The Beck Institute, a non-profit organization headed by Aaron Beck, M.D., created The Soldiers Suicide Prevention to provide a central resource for suicide prevention mental healthcare services for the proud men and women of our fighting forces. Healthcare providers can also receive Cognitive Therapy-based suicide prevention training. As a strong supporter of our fine military personnel, I urge our readers ...

Approximately 5% of persons in the United States suffer from primary persistent insomnia and many are prescribed sedative hypnotics or antidepressant medications. However, prescription medication can also cause side effects or create dependence, and published data on their efficacy for sleep disorders is limited*. Additionally, poor sleep may return once the medication intake stops*. The current study* inve ...

Researchers* acquired data during March 1, 2003 to December 31, 2004 from the The Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment in Hospitalized Patients with Heart Failure (OPTIMIZE-HF) to further explore the connection between depression and heart failure. Data from the medical charts of 48,612 patients (mean age = 73) from 259 hospitals were included. The authors* provide a good overview of the widel ...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's "Rethinking Drinking: Alcohol and Your Health" is a wonderful online evidenced-based resource for clinicians who work with persons with drinking problems. This website is somewhat unique in that it does not promote abstinence, though abstinence is one treatment option discussed. A downloadable PDF e-book that is suitable for patient handout is also av ...

Researchers* report that participants' sleep and declarative memory improved after they received 10 sessions of human sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) neurofeedback in a randomized parallel group design. SMR is an EEG frequency band from 12-15 Hz that is associated with an alert, attentive state coupled with calm or silent motor activities. The cat who remains completely still, yet focused the moment before he nab ...

Researchers* report in a yet unpublished study (2009) that patients with anti-social personality disorder benefited from extended quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG)-guided neurofeedback sessions in a clinical case series. QEEG-guided neurofeedback provides individually tailored neurotherapy sessions based on a patient's unique EEG and comparisons to age appropriate, normative databases. This is the ...

This review covers an open access article* that investigates prevalence rates of adult non-medical (illicit) methamphetamine use. Check the end of this post for a link to download a free PD of the original journal article. This is truly a sad topic because chronic methamphetamine use can lead to not only major physical health problems, but also to psychosis, suicide, violent behavior, sexual promiscuity, an ...

In a yet unpublished study (in press), researchers* report that children with ADHD who underwent neurofeedback training in a randomized clinical trial realized significant improvements on numerous home and school behavioral rating scales. The study included a large sample size, randomized assignment to an experimental or control group, semi-blinded parents to their child’s treatment condition, and great car ...

As if there were not already enough evidence and reasons to avoid tobacco products, a recent study* revealed that cigarette smoking increased the chance of Major Depression Disorder (MDD) in women.  Researchers compared cigarette use in 165 persons with MDD with over 800 persons without MDD in a case-controlled and retrospective design (uses accumulated data/records) that spanned 10 years.  Exposure to smok ...

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recently announced their funding of a randomized, placebo controlled study that will investigate the efficacy of neurofeedback for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research group is from Ohio State University. ...