Blogs / 80beats

Playing the absorbing video game Tetris immediately after a traumatic experience could reduce the most jarring symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the flashbacks in which the distressing memory invades the brain. In an odd new study, researchers showed volunteers ugly images of nasty accidents, crushed-up skulls and bloody entrails from various sources. Then they asked half of them to play Tetris. While the other half apparently did nothing…. The Tetris players apparently suffered significantly fewer nasty memories of those ugly images than did those who were left idle [CNET].

The Tetris players may have experienced fewer flashbacks because they were distracted during a crucial window of opportunity, the few hours after the traumatic incident when the brain is consolidating the memory. Says lead author Emily Holmes: “We wanted to find a way to dampen down flashbacks - the raw sensory images of trauma that are over-represented in the memories of those with PTSD. Tetris may work by competing for the brain’s resources for sensory information. We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards” [BBC News]. Playing Tetris could be considered a “cognitive vaccine” against flashbacks, Holmes suggested.

(more…)

Gay young adults who were rejected by their families when they came out as teenagers are much more likely to attempt suicide, have unprotected sex, and have problems with drug use and depression, according to a new study. The findings are based on surveys of 224 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults in California who ranged in age from 21 to 25. Gay Latinos were most likely to experience a poor reception from their parents, and had the highest rates of risk factors for HIV and mental health problems, according to the research [Scientific American].

The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics [subscription required], don’t prove that a family’s negative reaction to a child’s sexuality directly causes problems later in life. But it’s clear that “there’s a connection between how families treat gay and lesbian children and their mental and physical health” [HealthDay News] said social worker Caitlin Ryan, the study’s lead author. She found that teenagers who were rejected by their families were eight times as likely to attempt suicide, six times as likely to report serious depression, and three times as likely to have unprotected sex and use drugs.

(more…)

Happiness is catching and spreads like the flu, according to a study that followed a whole community of people for 20 years. The effect of one happy person could ripple through three degrees of separation, researchers report. “It is sometimes said that you can’t be happier than your least happy child. It is truly amazing to discover that when you replace the word ‘child’ with ‘best friend’s neighbor’s uncle,’ the sentence is still true,” [Boston Globe] said psychologist Daniel Gilbert, who was not involved in the study. The researchers liken the pattern of happiness transmission to the spread of a virus: those with the most number of happy contacts are the mostly likely to catch the happy bug.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, followed more than 4,700 people living in Framingham, Massachusetts from 1983 to 2003. The participants answered periodic questionnaires about their emotional well-being and listed the names of relatives, friends, and co-workers, many of whom were also participating in the study. Researchers found that happiness wasn’t scattered evenly throughout the population but instead seemed to spread through social networks. “Happiness is like a stampede,” said [co-author] Nicholas Christakis… “Whether you’re happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviors and thoughts, but on those of people you don’t even know” [AP].

(more…)

It’s no fun being bullied, but new research supports what many teenagers have long suspected: A victim’s pain may be a bully’s gain. A new brain imaging study of aggressive teenage boys found that watching others being bullied triggered parts of their brains associated with pleasure. “It is entirely possible their brains are lighting in the way they are because they experience seeing pain in others as exciting and fun and pleasurable,”[Reuters] said co-author Dr. Benjamin Lahey.

The study subjects were 16 boys 16 to 18 years old, half of whom had aggressive conduct disorder and half of whom had no behavioral disorder. While their brains were hooked up to functional MRIs, the boys were shown video clips of people getting hurt either by accident, such as having a heavy object dropped on their hands, or by intentional actions by others, such as someone stomping on their feet. Lahey said he expected an emotionally indifferent response to pain from subjects with conduct disorder, a mental disorder characterized by aggressive, destructive or harmful behavior towards other people and animals and can include theft, substance abuse and sexual promiscuity, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Instead, fMRI scans showed a strong but highly atypical emotional response [ABC News].

(more…)

By manipulating a single protein found in the brains of mice, researchers can wipe out a mouse’s specific, traumatic memory without damaging brain cells, a new study reports. While the process is nowhere near ready for testing in humans, researchers say it does raise the possibility of novel treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. “While memories are great teachers and obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives,” said [lead researcher] Joe Tsien [Telegraph].

Humans have the same so-called “memory molecule” in our brains, and the announcement is certain to prompt speculation that sci-fi scenarios of memory erasure are almost upon us. The concept was the premise of the popular 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which two former lovers pay a “memory-erasure” service to expunge the unhappy affair from their minds [HealthDay News].

(more…)

Teenage boys with behavior problems may be able to blame their brain chemistry, according to a new study. Psychologists studied boys with a history of antisocial behavior and measured their levels of the hormone cortisol, which usually surges during stressful situations, causing people to focus and behave more cautiously. They found that the troubled boys didn’t have the normal cortisol spike when they were put under stress, suggesting that they weren’t getting a chemical signal to regulate their emotions and actions.

Researchers say the findings suggest that some bad behavior should be considered a form of mental illness. “Most research has looked at social factors like peer groups, family life and socioeconomic factors,” said [lead researcher] Graeme Fairchild…. “These findings basically indicate that antisocial behavior is probably more biologically based than many people recognize and is similar to conditions like depression and anxiety” [Reuters].

(more…)

Older men have an increased risk of fathering children who eventually develop bipolar disorder, according to new research. It’s the latest study to refute the earlier theory that men could father children into their old age with no ill effects; other recent studies have linked older fathers to an increased risk of miscarriages, and to children with schizophrenia or autism.

The theory linking paternal age with an offspring’s health rests on the genetics of aging sperm. Spontaneous mutations can accumulate in the genes of a man’s sperm cells as he ages. These cells divide as many as 660 times by the time a man reaches 40, by some estimates. Each division increases the risk of acquiring a harmful mutation from erroneous gene copying, the theory holds [Science News]. Women are born with their full complement of eggs already in place in the ovaries, and therefore don’t have to worry about increased genetic errors as they age.

(more…)

Two large, international studies have independently found three genetic mutations that are linked to a greatly increased risk of schizophrenia, but say the rare mutations only account for a small percentage of schizophrenia cases. The identification of the three mutations is being hailed as a breakthrough, as no genetic factors had been definitively linked to the disease before. But in a finding of even greater importance, the studies suggest that there’s no easy answer to the question of what causes the devastating mental illness. Instead of a common genetic problem, schizophrenia may be triggered by many rare mutations that cause subtly different variants of the disease.

“What is beginning to emerge is that a lot of the risk of brain diseases is conferred by rare [genetic] deletions,” [study author Kari] Stefansson said…. The new focus on rare mutations suggests that natural selection is highly efficient at removing schizophrenia-causing genes from the population. Despite selection against the disease, according to this new idea, schizophrenia continues to appear because it is driven by a spate of new mutations that occur all the time in the population. [The New York Times].

(more…)

Both people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their unaffected family members show decreased activity in a brain region that’s key to decision-making, and researchers say the finding could help them identify people who are at risk of developing the disorder.

In a new study, volunteers performed a task that required mental flexibility, as the correct response changed over time. Researchers used a functional MRI to take brain scans during the experiment, and found that people with OCD and their relatives showed decreased activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. The region, located behind the eyes, helps us make decisions and keeps compulsive behaviors, such as gambling and excessive drinking, in check. Some studies have found abnormalities in this region in people with OCD, but its role in the disorder is unclear [ScienceNow Daily News].

(more…)

Medical research is getting a little groovier. In a new report, scientists declared that the active ingredient in hallucinogenic “magic mushrooms” had beneficial effects on test subjects who took the substance under a doctor’s supervision. What’s more, the effects lingered; 14 months after the experiment, more than half the subjects reported still feeling an increase in well-being or life satisfaction, in terms of things like feeling more creative, self-confident, flexible and optimistic [AP].

The experiment was one of the few conducted in the four decades since the government cracked down on hallucinogens, banning most research and listing them as a dangerous drugs. Researchers say the study marks another shift in policy, which could yield research with dramatic insights. “These drugs are no longer being confined to rats in test tubes,” said David Nichols, a Purdue University pharmacologist who was not involved in the study. “What we’re looking at is a largely unexplored technology for brain science — it was discovered in the 1940s, set the psychiatry world ablaze in the 1950s, and was aborted by widespread recreational abuse, the reaction of the media and its confluence with the Vietnam war” [Wired News].

(more…)

The antismoking drug Chantix was considered a wonder drug for about 18 months; the drug helps people quit smoking by both reducing nicotine cravings and decreasing the pleasure derived from tobacco. Then the reports of scary side effects started leaking out. In November 2007 the Food and Drug Administration announced that the drug had caused suicides, psychosis, paranoia, and hallucinations. A wonder drug no longer, Chantix began to be perceived as a crazy pill.

Yet despite the growing concerns over the drug, a recent investigation has shown that the Veterans Affairs (VA) department continued to test Chantix on veterans who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan and who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the aftermath of the revelations, Congress has called on the VA to immediately suspend the studies, and the agency is now sending letters to about 33,000 veterans who are taking the anti-smoking drug Chantix, warning them about possible side effects, including thoughts of suicide [AP].

(more…)

Three influential psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School seem to have been caught with their hands in the drug-laced cookie jar, and now they’re in big trouble. Two days after it was alleged that the three doctors failed to report a collective $4.2 million in payments from pharmaceutical companies, Harvard and the affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital have launched an investigation into the doctors’ behavior.

The scandal has revived questions about conflicts of interest within the medical profession. The three psychiatrists, Joseph Biederman, Timothy E. Wilens, and Thomas Spencer, have conducted extensive research in child psychiatry, on mental health topics including attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder and depression. They have often recommended treating young patients aggressively with medications, but they were apparently receiving large payments from the drug-makers at the same time.

(more…)