A Norwegian study shows the importance of treating depression early because it can have deadly consequences for the heart. Depression can make life difficult, but new research has shown that serious depression symptoms can also cut many lives...
Most of a $22 million infusion into Colorado's stressed mental health system — a response by the governor to the Aurora movie theater massacre — is stranded in the courts as the state and disappointed bidders wrestle for the money. The...
The chief of Halifax Regional Police says he hopes a Sexual Assault Awareness month video campaign helps men recognize their role in gender-based violence – even if they aren’t actually a perpetrator. “Guys, we have some major work...
Interview by SONIA DIAZ I grew up hurt and scared. The trauma I went through affected me when I became a mother. Sometimes I would shut myself in my room so that I didn’t scare my kids, and I smoked weed to stay calm. When I went to court facing...
Part 2 of my series on Developmental Trauma (click here for Part 1) Dr. Bruce Perry, MD (left) documents the brain science of how attachment problems can cause developmental trauma to a fetus, infant, or child – just when the brain is...
The ability to stay positive when times get tough -- and, conversely, of being negative -- may be hardwired in the brain, finds new research led by a Michigan State University psychologist. The study, which appears in the Journal of Abnormal...
Infants show unique physiological and behavioral responses to pleasant touch, which may help to cement the bonds between child and parent and promote early social and physiological development, according to research published in Psychological Science,...
Your doctor may soon need to test how "activated" you are. "Patient activation" is a measure of how engaged patients will be in their own care. Patients who are highly activated have better outcomes and incur lower costs, studies show, even...
I spent many months, as a fetus, in a mental institution, listening to the world shuffling outside. I don’t know what meds were administered to me in that developing stage. I lived in the belly of a woman I would never know. But my relationship...
In a survey released today by the Pew Research Center, 87 percent of people characterized drug abuse is either a "crisis" or a "serious problem" in the U.S. That number hasn't changed much in nearly twenty years. What has changed is how Americans are...
A high-resolution map of the human brain in utero is providing hints about the origins of brain disorders including schizophrenia and autism. The map shows where genes are turned on and off throughout the entire brain at about the midpoint of...
We’ve written before about the groundbreaking research from San Francisco State University’s Family Acceptance Project, and interviewed the project’s director, Caitlin Ryan about the difference supportive families can make for...
Is a picture worth only a thousand words? According to Dr. Carmit Katz of Tel Aviv University's Bob Shapell School of Social Work, illustrations by children can be a critical tool in forensic investigations of child abuse. Dr. Katz's study, published...
Research on human attachment has improved the practice of psychotherapy in part because attachment theory gives therapists permission to be "real" people with their clients. One of my favorite books on the subject is David Wallin's Attachment in...