Wednesday, February 19, 2003

A Unified Field Theory of Mental Disorders
Washinton Post story reprinted at PsycPORT - "A study in this month's issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry argues that a common genetic root may link depression with 14 distinct psychiatric and physical disorders. The list includes such to-be-expected relations as dysthymia (low-grade chronic depression), generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but also more surprising relatives including bulimia, cataplexy (a brief loss of posture or motor control preceded by a burst of strong emotion), fibromyalgia, migraine headaches and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The list also includes attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, though for technical reasons they cannot be linked as conclusively as the others."  
  

Posttraumatic Stress More Common in Women Than Men
Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Women are more likely than men to suffer long-term posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic injury, according to researchers from the University of California at San Diego. But the reasons for the difference remain unclear."