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Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common, yet are not generally well understood by doctors and other health care professionals. Now the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) has released up-to-the-minute guidelines in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE, to guide psychiatrists and physicians caring for those with sleep problems.
Circadian rhythmicity is regulated by circadian clock genes, and animal studies have shown that chronic drinking can alter expressions in these genes. A new study has found that significantly lower levels of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) – a molecule of RNA that helps to manufacture proteins – in circadian clock genes in alcohol-dependent (AD) patients support a relationship between circadian clock gene dysregulation and drinking in humans.
A new survey of child psychiatrists indicates that insomnia is a major problem among children in mental health treatment and at least a quarter of these patients are given sleep medication. The results of the survey, conducted by Judith Owens, MD, a sleep expert with Hasbro Children’s Hospital, and colleagues, suggests that management of insomnia in this population is a common practice, although the clinical approach varies widely. The study is published in the August 2010 edition of Sleep Medicine.
About 40 million people in the United States today suffer from tinnitus, an irritating and sometimes debilitating auditory disorder in which a person “hears” sounds, such as ringing, that do not actually exist. There is no cure for what has long been a mysterious ailment, but new research suggests there may, someday, be a way to alleviate the sensation of this sound, says a neuroscientist from Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC).
Highly variable sleep schedules predict an elevated risk for suicide independent of depression in actively suicidal young adults, according to a research abstract that will be presented in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC. Results indicate that a sample of actively suicidal undergraduate students had a delayed mean bedtime of 2:08 a.m.; restricted total sleep time of 6.3 hours; and highly variable sleep schedules, with time of mean sleep onset varying by three hours and time of sleep offset varying by 2.8 hours.
Reports have suggested that sleep problems in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are associated with challenging daytime behaviors. A new study on a large group of youths with ASD confirms these reports and will support the development of treatments for sleep disturbances as a way to improve behavior, according to researchers from [...]
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia significantly improved sleep for patients with chronic neck or back pain and also reduced the extent to which pain interfered with their daily functioning, according to a study by University of Rochester Medical Center researchers. The study, published online by the journal Sleep Medicine, demonstrates that a behavioral intervention [...]
Chronic and severely stressful situations, like those connected to depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, have been associated with smaller volumes in “stress sensitive” brain regions, such as the cingulate region of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory formation. A new study, published by Elsevier in Biological Psychiatry, suggests that [...]
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eric Newhouse illuminates the dire circumstances that veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently encounter in his book, “Faces of Combat, PTSD and TBI: One Journalist’s Crusade to Improve Treatment for Our Veterans.” The Behavioral Medicine Report obtained the publisher’s permission to post Chapter 19 where [...]
The Scientist Research News Update series was created to give our readers a sample of ongoing genetics and hardcore science research and trends, and today’s 10-19-09 update certainly fills the bill. Read on to find out more about how late nights and irregular sleep might contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s, researchers translate complex genetic [...]
The excellent response to BMED Report’s recent review of The Big Five Inventory came as a pleasant surprise. In light of the intense reader interest, other quality psychological assessment/screening instruments that are freely available will receive occasional reviews heretofore. Healthcare practitioners, like most everyone, look for ways to save money yet to maintain the highest quality service in today’s challenging marketplace. And the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) fills this role quite nicely. Check the end of this review for links to download the PSQI and its scoring program.
The American Journal Of Managed Care made available (for free) two excellent articles on co-morbid insomnia. “Comorbid Insomnia: Current Directions and Future Challenges” provides an excellent background and overview of this complicated sleep disorder, while “Current and New Thinking in the Management of Comorbid Insomnia” reviews current medications along with a short explanation of behavioral [...]
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