archive

July 2, 2012 A study of more than 45,000 women in Denmark finds an association between suicide attempts and infection with a common parasite. The findings don't prove the parasite is the cause, but they add more evidence to a hypothesis that's been gaining momentum.

Summary

June 26, 2012 Consensual sex among aging residents of nursing homes can be fraught. And when those older people are showing signs of dementia, family members sometimes stand in in the way of love.

Summary

June 11, 2012 People like using the honor till at farm stands because being trusted feels good. Still, it's not universal. Even if most people do the right thing, eventually someone's going to take all the money, researchers warn.

Summary

June 5, 2012 Therapists can treat depression just as effectively over the phone as in person, research shows. And patients are more likely to stick with treatment because phone calls fit into busy lives more easily than regular visits to a clinician's office.

Summary

June 4, 2012 Jessie Close was diagnosed with depression in the 1980s, bipolar disorder in the 1990s and then in 2004, after a trip to the hospital, she was finally diagnosed as "bipolar I with psychotic tendencies." Her experience helped motivate sister Glenn Close to work on raising awareness of mental illness.

Summary

May 31, 2012 CPRA study found psychiatric patients waited an average of 11.5 hours in hospital emergency rooms before being treated or released. That's in part because many hospitals have decided it's not economically viable to keep psychiatric wards open.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

May 29, 2012 KHNA change in guidelines for psychiatric diagnoses would add problem gambling as an addictive disorder. The designation would clear a path to add other behavioral problems — such as sex or Internet addiction — in the future.

Summary

April 23, 2012 A survey by the Interactive Autism Network found that nearly two-thirds of children with autism spectrum disorders have been bullied at some point. And it found that these kids are three times as likely as typical kids to have been bullied in the past month.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

April 3, 2012 KHNMedicare now covers screening for depression without any cost-sharing when patients visit their primary care doctor. That's a big deal, because the condition often goes undiagnosed in the elderly.

Summary

March 30, 2012 Do you think you'd be less stressed out if you took your dog to work with you? Science agrees. Employees with dogs were less stressed out than their coworkers, new research finds. But it works only if the dog is polite.

Summary

March 26, 2012 They complain a bit more than everyone else, and they often share their negative views and feelings when face to face with friends and acquaintances. Researchers wondered whether those behavior patterns would hold true online.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

March 16, 2012 Researchers made a bunch of male fruit flies into boozehounds by pushing them on females unreceptive to their advances. The experiments showed that a brain chemical, very much like one in humans, played a key role in determining their behavior.

Summary

March 1, 2012 When Nina Totenberg asked if someone was a "nutcase," listeners objected. Mental health experts say that so much of the language used by the media, and by all of us, stigmatizes people with temporary or chronic mental illnesses, affecting their ability to get jobs and housing. But can political correctness go too far?

Summary

March 1, 2012 Online cognitive behavioral therapy worked much better than office visits for teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a new study. The convenience of online behavioral therapy may be one big reason why.

Summary

February 3, 2012 High school football players experienced brain changes long before they had symptoms of concussion. The findings suggest that concussions come from cumulative damage, researchers say.

Summary