Wednesday, May 28, 2003

New research calls for heightened awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth
University of Warwick (UK) press release - "New research by psychologist Dr Stephen Joseph at the University of Warwick reveals that women who experience traumatic childbirth can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a serious condition of anxiety usually associated with events like wars and assaults. Although health workers and psychologists are increasingly aware of postnatal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder goes widely unrecognised. Some PTSD symptoms are very similar to those experienced by those with postnatal depression, so health professionals sometimes misdiagnose the condition. However, the conditions are distinct and women with PTSD often go undetected by health workers as this is not a condition that is routinely screened for."  
  

Behavioral Treatment May Reverse Brain Changes That Occur With Cocaine Use And Help Prevent Relapse
NIH press release at the InteliHealth web site - "Brain changes that occur with cocaine use and the tendency toward relapse may be reduced by a behavioral treatment using extinction training--a form of conditioning that removes the reward associated with a learned behavior."  
  

OCD “common in adolescent schizophrenia”
Health News (UK) story - "Around one in four adolescent patients with schizophrenia also have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a study from Israel. The co-occurrence of OCD is increasingly recognised among adult patients with schizophrenia. However, although the onset of both disorders is usually in adolescence, no previous studies had examined the rate of OCD comorbidity among adolescent patients."  
  

Study ties hormone therapy to more risk
Story in the Boston Globe - "The most common form of hormone replacement therapy, long believed to preserve mental capacity in women after menopause, instead doubles their risk of dementia, according to a large federal study that raises new questions for the 1.2 million American women currently taking such pills."