Recent research reports on Brain, Behavior and Memory
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Pre-trauma verbal ability at five years of age and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder in adult males and females.
Our results indicate that lower verbal ability in early childhood is a vulnerability factor for PTSD in females but not in males, and may constitute a gender-specific risk factor responsible for part of the increased risk of PTSD found in females compared with males.
National Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Sexually Revictimized Adolescent, College, and Adult Household-Residing Women.
About 53% of victimized adolescents, 50% of victimized college women, and 58.8% of victimized household-residing women reported sexual revictimization. Current PTSD was reported by 20% of revictimized adolescents, 40% of revictimized college women, and 27.2% of revictimized household-residing women. Compared with nonvictims, odds of meeting past 6-month PTSD were 4.3 to 8.2 times higher for revictimized respondents and 2.4 to 3.5 times higher for single victims.
Giving up Self-Injury: A Comparison of Everyday Social and Personal Resources in Past Versus Current Self-Injurers.
Overall, self-injurers reported significantly lower levels of perceived social support, social connectedness, resilience, self-esteem, and life satisfaction compared to those with no such history. Free full text available through link above.
Psychopathy linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain.
New research provides the strongest evidence to date that psychopathy is linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain. The study is the first to confirm that psychopathy is a distinct neurodevelopmental subgroup of anti-social personality disorder.
How cannabis use during adolescence affects brain regions associated with schizophrenia.
New research has shown physical changes to exist in specific brain areas implicated in schizophrenia following the use of cannabis during adolescence. The research has shown how cannabis use during adolescence can interact with a gene, called the COMT gene, to cause physical changes in the brain.
Scientists identify neurotranmitters that lead to forgetting.
Scientists have pinpointed a mechanism that is essential for forming memories in the first place and, as it turns out, is equally essential for eliminating them after memories have formed.
Obesity and the biological clock: When times are out of joint.
Urgent appointments, tight work timetables and hectic social schedules structure modern life, and they very often clash with our intrinsic biological rhythms. The discrepancy results in so-called social jetlag, which can damage one’s health. Among other effects, it can contribute to the development of obesity, as a new study shows.
An examination of the influence of a sequential treatment on the course and impact of dissociation among women with PTSD related to childhood abuse.
The differential results observed among the treatments depending on severity of dissociation at baseline and at posttreatment suggest the potential clinical utility of identifying a dissociative subtype of PTSD and of the benefits of sequenced, phase-oriented treatment approaches.
Blood pressure drugs linked with lower PTSD symptoms.
Traumatized people who take a class of common blood pressure medications tend to have less severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, researchers have found. The finding suggests that ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors or ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) could be valuable tools for treating or preventing post-traumatic stress disorder.
Research explores the positives of bipolar disorder.
The problems of living with bipolar disorder have been well documented, but a new study has captured the views of those who also report highly-valued, positive experiences of living with the condition.
Seeking Safety treatment for male veterans with a substance use disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology.
The manualized treatment approach for substance use disorder, Seeking Safety, is well received and associated with better drug use outcomes than 'treatment as usual' in male veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Weight loss reduces cancer risk factor.
Inflammation markers decline with diet and exercise
