schizophrenia

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Don't Expect a 20th Nervous Breakdown
Don't Expect a 20th Nervous Breakdown
Apr 15, 2008 10:11 AM CDT

Don't Expect a 20th Nervous Breakdown

Term goes the way of smelling salts as experts seek accuracy

(Newser) - “Nervous breakdown” has long been a catchall for psychological conditions as varied as depression and schizophrenia. But as psychiatric patients emerge from stigmatized isolation—and as the DSM fattens—scientists are chucking the antiquated term in favor of a more descriptive and accurate taxonomy. “I haven’t heard...

Schizophrenia Gene Find Surprises Scientists

Glitches vary from person to person

(Newser) - Scientists have tracked down the genetic roots of schizophrenia, but in a surprising twist researchers found that the genetic errors to blame often vary from person to person, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The discovery suggests that multiple glitches in the genetic code are behind schizophrenia, with the exact combination unique...

Super-Strong 'Skunk' Pot Linked to Psychosis

Officials debate reclassifying drug as seizures of potent dope soars

(Newser) - Seizures of a super-strong strain of marijuana nicknamed "skunk" have risen sharply in the UK and experts say it could be causing an epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis, the Daily Telegraph reports. Skunk is up to four times more potent than regular herbal cannabis, and now accounts for 80% of...

Merck May Pay $700M for Schizophrenia Drug

Pharma giant restocks pipeline by snapping up Swiss psychotherapy

(Newser) - Merck today finalized a deal worth as much as $700 million to license a schizophrenia drug from Swiss biotech firm Addex Pharmaceuticals. Addex will get $22 million up front, and qualify for another $680 million in milestone payments. Such licensing deals are growing commonplace, Reuters reports, as big pharma turns...

Mental Patients Benefit From Larry David Therapy

TV's finest imbodiment of social dysfunction helps cure the mentally unwell

(Newser) - However difficult Larry David might be, don’t call him unhelpful. The comic misfit's cringe-worthy gaffes turn out to be just the tonic for schizophrenics suffering from paralyzing social anxieties. A University of North Carolina grad student noticed his stubbornly  uncommunicative patients respond well to sitcoms, especially “Curb Your...

Top 10 Incurable Diseases
Top 10 Incurable Diseases
Sep 14, 2007 10:21 AM CDT

Top 10 Incurable Diseases

Medicine marches on, leaving behind some ailments that defy understanding

(Newser) - Doctors have successfully performed a face transplant, but the cure for the common cold still eludes them. LiveScience ponders the diseases that got away.
  1. AIDS
  2. Alzheimer's disease
  3. The common cold

Schizophrenia Drug Offers New Hope
Schizophrenia Drug Offers
New Hope
Sep 3, 2007 3:58 AM CDT

Schizophrenia Drug Offers New Hope

Works on different brain chemical than its predecessors

(Newser) - The first human trial of a new medication to treat schizophrenia that works fundamentally differently from its predecessors has shown promising results, according to this month's Nature Medicine. The drug targets glutamate rather than dopamine, as do other drugs. Scientists have long known glutamate is involved in schizophrenia.

The Life and Times of Crystal Meth
The Life and Times of
Crystal Meth
Aug 21, 2007 6:28 PM CDT

The Life and Times of Crystal Meth

A new book traces the drug's history, from panacea to pandemic

(Newser) - Even when it has the word "crystal" in front of it, meth is a downmarket drug, which summons up images of makeshift drug labs in run-down trailer parks. But meth, Salon notes in an essay on Frank Owen's new book, "No Speed Limit," has a rich history...

Lefty Gene Found, Linked to Mental Illness

Southpaws run greater risk for schizophrenia than righties

(Newser) - A gene that increases the likelihood of left-handedness also boosts the risk of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, the BBC reports. Lefties’ brains often differ from righties’ in the location of controls for speech and emotions, scientists say, and the newly pinpointed gene appears to catalyze the switch.

Reefer Madness: Marijuana Ups Psychosis Risk

New study reveals that pot smokers have a 41% increased chance of psychosis

(Newser) - Smoking pot increases your risk of developing schizophrenia and other forms of psychotic illness later in life, according to a new study. Partakers had a 41% higher chance of developing psychosis with hallucinations or delusions—a risk that only increased with heavy use. The findings may push the UK to...

Supremes Halt Execution of Insane Inmate

Kennedy is swing vote against punishment for schizophrenic killer

(Newser) - The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to block the execution of a schizophrenic condemned killer because Texas criminal courts had not taken his mental health into account. Anthony Kennedy joined the court's liberals and wrote the decision, which reaffirmed previous injunctions against executing the insane; Kennedy wrote that the "punishment...

Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy
Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy
May 18, 2007 9:44 PM CDT

Psych Drugs Drove Kid Crazy

Careless prescriptions turned shy chess nerd into into belligerent hulk

(Newser) - The careless prescription of anti-psychotic drugs, often by psychiatrists who draw pay checks from the companies who make them, has drawn attention in the New York Times recently. Now Ann Bauer, writing in Salon, draws an intimate portrait of the effects of such carelessness on one autistic teenager, who turned...

Alzheimer's Patients Dying In Prescription Scandal

Sedatives shown to double death rates

(Newser) - Sedatives commonly prescribed to Alzheimer's and dementia patients are leading to their premature death, new research reported in the Guardian concludes.  The drugs, called neuroleptics, combat the diseases' more alarming symptoms, including agitation and hallucinations. Their widespread off-label use in the U.K.—where they're licensed only for...

Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?
Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?
Mar 15, 2007 3:29 PM CDT

Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?

(Newser) - A parasite that reproduces in cats, previously linked to schizophrenia in infected humans, has now, bizarrely, been implicated in mass personality changes in geographic areas where incidence of infection is high. A U.S. Geological Survey study of 39 countries shows that high infection rates of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite...

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