A one-page, 27-item questionnaire that is available free online is a valid and effective tool to help primary care doctors screen patients for four common psychiatric illnesses, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers concludes. Results of the My Mood Monitor (M-3) checklist study are published in the March/April 2010 issue of Annals of Family Medicine...

A paper that is published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics analyzes the role of exercise treatment in mood swings. Outcomes are frequently suboptimal for patients with bipolar disorder who are treated with pharmacotherapy alone...

For the second time in as many months the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has signed a licensing agreement with US-based Athena Diagnostics Inc. to market a new genetic test. The test was developed by CAMH scientist Dr. John Vincent as well as independent clinical researcher Dr. Muhammad Ayub. It is based on their research into genetic causes of intellectual disability...

The Wall Street Journal: "Mental-health experts wrestling with how to fit temper tantrums, hoarding and even Internet addiction into the current understanding of mental illness are proposing changes to the field's primary reference for diagnoses for the first time in 16 years...

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affect tens of millions of individuals around the world. These disorders have a typical onset in the early twenties and in most cases have a chronic or recurring course. Neither disorder has an objective biological marker than can be used to make diagnoses or to guide treatment...

Innovative neuroscience research and expanded clinical care have been launched at the new Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. "New research here is trying to pinpoint the neurobiological mechanisms involved in mood disorders," said Jair Soares, M.D...

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine examines the impact of a safety warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration for commonly prescribed antipsychotic medications...

For people with bipolar I disorder*, for whom long-term therapy is clinically indicated, both combination therapy with lithium plus valproate and lithium monotherapy are more likely to prevent relapse than is valproate monotherapy. This benefit seems to be irrespective of baseline severity of illness and is maintained for up to 2 years...

Two Brown University faculty members have received federal funding for innovative new neuroscience research projects focusing on brain development in infants and bipolar disorder in children. Sean Deoni, assistant professor of engineering, plans to use his $2...

Despite government warnings about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions while taking antiepileptic drugs, these medications do not appear to be associated with increased risk of suicide attempts in individuals with bipolar disorder, and may have a possible protective effect, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the J...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zyprexa® (olanzapine) in tablet form as an option for the treatment of schizophrenia and manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder in adolescents aged 13-17 years old...

Once again, the National Bipolar Foundation and the MedicAlert Foundation receive a proclamation endorsing their "Safe 'til Stable" program, which is now being widely accepted as a preventive health care measure for bipolar disorder. Today, the National Bipolar Foundation received a proclamation of endorsement via Federal Express Priority Mail from the Lt. Governor of Louisiana Mitch Landrieu...

Pfizer announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Geodon® (ziprasidone HCI) Capsules for maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder as an adjunct to lithium or valproate in adults...