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A new study looked at the treatment of insured children (average age 12) after they experience a first mental health episode. Most of these children were experiencing anxiety or depression. “We looked at the treatment of these children received in the three months after the incident and focused on whether they had received any follow-up care in that interval, whether they received any therapy, and the types of drugs they received if they received drugs,” study author Janet Currie told us. [More]

Infertility is defined as a person not being able to conceive or become pregnant after one year of unprotected sex. About one in six couples in Canada experience infertility. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, about 12 per cent of women aged 15-44 have difficulty becoming pregnant. Mental health struggles can follow a couple’s journey of attempting to become pregnant. Studies have shown that after one year of infertility, a woman is twice as likely to become depressed. Research has also shown that high anxiety can deter a woman’s changes of becoming pregnant. A new study published in PLOS One looked at the psychological impact of fertility treatment suspensions during the COVID-19 pandemic. [More]

A study from researchers at the University of Toronto found that those with suboptimal mental health died earlier than their counterparts with excellent mental health. Those who were in excellent mental health when the study started in the mid-1990s lived almost five months longer than their peers who were in poorer mental health. [More]

Sensitivity is a basic trait. It’s defined as the ability to perceive and process information about the environment. All people are sensitive but some considerably more than others. A new study published in the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry examined the genetic architecture of environmental sensitivity using a sample of 2868 adolescent twins. Twins are usually used in psychological or biological studies. Studies with twins are useful to researchers because twins share 100 per cent of their genes. That means, any differences between the twins are due to outside influences. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics looked at the number of times children visited emergency departments in the U.S. for mental health care. The purpose of the study was to describe the trends in pediatric mental health emergency department visits on a national scale. We know from other studies that often times, low pediatric volume and/or emergency departments located in non-metropolitan areas tend to be less prepared to treat children, as they may only see a few children a day. [More]

For centuries, spiritual gurus and scientists alike have been trying to answer the age old question of human consciousness: What is it? Where is it? Does it even exist? Now, a team of scientific researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered what they believe could be the area of the brain involved in generating consciousness. The study, titled: The claustrum coordinates cortical slow-wave activity, was published in the Journal of Nature Neuroscience. Researchers set out to elucidate the function of a mysterious brain region called the claustrum. [More]

A recent review published in the Journal of European Neuropsychopharmacology looked at nutritional psychiatry and whether mental health can be improved by what you eat. The popular press often provide advice to the general public about recommendations on how to improve one’s mental health by changing what we eat – specific diets, supplements or foods. A group of researchers wanted to set the record straight and explain in an informed balanced manner, the actual data behind common claims and misconceptions. [More]

A national survey by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 11.4 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds were depressed in 2014. Ruby Walker was one of them. Her book, Advice I Ignored: Stories and Wisdom from a Formerly Depressed Teen is the only book on teenage mental health written by a teenager. It answers the question everyone's been asking her: What happened? [More]

Every industrialized country in the world has a maternity leave policy of 12 weeks or more, except the United States. Currently, women make up 47 per cent of the U.S. labor force. Despite that, only 16 per cent of employed Americans have access to paid parental leave. A new study published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry looked at the impact of paid maternity leave on the mental and physical health of mothers and children. [More]

A new study published in the BMJ looked at infant sleep and child mental health. “We wanted to find out if infants with very persistent sleep difficulties had increased odds of experiencing mental health difficulties during childhood,” study author Falin Cook told us. “We wanted to know if there were specific types of mental disorders that they were more likely to experience.” [More]