Mental Health

Two stressed people equals less stress
The results "show that sharing a threatening situation with a person who is in a similar emotional state, in terms of her overall emotional profile, buffers individuals from experiencing the heightened levels of stress that typically accompany threat," according to the study. In other words, when you're facing a threatening situation, interacting with someone who is feeling similarly to you decreases the stress you feel, said Townsend. Eurekalert!

Less than half of children treated for anxiety achieve long-term relief
Results of the federally funded research, to be published online Jan. 29 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, underscore the importance of vigilant follow-up and rigorous monitoring of symptoms among anxious children, teens and young adults—even when they seem to be on the mend—the investigators say. The results also point to the need for better long-term management of a condition estimated to affect one in five children in the United States, and one that can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance well into adulthood, the research team says. MedicalXpress

A shock to the system: Electroconvulsive Therapy shows mood disorder-specific therapeutic benefits
The oldest well-established procedure for somatic treatment of unipolar and bipolar disorders, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has, at best, a variegated reputation – and not just in its reputation for being a "barbaric" treatment modality (which, as it turns out, it is not). The scientific, clinical, and ethical controversy extends to unanswered questions about its precise mechanism of action – that is, how major electrical discharge over half the brain shows efficacy in recovery from a range of sometimes quite distinct psychological and psychiatric disorders. Recently, however, scientists at Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland and Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany found local but not general anatomical brain changes following electroconvulsive therapy that are differently distributed in each disease, and are actually the areas believed to be abnormal in each disorder. Since interaction between ECT and specific pathology appears to be therapeutically causal, the researchers state that their results have implications for deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation and other electrically-based brain treatments. MedicalXpress

Caring for animals may correlate with positive traits in young adults
Young adults who care for an animal may have stronger social relationships and connection to their communities, according to a paper published online today in Applied Developmental Science. Tufts University