HealthDay (9/13, Dallas) reports, “People who take medication for anxiety, depression or insomnia may be at greater risk of having a car accident than drivers not taking psychotropic” medications, according to a study published Sept. 13 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. After comparing medication “use in nearly 5,200 people involved in major car accidents with that of more than 31,000 similar people with no record of serious accidents,” the researchers concluded that physicians “should think about advising patients not to drive while taking these medications.”

Related Links:

— “Psych, Sleep Meds May Affect Driving, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 12, 2012.

MedWire (9/13, Cowen) reports, “Higher levels of perceived stigma are associated with poorer functioning in patients with bipolar disorder (BD),” according to a study published in the Oct. Issue of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. After studying “60 outpatients (73% women) with BD who were aged an average of 48 years,” researchers “also found that increased depressive symptoms, older age at diagnosis, and older age at onset of treatment were significantly associated with poorer functioning in patients with the mood disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Stigma impacts functioning in bipolar disorder, “Mark Cowen, MedWire News, September 13, 2012.

The New York Times (9/12, Reynolds) “Well” blog reports that “a growing and very appealing body of science has established that exercise spurs the creation of new brain cells, a process known as neurogenesis.” According to a study published last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “male sex hormones surge in the brain after exercise and could be helping to remodel the mind. The research was conducted on young, healthy and exclusively male rats – but scientists believe it applies to female rats, too, as well as other mammals, including humans.”

Related Links:

— “How Testosterone May Alter the Brain After Exercise, “Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times, September 12, 2012.

MedWire (9/12, Cowen) reports, “The occurrence of hallucinations and delusions is associated with poorer mental health outcomes in the nonclinical general population,” according to a study published online Sept. 4 in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. After examining “data on 225,842 individuals (55.6% women), aged 18-65 years (mean age 37.3 years) from 52 countries, who answered questions about psychotic symptoms as part of the World Health Organization’s World Health Survey,” researchers “also found that people who experience both hallucinations and delusions have poorer mental health outcomes than those who experience either of these symptoms in isolation.”

Related Links:

— “Hallucinations, delusions linked to poorer outcomes in general population, “Mark Cowen, MedWire, September 12, 2012.

The Time (9/11, Sifferlin) “Healthland” blog reports, “Children of moms who reported depressive symptoms during the first nine months after giving birth were more likely to be shorter than their peers by the time they reached preschool age,” according to a study published online Sept. 10 in the journal Pediatrics.

HealthDay (9/11, Goodwin) reports that for the study, “researchers examined data on 10,700 children from the nationally representative US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort. The children were born in 2001 and followed through 2007.”

Related Links:

— “Mom’s Depression May Lead to Shorter Kids, “Alexandra Sifferlin, TIME Healthland, September 10, 2012.