Schizophrenia Related to Winter Births??

Over the past several decades, a steady stream of studies has documented that people born in winter and spring have an increased risk for schizophrenia, a serious mental illness characterized by disordered thinking, hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms.

Explanations for the increased risk have ranged from the astrological — different signs of the zodiac have been associated with various mental problems — to accounts that suggested the risk came from seasonal variations in sunlight.

Social Interaction and Cognition Training (SCIT)

A new non-drug therapy called Social Interaction and Cognition Training (SCIT) is generating interest from clinics across the country as a promising way to help people with schizophrenia interact with others. Creators David Penn and David Roberts at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dennis Combs at the University of Texas at Tyler hope that SCIT will help participants understand intentions and dispositions.

New atypical going to phase II clinical trials

Schizophrenia.com is reporting that a new Clozapine like drug is entering stage II clinical trials.

ACP-104 is a actually a chemical called N-desmethylclozapine, a major
metabolite of clozapine (trade name Clorazil). Its development, which has been supported in part by the Stanley Medical Research Center, is designed to provide an atypical antipsychotic level of effectiveness with the added potential benefit of enhanced thinking ability, or cognition.

Get drunk faster after bariatric surgery

Planning on getting bariatric surgery? Are you one of the 150,000 Americans who have had the surgery? Then pay attention to this press release from the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

A new US study suggests that people who have bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) to lose weight are likely to get drunk faster when they drink alcohol and take longer to get sober.

Schizophrenia

Are you looking for a comprehensive review for schizophrenia. The American Family Physician has an article that is informative and comprehensive. The article delves into diagnoses and treatment. Plenty of good tables as well. Enjoy!

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that affects 1 percent of the population in all cultures. It affects equal numbers of men and women, but the onset is often later in women than in men. Schizophrenia is characterized by positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include hallucinations, voices that converse with or about the patient, and delusions that are often paranoid. Negative symptoms include flattened affect, loss of a sense of pleasure, loss of will or drive, and social withdrawal.

Cannabis admissions on the rise in the U.K.

The BBC is reporting that psychiatric hospital admissions due to marijuana have risen 85% in England. Cannabis use was a contributing factor in up to 10% of schizophrenia cases, yet this was under-recognized.

The figures include people with a chronic addiction to cannabis, people with an acute cannabis psychosis as well as those with cannabis-related schizophrenia. “Psychiatrists have been telling us that 80% of patients admitted with their first episode of psychosis have been taking the drug.”

Hearing voices

I have just been turned onto a website that is dedicated to “hearing voices.”  According to the website, “If you hear voices; if you know someone who does; if you work with people who hear voices; if want to know about more about this experience. Then this site is for you.”

I have not had time to explore the entire site. The site is packed corner to corner with information. If you or a loved one has any experience with hearing voices, check this site out, www.intervoiceonline.org.

Because hearing voices is a much stigmatised experience we wanted to create a safe place where you can find out more about hearing voices and to create an interactive online community where you can let us know about your point of view or experience.

NIMH schizophrenia research

NIMH has published research news that describes antipsychotic use and schizophrenia treatment. Apparently, no one second generation antipsychotic out-performs first generation antipsychotics. The study is published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Follow the link below to read the full article.

The results run contrary to previous studies, and the widely held belief, that the newer, second-generation antipsychotics are better than the older medications in improving schizophrenia patients’ cognitive skills.

Schizophrenia Awareness Week May 20-26

This week is Schizophrenia Awareness Week. The following is from the National Schizophrenia Foundation:

• It is estimated that more than 2.1 million Americans now have schizophrenia. There are more Americans with schizophrenia than there are residents of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming combined.
• Schizophrenia can be found in approximately 1% of the world’s population, regardless of racial, ethnic or even economic background.
• Three-quarters of persons with schizophrenia develop the illness between 16 and 25 years of age.
• The disorder tends to “run” in families, but only among blood relatives.
• To be diagnosed as having schizophrenia, one must have associated symptoms for at least six months.
• Studies have indicated that 25 percent of those having schizophrenia recover completely, 50 percent are improved over a 10-year period, and 25 percent do not improve over time.
• Treatment and other economic costs due to schizophrenia are enormous, estimated between $32.5 and $65 billion.
• Between one-third and one-half of all homeless adults have schizophrenia.
• Fifty percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have received no treatment.

Discovery of new brain rhythm

The following is a press release from Florida Atlantic University. Researchers were able to identify brain rhythms during social interactions. The press release gets technical in language. From what I can make of it, researchers are hoping to understand brain rhythms of “normal” brains during socialization. Hopin g that further study of autistic or schizophrenic brains will shed light on those conditions.

“The ground-breaking research by Dr. Scott Kelso and colleagues leading to the discovery of this new brain rhythm related to human social interactions opens up the potential to now understand how and why we as humans relate to each other the way we do,” said Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, vice president for research at FAU.
“Moreover, this exciting new finding may lead to a better understanding of and better diagnostic protocols for various neuropsychiatric disorders.”