cannabis industry now being accessed by hundreds of thousands...
Omega-3 cuts aggression by nearly 30% – US meta-analysis
A recent meta-analysis suggests that omega-3, available as dietary supplements via fish oil capsules and thought to help with mental and physical well-being, could...