Harvard Mental Health Letter articles from October 2006

Harvard Mental Health Letter archives from October 2006

Complicated grief.
October 1, 2006... Looking for help when mourning persists and intensifies. Except for those who die too young, grief is an unavoidable and normal experience. But it can take intense and disturbing forms that surprise a bereaved person, including forms that...

ADHD update: New data on the risks of medication.(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
October 1, 2006... Medications -- chiefly the stimulants dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate -- are the only proven treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with its symptoms of distractibility, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. But the...

Reviving the study of hallucinogens.
October 1, 2006... The word "psychedelic," invented by the psychiatrist Humphry Osmond in the 1950s, comes from Greek roots that mean "mind-revealing." An experiment conducted in 2005 at Johns Hopkins University suggests that this term accurately describes an...

In Brief; Racial diversity and jury deliberations.
October 1, 2006... Racially mixed juries deliberate more carefully and thoroughly than all-white juries in racially charged cases, according to an experiment reported in 2006 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. But this effect is independent of...

In Brief; A new sleeping pill.(usage of ramelteon)
October 1, 2006... The most widely used prescription sleeping pills are benzodiazepines, including lorazepam (Ativan) and the related drugs zolpidem (Ambien) and eszopiclone (Lunesta). Some physicians and patients also favor antidepressants, especially trazodone...

In Brief; Schizophrenia and the metabolic syndrome.
October 1, 2006... Results from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study show that people with schizophrenia, especially women, are exceptionally vulnerable to the metabolic syndrome. This set of health risks includes at...

Commentary; Violence as a medical issue.
October 1, 2006... The McLaughlin Report host introduced the issue this way: "Road rage drivers are not just angry. They're crazy. So says research from Harvard and the University of Chicago. The new sickness is called IED -- intermittent explosive disorder....