 
ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2010) — Parents of children with undiagnosed learning disorders, developmental deficits, and congenital abnormalities face a host of psychological and social challenges, which are explored in detail in a reflective article in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal.
An interview-based study of parents of children with undiagnosed disorders describes the parental experience as a “journey” comprised of an inner, emotional journey and an outer-world, sociological experience. Celine Lewis, from Genetic Alliance UK (London) and Heather Skirton and Ray Jones, from the University of Plymouth (UK), identify the primary components of this multifaceted journey in the article entitled “Living Without a Diagnosis: The Parental Experience.” A commonly expressed theme among the study participants was the sense of frustration that is present throughout their experiences.
Many of the experiences described during the interviews are similar to those expressed by parents of children with known disabilities. These include the initial recognition and acceptance of the disorder and the process of pursuing a diagnosis, which are components of the inner journey. Additionally, shared social or outer-world experiences might include the interaction with members of the child’s healthcare team and dealing with issues such as education and housing. The questioning and uncertainty associated with undiagnosed disorders in children adds another layer of complexity to the challenges these parents face, conclude the authors of the study.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013124328.htm
 
ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2010) — Mental disorders in children are often difficult to identify due to the myriad of changes that occur during the normal course of maturation. For the first time, researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health have reported on the prevalence data on a broad range of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents, which show that approximately one in five children in the U.S. meet the criteria for a mental disorder severe enough to disrupt their daily lives.
The prevalence of the mental health disorders as well as the notable link between parental mental health issues and their teen’s disorders are the subject of the article by Merikangas and colleagues in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).
In the article titled “Lifetime Prevalence of Mental Disorders in U.S. Adolescents : Results from the National Comorbidity Study-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A).,” Dr. Merikangas and colleagues examined the lifetime prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of DSM-IV mental health disorders across broad classes of disorders. The NCS-A is a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of 10,123 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years in the continental United States.2 Diagnostic assessment of DSM-IV mental disorders were measured using a modified version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
The researchers found that anxiety disorders were the most common condition (31.9%),followed by behavior disorders (19.1%), mood disorders (14.3%), and substance use disorders (11.4%), with approximately 40% of participants with one class of disorder also meeting criteria for another class of lifetime disorder.
Strikingly, the overall prevalence of disorders with severe impairment and/or distress, marked by interference with daily life was over one in five children, or 22.2%.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013121606.htm
 
ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2010) — Children who spend longer than two hours in front of a computer or television screen are more likely to suffer psychological difficulties, regardless of how physically active they are.
The PEACH project, a study of over a 1,000 children aged between ten and 11, measured the time children spent in front of a screen as well as their psychological well being. In addition, an activity monitor recorded both children’s sedentary time and moderate physical activity. The results showed that more than two hours per day of both television viewing and recreational computer use were related to higher psychological difficulty scores, regardless of how much time the children spent on physical activity.
The authors of the report, published in the November edition of the journal Pediatrics, conclude that limiting children’s screen time may be important for ensuring children’s future health and wellbeing.
According to the activity monitor, the children in the study who spent more time sedentary had better psychological scores overall. Those children who did more moderate physical activity fared better in certain psychological areas, including emotional and peer problems, but fared worse in some areas related to behaviour, including hyperactivity.
Read in Full:Â http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101011085958.htm
 
Article Date: 13 Oct 2010 – 3:00 PDT
Education is the key to reducing depression in older Australians according to a study from The Australian National University.
The research, by Professor Helen Christensen and Dr Janine Walker from the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) contributes to the Beyond Ageing Project. The large randomised controlled trial examined the effectiveness of psychological and lifestyle approaches in preventing depression in older adults at risk. The study is being released in conjunction with Mental Health Week.
Conducted over two years with 900 participants, the study looked at the effectiveness of three non-drug based approaches; encouraging physical activity, folate and vitamin B12 supplements and reading about mental health and depression.
The results, published in the July 2010 British Journal of Psychiatry, indicated that the group who received the literature regarding depression had a reduction in depressive symptoms compared to the control group. The literature included information about what depression is, what works for treating depression, and where to go for help.
“The study suggests that mental health literacy interventions may have a role in lowering the risk for depression”, said Dr Walker.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204396.php
 
Article Date: 13 Oct 2010 – 2:00 PDT
Teenagers think mental illness carries much more stigma than it actually does, according to new research from The Australian National University.
A study of over 1,300 12 to 17 year-olds by the Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) at ANU found that mental illness does carry a stigma amongst adolescents, but that teenagers overestimate its extent.
The study differentiated between ‘personal depression stigma’, an individual’s beliefs about depression, and ‘perceived depression stigma’, or an individual’s perception of what other people think and feel about depression.
Lead researcher, Dr Alison Calear, said that identifying the levels of personal and perceived depression stigma in Australian adolescents is extremely important.
“Young people do not seek help for depression because of fear of negative attitudes in the wider community, especially from their peers,” said Dr Calear.
“Stigmatising attitudes and beliefs towards depression are not uncommon and can lead to feelings of fear, avoidance, bias, anger or distrust towards individuals with the disorder.
“Greater understanding of the development of stigmatising attitudes and beliefs can help inform new strategies and techniques to reduce stigma in the community and ultimately increase help-seeking behaviour,” she said.
Another key finding in the study was that teenagers considered other people’s depression stigma as significantly higher than their own.
“Most young people do not believe that mental health problems arise from a ‘weakness of character’,” said Dr Calear. “However teenagers are inclined to think that others their age would believe this to be the case.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204373.php
 
Article Date: 13 Oct 2010 – 0:00 PDT
In life, we’re told, we must take the good with the bad, and how we view these life events determines our well-being and ability to adjust. But according to Prof. Dov Shmotkin of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychology, you need more than the right attitude to successfully negotiate the vicissitudes of life.
As recently reported in Aging and Mental Health, Prof. Shmotkin’s research reveals that people’s well-being and their adaptation can be ascertained by their “time trajectory” – their concept of how they have evolved through their remembered past, currently perceived present, and anticipated future. A close study of how patients compartmentalize their life into these periods can help clinical psychologists treat them more effectively, he says.
From trauma to everyday life
Prof. Shmotkin says that the theory emerged from the study of patients who had experienced traumatic events. “We discovered that overcoming trauma was related to how people organized the memory of their trauma on the larger time continuum of their life course,” he explains.
In a study of Holocaust survivors, Prof. Shmotkin separated these survivors into those who considered the “Holocaust as past” and those who conceived of the “Holocaust as present.” Those in the “Holocaust as past” category were able to draw an effective line between the present day and the past trauma, thus allowing themselves to move forward. Those in the “Holocaust as present” category considered their traumatic experience as still existing, which indicated a difficulty in containing the trauma within a specific time limit.
But Prof. Shmotkin quickly saw that these coping mechanisms were not exclusive to those who had experienced trauma. Instead, he theorized, these mechanisms are a part of the normal aging process. When young, he explains, our wishes for self improvement and growth lie in an anticipated future. But as we get older, our longer perspective can help or hinder in confronting the present challenges of aging.
Read in Full:Â http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204322.php
 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 12, 2010
Scientists know that the key to unlocking neurological disorders begins with a full understanding of how neurons are generated and sustained.
A new discovery in the secret life of neurons has managed to surprise researchers at the Jan and Dan Duncab Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine.
Their findings reveal that the life cycle of adult hippocampal baby neurons was not what was previously thought.Â
In fact, very soon after birth, within 1 to 4 days of life, newborn cells reach a critical stage in which many of them die by apoptosis, natural cell death. Furthermore, the study showed that those dead cells are removed quite quickly.
The study blazes a new path for future research regarding the process by which neurons are generated.
“Years ago researchers believed we were born with only a certain number of neurons to last us throughout our lifetime, but we soon learned that new ones are also produced in adulthood. Our current research is focused on the life cycle of those neurons,†said Amanda Sierra Saavedra, postdoctoral associate in pediatrics-neurology at NRI/BCM.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/10/13/new-findings-may-help-understanding-neurological-disorders/19413.html
 
Do you still have your favorite blanket, pillow, or plush toy from your childhood?
If you do, don’t fear — you’re amongst good company.
Our partner LiveScience has the story by examining the data that drives our need to keep these reminders from our childhood. We believe these objects hold something of greater value to us than just their outward appearance or physical properties. Scientists call this belief “essentialism.â€
Essentialism is why we don’t feel the same about replacing a lost object, whether it be our wedding ring, a toy from our childhood, or our cherished iPhone. The new object loses that emotional attachment the original had.
That’s one of the reasons some of us hang on to those childhood toys or objects — they hold an emotional value to us that is hard to put into words and far exceeds the physical nature of the object itself.
One of my friends enjoys this sort of bonding with every car she has ever owned. Not only does she name it, but she forms a bond that could only be described as an emotional attachment with the car. Another one of my friends has a small pillow she’s had since childhood. Although the pillow itself is hideous to look at, the emotional connection to that pillow has been formed and can’t readily be broken.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/10/13/do-you-still-have-a-security-blanket/
 
Washington Wed, 13 Oct, 2010.
Washington, Oct 13 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Utah (U of U) are one step closer to diagnosing autism using MRI, an advance that eventually could help health care providers identify the problem much earlier in children and lead to improved treatment and outcomes for those with the disorder.
In a study, researchers led by neuroradiologist Jeffery S. Anderson, U of U assistant professor of radiology, used MRI to identify areas where the left and right hemispheres of the brains of people with autism do not properly communicate with one another.
Those areas are in “hot spots” associated with functions such as motor skills, attention, facial recognition, and social functioning- behaviors that are abnormal in autism. MRI’s of people without the disorder did not show the same deficits.
“We know the two hemispheres must work together for many brain functions,” says Anderson. “We used MRI to look at the strength of these connections from one side to the other in autism patients.”
Other than increased brain size in young children with autism, there are no major structural differences between the brains of people with autism and those who do not have the disorder that can be used to diagnose autism on a routine brain MRI. It has been long believed that more profound differences could be discovered by studying how regions in the brain communicate with each other.
The study, and other work U of U researchers are doing using diffusion tensor imaging (measures microstructure of white matter that connects brain regions), reveals important information about autism.
The advances highlight MRI as a potential diagnostic tool, so patients could be screened objectively, quickly, and early on when interventions are most successful. The advances also show the power of MRI to help scientists better understand and potentially better treat autism at all ages.
“We still don’t know precisely what’s going on in the brain in autism,” says Janet Lainhart, U of U associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics and the study’s principal investigator.
“This work adds an important piece of information to the autism puzzle. It adds evidence of functional impairment in brain connectivity in autism and brings us a step closer to a better understanding of this disorder. When you understand it at a biological level, you can envision how the disorder develops, what are the factors that cause it, and how can we change it. “
The study has been published on October 15, 2010 in Cerebral Cortex online. (ANI)
Source:Â http://newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/184707
Braille Embosser
12 October 2010 Last updated at 14:21
The UK government has outlined plans to improve public websites, upgrade equipment and provide better online content for disabled people.
The measures, announced by communications minister Ed Vaizey, are intended to create a “step-change” in e-Accessibility by the time of the Paralympics in 2012.
It will see upgrades to things such as screen readers and Braille embossers. Content such as e-books could be made available for those with poor eyesight.
Website design
“A successful digital economy can only be achieved if everyone can enjoy the same advantages that technology offers, like access to public services, online shopping and banking, interactive games and social media,” said Mr Vaizey.
The e-Accessibility Forum will be made up of a group of over 60 experts from government, industry and the voluntary sector.
One of the their first tasks will be drawing up a regulatory framework to specify measures to ensure disabled users have the same access to digital services as non-disabled consumers.
It will also look at ways to improve the design of government websites.