Those who suffer from anorexia may be predisposed to the condition and develop it in the womb, reports the Guardian website. A new study monitored girls and women from the UK, Norway, and America aged between 12 and 25 who had been admitted to clinics for anorexia. Researchers discovered that 70% of participants had damage read more »

New figures show that more women are suffering from mental health problems, reports The Independent. The number of women being referred to a NHS psychiatrist is rising faster then men. In the last year the number of referrals rose 3.4%, with over 70% of that number being made up of women. The figures, published by read more »

There has been a sharp rise over the last three years in the number of people self-harming, reports The Independent. The biggest rise has been amongst women aged 16-24, and in 2007 one in eight women admitted they have self harmed, an 80% increase since 2000. More than 6,000 people were admitted to hospital after read more »

An exhibition opening in London today shows pictures by those who use art to deal with their mental illness, reports The Guardian. The paintings are by artist Bobby Baker, who created over 711 paintings which charts her battle with depression over the last 11 years. Whilst receiving psychiatric treatment, she also decided to paint to read more »

The way the brain reacts to the high achieved from gambling can make it harder to recover from an addiction, according to article on The Times website. After habitually doing something that ends in a reward, the brain starts to react with ‘prediction neurons’ – it responds when it believes the reward is coming, and read more »

An article on The Guardian website today written by a former anorexic is calling for more help and support for sufferers of anorexia. Over the last decade there has been an 80% rise in those being admitted to hospital with anorexia, and out of all those diagnosed with the condition, 30% will continue to suffer read more »

The recession has triggered symptoms of depression in those facing unemployment or money worries, so the government is to announce new plans for more counselling and ‘talking-therapy services’ reports the Guardian. The plans include a new NHS Direct hotline where people can talk to trained therapists as well as more advice available in job centres read more »

Children who are unhappy are more likely to suffer from illness later in life, reports the BBC. A study led by Kings College London and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry monitored 7,100 people who were born between 1950 and 1955 in and around Aberdeen. The children’s teachers were asked to note their behaviour, read more »

Children who have a less active lifestyle are more likely to develop asthma, a new study has shown. 3,000 were tracked from birth to age 11, and parents were asked to track any symptoms of wheezing, as well as their television viewing habits, according to the BBC website. By the end of the study, 6% read more »