John Moloney T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health announced the first round of grants, totalling over 2.6m euros, awarded by the Genio Trust to support transition from institutional to personalised models of care in disability and mental health services...

The oil spill ravaging the Gulf of Mexico has inflicted widespread psychological distress among coastal residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, etching scars even deeper than those whipped by Hurricane Katrina, according to a survey by Ochsner Health System, a nonprofit, academic healthcare delivery system...

Two powerful new tests developed by psychologists at Harvard University show great promise in predicting patients' risk of attempting suicide. The work may help clinicians overcome their reliance on self-reporting by at-risk individuals, information that often proves misleading when suicidal patients wish to hide their intentions...

In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state - about 4.9 million people - said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem...

Mind's Chief Executive Paul Farmer has joined a scrutiny group which will advise and challenge the independent review set up to look at the fairness and accuracy of the Work Capacity Assessment (WCA), a move which will ensure that the voices of people with experience of mental distress are represented at the highest level in the ongoing review of welfare reform...

This month Journal of Mental Health features a special issue on diagnosing mental illness...

The USU-HJF Military Medicine Symposium will gather prominent civilian and military researchers and clinicians from across the United States to discuss current research and identify opportunities to collaborate and share information that could speed treatments to wounded warriors...

Seaside Therapeutics, Inc. announced data from the largest randomized, placebo-controlled study conducted to date in individuals with fragile X syndrome. In a Phase 2 study of STX209, clinically meaningful improvements on global and specific neurobehavioral outcomes were observed in the general study population...

Victims of the on-going conflict in Colombia not only suffer from the direct consequences of violence caused by the conflict but also from social and institutional stigma and neglect, according to a report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)...

The AMA welcomes today's announcement of a greater investment by Labor in mental health services. AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said it is another downpayment on the bigger long-term investment needed to make a real difference in meeting the growing mental health needs of the community...

The ranks of China's millionaires continue to grow, but the increased wealth has done little to boost the country's gross domestic happiness, according to psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley. They say the pursuit of prosperity in the nation is fast outpacing mental health and well-being, and are seeking to correct that imbalance by spreading the science of happiness in China...

Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry will be one of the experts casting a critical eye over the mental health policies of the major parties at a forum tomorrow at The Australian National University. What: Youth mental health: is anybody listening? When: 8.30am to 9...

The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) has welcomed today's announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon of additional funding for mental health services, saying it will help increase access to mental healthcare for rural and remote Australians...

A new survey of child psychiatrists indicates that insomnia is a major problem among children in mental health treatment and at least a quarter of these patients are given sleep medication...

Mental Health America announced it has launched the Mental Health America Support Community-a new online community that connects families, friends, and caregivers for support and inspiration. The community has been created in partnership with Inspire, which works with nonprofits to provide safe, online health and wellness communities to help members live mentally healthier lives...

New investments in mental health care announced by the government today will pay dividends, according to the Australian Psychological Society...

New research shows people with severe depression find it harder to interpret facial expressions than healthy people - particularly expressions of disgust. The study, published in the August issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, was carried out by researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand...

XenoPort, Inc. (Nasdaq:XNPT) announced that it has discovered a novel prodrug that has the potential to improve significantly the blood concentration of acamprosate compared with the currently approved formulation of acamprosate. Preclinical data on this new product candidate will be presented at the National Fragile X Foundation's 12th International Fragile X Conference in Detroit, Michigan...

Chicago Tribune: The American Civil Liberties Union says in court papers that some for-profit nursing home operators are using "scare tactics" to persuade psychiatric patients to stay in their facilities...

Psychiatry, unlike many other areas of medicine, lacks diagnostic blood tests. Blood tests have been extremely useful in helping doctors make medical diagnoses and aiding them in treatment options for conditions and diseases in most medical fields...