Friday, June 17, 2005

Behavior: In Childhood Depression, Not the Usual Suspects June 14 New York Times story - "Contrary to researchers' expectations, dysfunctional family relationships and poor communication styles appear to have little effect on whether young children become depressed, a study has found. Skip to next paragraph More Columns: Vital Signs While many children under 5 exhibit symptoms of depression, they often have not been exposed to known risk factors, experts find. And many children who are exposed to those risk factors appear to be resilient. In the study, Australian researchers looked at many factors, including marital partner change, mothers' health in pregnancy, a child's health in the first six months of life and maternal anxiety in more than 5,000 mothers over a period of five years. But few of them correlated with early childhood depression. The authors warned that their results, published in the June issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, depended on reports by mothers about their children's experiences, and that the mothers' emotional states might have affected those reports..." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Mental Health Treatment Becoming More Common Story at WebMD - "More people are seeking mental health help than a decade ago, but most people with diagnosable mental illnesses still lack treatment, a new study shows. The report appears in The New England Journal of Medicine's June 16th issue. It's based on face-to-face interviews with thousands of people. Topics covered included anxiety disorders, mood disorders (including depression and bipolar disorder), and substance abuse..." An abstract of the NEJM study is available at no charge, with the full article available for a fee.