Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often diagnosed too late in children and adolescents. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Susanne Walitza and her colleagues point out that appropriate early recognition and treatment can positively affect the course of the disease. The publisher made the original journal article available at no cost for unknown length of time; check the the end ...

A new study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a group of Dutch investigators headed by Paul Emmelkamp indicates that personality disturbances can be treated. Type B personality disorders center on those with dramatic or erratic behavior and most commonly diagnosed as Histrionic (Hysterical) Personality disorder [1]. ...

When psychotherapy helps someone get better, what does that change look like in the brain? This was the question a team of Canadian psychological scientists set out to investigate in patients suffering from social anxiety disorder. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science. ...

A recent study by Merikangas and colleagues published in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) shows that only half of adolescents that are affected with severely impairing mental disorders ever receive treatment for their disorders. Included in this report is link to a podcast interview with Dr. Merikangas. ...

Adolescents and young adults experience mental disorders, yet frequently tend not to seek help. Researchers set out to summarize reported barriers and facilitators of help-seeking in young people using both qualitative research from surveys, focus groups, and interviews and quantitative data from published surveys. The results appeared in the open access journal, BMC Psychiatry. Check the end of this report ...

The National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) announced the release of "Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder): Always Embarrassed" in their continuing series of free e-booklets that demystify common psychological disorders. Included in this review is a link to download this 6-page, full color e-booklet in PDF format. ...

The rate of depression treatment increased between 1998 and 2007 but at a slower rate than during the previous decade, and the percentage of patients treated with psychotherapy continued to decline, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ...

Despite the existence of effective programs for treating alcohol dependencies and disorders, less than a quarter of people who are diagnosed actually seek treatment. In a recent study by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health researchers report that people diagnosed with alcoholism at some point in their lifetime were more than 60% less likely to seek treatment if they believed they would be ...

A treatment model designed to accommodate the beliefs and concerns of Chinese immigrants appears to significantly improve the recognition and treatment of major depression in this typically underserved group. In a report in the December American Journal of Public Health, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team describes how their model for screening and assessing patients for depression in a pr ...

A brain scan with functional MRI (fMRI) is enough to predict which patients with pediatric anxiety disorder will respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or “talk therapy,” and so may not need to use psychiatric medication, say neuroscientists from Georgetown University Medical Center. The results of the study are being presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. ...