Latest Psychosis Stories

People who inherit a specific form of a gene that puts them on a road to schizophrenia may be protected against some forms of cancer, according to a new study by scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.The MET proto-oncogene is activated in a variety of tumor malignancies. The gene has recently also been linked to autism and has a role in neurodevelopment, which is why Katherine E. Burdick, PhD and her colleagues decided to look for a relationship between MET and...

HAMILTON, N.J., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- MedAvante, Inc., the leader in centralized evaluation of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced today that it has been contracted to provide psychiatric rating services for a five-year, $25 million study of schizophrenia sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The multi-center study is part of the NIMH-funded Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) project, and is being led by a group of researchers at...

Older adults newly admitted to nursing homes with high rates of antipsychotic prescribing in the previous year are more likely to receive antipsychotic agents, according to a report in the January 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Of these treated patients, some had no identified clinical indication for this therapy.In 2007, almost one-third of U.S. nursing home residents received antipsychotic drugs, according to background information in the...

Schizophrenia is a Chronic, Severe and Disabling Mental Disorder Affecting 2.4 million Americans Novartis announced that Fanapt(TM) (iloperidone), the company's schizophrenia treatment, is now available for use across the US. Fanapt is a twice-daily, oral antipsychotic, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2009 for the acute treatment of schizophrenia in adults. Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling mental disorder, affecting 2.4 million...

Black men are over-diagnosed with schizophrenia at least five times higher than any other group"”a trend that dates back to the 1960s, according to new University of Michigan research.Race-based misdiagnosis emerged in the context of the civil rights era of the 1960s and 1970s, when activism became equated with mental illness, says Jonathan Metzl, an associate professor of psychiatry and women's studies.Metzl examined archives of Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and learned...

Mouse study links timing of expression to various abnormalitiesScientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Now, new research led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that perturbing this gene during prenatal periods, postnatal periods or both may have different effects in mice, leading to separate types of brain alterations and behaviors with resemblance to schizophrenia...

Researchers Use Biomarkers to Identify Emerging Illness at Early StageIdentifying visual and auditory sensory deficits in adolescents who are just beginning to develop schizophrenia might help restore sensory function and prevent illness development altogether, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Researchers found that impairment in basic sensory processing abilities cause many of the more complicated cognitive...

New research suggests that those smoking potent "skunk" marijuana have a greater chance of developing psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia than people smoking other types of cannabis. The research shows that regular users have twice the risk of developing psychosis, while skunk users increase their risk by seven-fold. The findings, published in British Journal of Psychiatry, come only weeks after the UK's chief drugs adviser was fired after criticizing the government's decision to...

Overall, antipsychotic medications are reasonably effective, and fairly well tolerated treatments for mood and psychotic disorders. However, treatment with a number of antipsychotic medications is associated with weight gain, and for some, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia. In the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, researchers discuss this cluster of metabolic side effects and how it may contribute to the risk for diabetes, hypertension, and other medical disorders...

Falls among elderly people are significantly associated with several classes of drugs, including sedatives often prescribed as sleep aids and medications used to treat mood disorders, according to a study led by a University of British Columbia expert in pharmaceutical outcomes research.The study, published Nov. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, provides the latest quantitative evidence of the impact of certain classes of medication on falling among seniors. Falling and fall-related...