Thursday, February 17, 2005

Inability to modulate affect is associated with many common mood disorders NewsRx.com story at PsycPORT - "Researchers have investigated behavioral, affective, and physiological effects of negative and positive emotional exaggeration. According to published research from the United States, 'Emotion regulation is essential for the production of socially appropriate affect and successful interpersonal functioning. The relative inability to modulate affect, known as emotional dysregulation, is associated with many common mood disorders (such as major depressive disorder or bipolar spectrum disorders). Thus, understanding the physiological processes underlying emotional regulation is extremely important.' "  
  

Single Gene Defect Could Drive Some Mental Illness Health Day News story at Yahoo - "A subtle imbalance in the activity of a single gene may be responsible for the multiple symptoms experienced by people with complex developmental disorders like schizophrenia, new research suggests. Symptoms of schizophrenia include paranoia, delusions, antisocial behavior and hallucinations. Previous research suggested that a combination of genetics, prenatal trauma, viral infection and early life experience may predispose people to the illness. However, findings from a Dutch study published in the Feb. 17 issue of the journal Neuron suggest an imbalance in just one gene could turn out to be a major player in seemingly complex conditions like schizophrenia."