Scientists are making progress towards a better understanding of the neuropathology associated with debilitating psychiatric illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. New research, published by Cell Press in the July 15 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals mechanisms that connect a known psychiatric risk gene to disruptions in brain cell proliferation and migration during development...

Better treatment for people with bipolar disease and other mental illnesses is likely to come from properly tested combinations of existing therapies, according to leading psychiatry researcher Professor John Geddes...

A single MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan may soon help hundreds of thousands of people with bipolar disorder to get a faster, more accurate - and possibly life-saving - diagnosis, a leading researcher reported at the Royal College of Psychiatrists' International Congress...

Nearly half of patients hospitalized with bipolar disorder may suffer from hypertension, and the younger a person is diagnosed with the psychiatric condition the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure, according to a recent Michigan State University study...

Full-Service Partnerships (FSPs) are designed to do 'whatever it takes' to improve residential stability and mental health outcomes for homeless persons with serious mental illness. They are the cornerstone of California's Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) - one of the largest mental health policy experiments in recent history...

Lithium is the most effective treatment for bipolar disorder. However, its use is limited because of neurological side effects and a risk for overdose-induced toxicity. Many of the beneficial effects of lithium are mediated by its inhibition of GSK-3 proteins, but whether this is the mechanism underlying its negative effects has not been determined...

Inhibitors of GSK-3 proteins are being developed as potential therapeutics for numerous conditions, including bipolar disorder, Alzheimer disease, and diabetes...

Schizoaffective disorder is characterized by a combination of schizophrenia and affective (mood) disorder symptoms - there is disagreement on whether it is a type of mood disorder or schizophrenia. However, most health care professionals (clinicians) agree it is mainly a form of schizophrenia; not all experts agree on whether it should be treated as a distinct disorder...

Though it has been prescribed for over 50 years to treat bipolar disorder, there are still many questions regarding exactly how lithium works. However, in a study appearing in this month's Journal of Lipid Research, researchers have provided solid evidence that lithium reduces brain inflammation by adjusting the metabolism of the health-protective omega-3-fatty acid called DHA...

A study from Rhode Island Hospital finds patients who were "over-diagnosed" with bipolar disorder were more likely to have received disability payments and for a longer period of time. The researchers propose a link between these unconfirmed cases of bipolar disorder and the receipt of the payments...

Shifting children from the controversial diagnosis of bipolar disorder to one that more accurately reflects their symptoms will not by itself decrease the rate of psychopharmacologic treatment and is not enough to help troubled children flourish, according to a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institut...

USA Today: "On average, a seriously mentally ill person in the USA is three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, a report concludes today...

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is calling on Congress for greater scientific research, mental health grants to offset massive state budget cuts and an end to a backlog in the processing of Social Security disability claims. NAMI Executive Director Michael J...

Patrick Sullivan, MD has received a 2010 Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD for a comparison of genetics in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His project is one of 15 selected out of 170 proposals submitted by researchers worldwide. Each project will each receive $100,000 annually in support of one year of research. Sullivan, who is Ray M...

Two Cardiff University academics, both leaders in different aspects of neuroscience research, have received one of the leading honours in medical science. Professor Alun Davies, of the University's School of Biosciences, and Professor Nick Craddock, of the School of Medicine, have been elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences...

Repligen Corporation (Nasdaq: RGEN) announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted a Notice of Allowance of a patent covering the use of uridine in the treatment of patients with bipolar disorder...

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will hold its 24th Annual Mood Disorders Research and Education Symposium on April 20, focusing on joint efforts between researchers and clinicians to study and treat depression and bipolar disease. Speakers on these topics from Hopkins and elsewhere will give talks from 12:45 p.m. to 6 p.m...

Genetic testing may rise to a new level with the findings of Indiana University School of Medicine researchers whose "prototype" for laboratory testing for bipolar disorder appears today in the online edition of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics...