Mental Health

Study finds high Rx burden for bipolar patients
A study of 230 patients with bipolar I disorder whose symptoms were severe enough to warrant admission to a Rhode Island psychiatric hospital in 2010 reveals that more than a third were there despite taking four or more psychiatric medications. Including medicines for other conditions, such as cardiometabolic diseases, the average patient came to the hospital taking six different drugs.

The study quantifies a difficult outcome for many patients with this difficult-to-treat disorder, said study lead author Lauren Weinstock of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and of Butler Hospital, where the patients were admitted: They accrue a high burden of prescriptions each with their own side effects, with often unknown interactions, and with a complexity that can result in not taking the medications as prescribed. This medication burden also includes high overall cost to patients and the healthcare system. Eurekalert!

Understanding fear means correctly defining fear itself, study concludes
Understanding and properly studying fear is partly a matter of correctly defining fear itself, New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux writes in a new essay published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His analysis points to ways research can be better geared to address a range of fear-related afflictions, such as post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and commonly experienced phobias. MedicalXpress

Cognitive Therapy Reduces Schizophrenia Symptoms in Patients Who Refuse Medication
Cognitive therapy helps reduce schizophrenia symptoms in patients who refuse drug therapy, according to a pilot study in the Lancet. Seventy-four patients who'd chosen not to take medication for psychosis were randomized to cognitive therapy plus usual care or usual care alone. Cognitive therapy included some 30 sessions over 18 months. Journal Watch

Heart disease risk linked with spouses' social support
Matters of the heart can influence actual heart health, according to new research. A study from researchers at the University of Utah shows that the ways in which your spouse is supportive — and how you support your spouse — can actually have significant bearing on your overall cardiovascular health.

The findings reveal that when both partners perceive the support they get from each other as ambivalent — that is, sometimes helpful and sometimes upsetting– each partner’s levels of coronary artery calcification (CAC) tend to be particularly high. Association for Psychological Science

Feeling sleepy? Maybe your brain's too full
According to the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, brain plasticity mostly takes place when we're awake and taking in new information from the environment. Functionally important information that's relevant to our daily function and survival prompts brain changes that lead to an overall increase in the strength and number of neural connections (synapses) in the brain as a whole.

But this increase cannot be sustained forever because higher synaptic strength requires lots of energy, cellular resources, and space. So the system becomes inefficient and signalling between neurons becomes more erratic, reducing the capacity for learning and memory.

This is where sleep comes in – it puts the brain into an "offline" state during which the synaptic strength accumulated during wakefulness can be surveyed through spontaneous electrical activity. And it ensures the process is uninterrupted by the external environment. MedicalXpress