Researchers in Germany have used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) to map cerebral blood flow patterns in schizophrenic patients quickly and without using radiation or contrast agents. Their findings appear in the online edition and July printed issue of the journal Radiology. ...

Children normally experience flights of fancy, including imaginary friends and conversations with stuffed animals, but some of them are also having hallucinations and delusions which might be the early signs of psychosis. A study of British 12-year-olds that asked whether they had ever seen things or heard voices that weren't really there, and then asked careful follow-up questions, has found that nearly 6 ...

Historical research by Peter J. Snyder, PhD, reveals more of Charles Darwin's thinking when he completed what may be the first example of a prospective "single-blind" study of human perception of emotional expression. Through scrutiny of Darwin's work, including previously unpublished handwritten notes on his experiments, Snyder explains how this early experiment has direct implications to current work toda ...

Offspring of two parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder appear more likely to develop the same illness or another psychiatric condition than those with only one parent with psychiatric illness, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The offspring of two parents with psychiatric illness represent an extremely high-risk group, acc ...

In one of the first such studies involving human patients with schizophrenia, researchers at UC Davis have provided evidence that deficits in a brain chemical may be responsible for some of the debilitating cognitive deficits - poor attention, memory and problem-solving abilities - that accompany the delusions and hallucinations that are the hallmarks of the disorder ...

Roulette Smith, Ph.D. has long advocated the role of viruses in many different disorders (see: A Novel and Potentially Groundbreaking Viral Theory of Autism and Schizophrenia), including schizophrenia and Autism. Now researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report that Rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregn ...

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) continues their release of free evidence-based and easy-to-read book and video reviews of various mental health disorders that are suitable for patients, such as the “Bipolar Disorder in Children and Teens – A Parent’s Guide” E-Booklet and Depression Awareness Video previously reviewed on this website. The latest 8-page full color booklet details the common sig ...

Roulette William Smith, Ph.D. details a potentially ground breaking theory that purports to unravel the mystery surrounding the underlying causative factors of autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and a host of other mental and physical illnesses in his paper entitled, "Inferring an Autovirulent Epigenetic Etiology for the Autism Spectrum and Schizophrenia*." Dr. Smith's theory originated from insights ...