Support Our Work

Please donate so we can continue our work to reduce the stigma of psychiatric illness, encourage research, and support educational activities for behavioral health professionals and the public. Ways you can donate and help are on our Support and Donations page. Thank you!

More Info

Latest News Around the Web

Teens’ Brains May Make Them More Susceptible To Addiction, Small Study Indicates

Reuters (12/31, Rapaport) reports that a small magnetic resonance imaging study published online Dec. 8 in the Journal of Adolescent Health revealed that teenage participants who identified themselves as smokers had heightened responses in dopamine-rich brain regions after watching videos of actors smoking. According to the study authors, the maturing teenage dopamine system causes the brain as a whole to react more significantly to rewards and thrills, which may render adolescents more susceptible to addiction.

Related Links:

— “Teen smokers may be hard-wired to crave cigarettes,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, December 30, 2015.

Many Patients Who Overdose On Opioids Continue To Get The Medications, Study Finds

The Los Angeles Times (12/29, Kaplan) reports in “Science Now” that “even after overdosing on opioid medications, more than nine out of 10 patients continued to get prescriptions for the powerful” pain medicines, a study published online Dec. 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicated. Consequently, some patients “went on to suffer another overdose,” the study of 2,848 opioid overdose patients found.

The CBS News (12/29, Marcus) website reports that “seventy percent received prescriptions from the same” healthcare professional “who prescribed opioids before their first overdose.” The study “only included patients on private insurance and did not take into account those on Medicare and Medicaid who might also be vulnerable to opioid overdoses, said” lead author Marc LaRochelle, MD. The research “was primarily of patients prescribed the powerful” medications “for musculoskeletal pain – such as lower back or knee pain, for example – not cancer patients.”

Related Links:

— “More than 90% of people who overdosed on prescription painkillers can still get refills, study says,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2015.

CDC Studies Outbreak Of Gun Violence In Wilmington, Delaware

The New York Times (12/25, A20, Bidgood, Subscription Publication) reported on a study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an outbreak of gun violence in Wilmington, DE. The Times said that shootings had gone up 45% between 2011 and 2013 and have remained stubbornly high.

The Times pointed out that researchers have called the study “a fairly rare look at gun violence by an agency that they say has been effectively limited for nearly two decades in pursuing that line of inquiry by its congressional appropriation.” The study concluded, “The majority of individuals involved in urban firearm violence are young men with substantial violence involvement preceding the more serious offense of a firearm crime.”

Related Links:

— “When Gun Violence Felt Like a Disease, a City in Delaware Turned to the C.D.C.,” Jesse Bidgood, , December 24, 2015.

CDC Data Reveal Where Americans Kill Each Other Most Often

The Washington Post (12/24, Ingraham) “Wonkblog” reported that according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “the risk of being killed by another person is lowest in New England and the upper Midwest, and highest in the deep South, particularly Mississippi and Louisiana.” The Post pointed out that Louisiana’s age-adjusted homicide rate of 11.67 per 100,000 people and Mississippi is a close second, at 11.41.

The Post also explained that the District of Columbia’s homicide rate is 13.67 deaths per 100,000 but that “comparing it to the more geographically diverse states isn’t very meaningful.” The Post wrote that “the homicide rate in Louisiana is a whopping nine times higher than the rate in New Hampshire, the state with the lowest homicide rate.”

Related Links:

— “Where Americans are most likely to kill each other,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, December 23, 2015.

Kids in Single Parent And In Step Families 3x Prone to Mental Health Problems

The Telegraph (UK) (12/27, Donnelly) reported that “a major study” conducted by University College London researchers suggests that youngsters “brought up by single parents and in step families are three times as likely to suffer from mental health problems.” The study, which included some “10,000 children, found that those brought up by both natural parents are far less likely to suffer severe emotional and behavioural problems.”

Related Links:

— “Children brought up by both parents far less likely to suffer mental ill-health,” Laura Donnelly, The Telegraph (UK), December 26, 2015.

Foundation News

Nothing Found

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching can help.