New research, carried out at the University of Leicester, suggests that the British press may be guilty of promoting distorted views of mental illness.

Katy-Louise Morgan, Leicester’s Department of Media and Communication graduate says, “Both the tabloid and the broadsheet press have consistently given disproportionate and sensationalized coverage to psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, often linking them to serious crime. This is producing a very damaging misunderstanding not only of such psychotic conditions but is also damaging the portrayal of the more common neurotic illnesses”.

Unrealistic links between mental illness and violent crimes are often made by readers due to news of violent crimes such as murder being reported most commonly in connection with psychotic illness.

“The misconception is two-fold. Firstly, schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses are actually among the least common of all mental illnesses. Secondly, not all schizophrenics are murderers nor conversely are all murderers schizophrenic.” Indeed, most schizophrenic patients are not prone to violence” Miss Morgan added.

A study following almost 2,000 people for up to 10 years suggests drinking fruit and vegetable juices frequently may significantly cut the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Apparently the risk was 76% lower for those who frequently drank juice (more than three times a week) compared to those who drank it less than once a week.

Harriet Millward, of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said, “Many scientists believe there is a link between the release of free radicals within the body and early changes to brain cells in people who ultimately go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Since fruit and vegetable juices are rich in antioxidants which ‘mop up’ free radicals, this interesting piece of research adds weight to this theory.”

According to an article on BBC News, anger can compromise lung function. Research, led by Dr Rosalind Wright of Harvard Medical School, found those with high levels of hostility had poorer lung function than their happier peers. The US team followed 670 male military veterans and also found that the angriest men suffered a more rapid decline in lung capacity.

The researchers believe that “anger and hostility could be affecting neurological and hormonal processes, which in turn could cause chronic inflammation in some of the body’s systems, such as the lungs”. Dr Wright continued by saying, “it could change the way we think about screening for risk factors and could inform different types of interventions - such as cognitive behavioural therapy”.

Dr John Moore-Gillon, a lung specialist and spokesman for the British Thoracic Society, said, “the research highlights our growing awareness of the close links between the mind and the body, and the years to come may lead to further important insights.”

According to a seperate article published on the same study, getting angry also ages you and leaves you breathless.

A new study has looked at alcoholics who have been sober for 6 months to 13 years - and the results indicate that long-term abstinent alcoholics can recover many - but not all - of their neurocognitive deficits.

“We found that the cognitive and mental abilities of middle-aged alcoholics who had been abstinent for six months to 13 years are indistinguishable from those of age and gender comparable non-alcoholics,” said George Fein, president of and senior scientist at Neurobehavioral Research, “with the possible exception of spatial processing abilities”.

However, Fein continued, “we cannot definitively say that these individuals had deficits when they stopped drinking. We don’t have data on this. Furthermore, these people were middle-aged. We’re not saying that you will have full recovery if you stop drinking in your 50s or 60s; we are saying that these people stopped drinking earlier, and they appear to have close-to-full recovery function.”

Via Medical News Today

Dr Philip Severn and Dr Scott Fraser, of the Sunderland Eye Infirmary, report in The Lancet that a woman has severely damaged her vision by taking a steroid drug purchased from an online pharmaceutical company in Thailand for four years.

The unnamed woman was found to have glaucoma and cataracts when she went to hospital - it turned out her condition had been caused by the steroid drug.

Dr Severn said, “The expansion of the internet is relentless and, from the perspective of patients seeking information, in the main positive. However, the online availability of controlled and uncontrolled drug therapies needs to be carefully monitored.”

Dr Severn added, “As the internet evolves so should our method of taking a medical history”.

Via Life Style Extra

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, Scots suicide rate is the highest in the UK. From 1991 to 2004 the suicide rate among men was 50% higher in Scotland than other UK countries, and the rate for women was double that of elsewhere.

The national suicide prevention strategy, Choose Life, was set up in 2002, and one spokeswoman claimed they were implementing specific campaigns targeted at men and that there would be initiatives connected to International Suicide Prevention Week at the start of September.

The spokeswoman also said, “Encouragingly, most recent figures have shown an 8.6% decrease in suicides from last year and the number of suicides in 2005 was the lowest reported since 1991″.

According to tests conducted on mice, researchers found improvement in the health of the brains of rats that had eaten berries, compared with those who had not. “Berries vary in their nutrient mixes and may have different brain effects, but that’s not certain yet,” said the researcher.

The study was conducted on 60 young male rats, who were split into three groups. The researchers also stated that diets rich in berries may help the aging brain stay sharp. These findings have a long way to go before any conclusive results are found, and it’s unknown if these findings will even apply to human brains, but it’s worth a shot!

According to an article in The Guardian, the results of almost 50 clinical studies on t’ai chi revealed that ‘the almost meditative state of calmness it produces reduced anxiety and stress, and also lowered blood pressure’. Another study two years ago showed that t’ai chi boosts the immune system, which helps to raise protection against common viruses by 50%. Maybe there’s more to the martial art of t’ai chi than we realise?

Three brisk 30-minute walks each week could help ease depression according to researchers at America’s Duke University. The walks had greater effects on reducing depression than drugs from the same family as Prozac. A sperate study at the University of Texas showed that a 30-minute walk offered a mental “pick me up” for the moderately depressed, giving them an instant lift.

Via The Guardian

Self-harming is clearly more widespread than previously thought; this new study of self-harm amongst 15 and 16 year olds in England found that girls are four times more likely to have tried to self-harm compared to boys, and 11% of girls and 3% of boys admitted that they had self-harmed within the last year.

In a survey of more than 6,000 15 and 16-year-old school pupils, one in ten teenage girls self-harm each year. The research, which was carried out with Samaritans, has been published in the new book, By their own young hand, which is available at Amazon for under £20.

Apparently new research shows that depressed single people receive greater psychological benefits from getting married than those who are not depressed. Adrianne Frech, co-author of the study, states “Our findings question the common assumption that marriage is always a good choice for all individuals”.

Overall, the results suggest that marriage doesn’t have equal benefits for everyone.

An article in the British Medical Journal claims that a review published last week confirms ‘counselling can achieve a reduction in work related stress in more than 50% of people’. Levels of sickness and absense fell and small, but significant, positive effects were seen on levels of job commitment, job satisfaction and work functioning.

According to a post on Counselling Resource, 1 in every 12 young people have self-harmed in the UK. This is a shocking statistic and equates to at least two children in every school classroom.

If you are self-harming, or you’re worried a friend or relative is doing so, more help can be found on the Mental Health Foundation’s website. A booklet can be downloaded called ‘the truth about self-harm…for young people and their friends and families’, which explains why it happens, how to deal with it and understand it.