Harvard Mental Health Letter articles from January 2008

Harvard Mental Health Letter archives from January 2008

Psychological aspects of bariatric surgery.
January 1, 2008... Surgeons may focus on the gut, but it's also important to consider the brain. Bariatric surgery, which enables people who are severely obese to lose significant amounts of weight, is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. In...

Topiramate may be effective at treating alcohol dependence.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Topiramate (Topamax) shows promise in helping people who are alcohol-dependent to cut back, according to the first large controlled study to evaluate it. Researchers enrolled 371 men and women around the country. When the 14-week study...

Location of spinal cord injury may affect mental health scores.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... A small study that assessed mental health in two groups of people with spinal cord injuries and a group of able-bodied people reached a counterintuitive conclusion. People with the worst spinal cord injuries reported significantly better mental...

Possible blood test for Alzheimer's disease.(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Researchers at Stanford University have developed a blood test that, at least in a preliminary retrospective study, was highly accurate at determining who had Alzheimer's or was most at risk for it. The researchers collected more than 200...

Strains on the heart.
January 1, 2008... In the 1950s, following a heart attack, doctors would warn families to take care not to upset the convalescing patient. Some people who grew up in that era report being told, "Don't make your father angry. He could have another heart attack!"...