Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

TV Show "House" Helps NAMI

"Everybody Lies" is the well-known warning of the television character, Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, the star of the hit TV show, "HOUSE". Now, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has announced that the show's producers and cast members, along with the famous slogan, will benefit the organization and its work in education, support, and advocacy for individuals and families affected by mental illness. For a limited time, T-shirts from the show, emblazoned with the phrase "Everybody Lies," are being sold on-line. Says HOUSE executive producer Katie Jacobs: "Mental illness is stigmatized and misunderstood in our society, Read More...

Scientists Show How Cannabis / Marijuana May Trigger Schizophrenia

Britain's news sources, The Independent and the BBC, report that scientists have shown how "THC", the active compound in cannabis (marijuana), can trigger psychosis and schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals. The study was announced at the 2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference currently taking place in London where scientists from around the world are presenting the latest research on the effects of cannabis on the brain. The conference program and summaries for all the research presented are available online as a pdf file (here), so you can get a more accurate idea of what the studies have found. The computer Read More...

California's Mental Illness Insurance Parity Bill

An article in the San Jose Mercury News tells about a mental illness insurance parity bill, AB423, going before the California Assembly's health committee, and the irony of Santa Clara County supervisors considering cutting $34 million from the mental health budget next year. The county proposes closing four community clinics at a time of shortage of care for people with severe mental illnesses. In spite of a 1999 California law stating that health insurance policies must provide the same level of coverage for major mental illnesses (which included schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) as they provide for other diseases, many patients Read More...

The Use of Neuroimaging in the Study of Schizophrenia

Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen, a pioneer in the use of brain-imaging technology for the study of schizophrenia, was interviewed by Jessica Gould for Medscape about the use of neuroimaging technology, including structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), and positron emission tomography (PET), to deepen our understanding of this brain disorder. Dr. Andreasen explains some of the history of using imaging technology in the study of schizophrenia, explains differences between these technologies, and discusses some of the interesting findings allowed by the use of these technologies. Dr. Andreasen explains that PET creates images based on the detection of radiation Read More...

Canadian Psychiatric Association is Advocating Timely Patient Care

Physician specialty groups in Canada are joining together out of concern that patients in need of prompt care are being subjected to lengthy wait times - in some cases, too long to help. The needed care comes too late. The group formed, called the Wait Time Alliance (WTA) of Canada, is a partnership of specialty associations and the Canadian Medical Association. Concerned that people with urgent psychiatric care needs, including care for schizophrenia, are not getting timely treatment, the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) has joined the expanded Wait Time Alliance to step up its advocacy for wait time benchmarks in Read More...

NPR on Treating Schizophrenia and Other Mental Illnesses

NPR had a good radio segment on mental illness today that you may be interested in. It is a one hour segment. Guests are Dr. Insel who heads up NIMH, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey who heads up the Treatment Advocacy Center, and David Shern who heads up Mental Health America. The discussion is on getting treatment for severe mental illnesses. It includes a good discussion about dangerousness and mental illness. Listen to the NPR Recording: Identifying and Treating Severe Mental Illness - A look at the mental health system and proposals to improve it. (or go directly to the audio Read More...

Understanding Schizophrenia: The Link Between Genetics, White-matter Defects, Dopamine Abnormalities And Symptoms

New research helps bridge an important gap in understanding schizophrenia, providing the best evidence to date that defects in the brain's white matter are a key contributor to the disease, which affects about 1 percent of people worldwide. The findings, to be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of April 23, also demonstrate how two of the dozen or more genes previously linked with schizophrenia may contribute to the disease. When NRG1-erbB signaling was blocked, oligodendrocytes from the brain's frontal cortex had a less complex structure than normal, forming fewer branches. Shown Read More...

San Francisco - Volunteers Needed for Study; Does Computer Training Help the Symptoms of Schizophrenia?

University of California, San Francisco has announced the opportunity to participate in this new study designed to help reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia. This study is being conducted by Sophia Vinogradov, M.D. and her research team at UCSF and the San Francisco VA Medical Center. It is designed to aid our understanding of whether or not specialized computer training helps people with schizophrenia lessen their symptoms and improve their thinking. This study is being funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Participants should be available to spend 60 minutes per day, five days per week, for twenty consecutive weeks Read More...

Some Cities are Tackling Homelessness; Providing Services for People with Schizophrenia

Norfolk Virginia's "Housing First" initiative is a program that provides apartments, rather than just temporary beds in shelters, to homeless people with mental illnesses and then tries to address their mental health or substance abuse issues. The goal is to place mentally ill homeless people in permanent housing first, and then to provide services to help them live on their own, rather than expecting people with mental illnesses living on the streets to go to doctors, and comply with medication and therapy in the hopes of eventually getting them off the streets. Norfolk's program is part of a national effort Read More...

Research Progress in Countering Cognititive Deficits of Schizophrenia

Researchers at Yale Medical School and the University of Crete School of Medicine report the first evidence of a molecular mechanism that dynamically alters the strength of higher brain network connections. They hope their discovery will lead to the development of drug therapies for the cognitive deficits seen in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as the cognitive deficits that can accompany normal aging. They were able to study the molecular workings of memory and cognition in the prefrontal cortex, a portion of the brain involved in memory, and planning. They saw disruptions in the Read More...

70% of Iraqi Children Suffering from Mental Stress Disorders

NPR reports today that on a new study of 2,500 kids, randomly chosen from a middle-income area of north Baghdad, to see if researchers could determine the effects of the war on their mental health. The study revealed that approximately 70% of children are showing clear symptoms of stress disorders from the high levels of ongoing violence and deaths in many neighborhoods of Iraq. While not mentioned in this report, psychiatrists would predict that without treatment, many of these children will suffer from long term mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and - for those genetically and biologically at risk, schizophrenia). Read More...

Nowhere to Go: Psychiatric Care for Children Lacking

There is a shortage of pediatric psychiatrists in many parts of the United States. An article in The Boston Globe highlights the dilemma being faced in the state of Massachusetts. There is not enough room available in hospitals to treat children in dire need of care for severe disorders affecting their brain, such as schizophrenia. Part of the reason for lack of space, say officials, is that many children already in the hospitals, that are well enough to leave, cannot because of a lack of outpatient care in their communities. Since 2005, there has been a 50% increase in the Read More...

Research Identifies Method of Quantifying Schizophrenia Risk

It has long been known that people with schizophrenia suffer from certain cognitive and neurological abnormalities and disabilities. These are widely understood to be markers for the disease -- what the research community calls endophenotypes of schizophrenia. But what exactly is the relationship between the markers and the disease? Does the presence of one or more markers predict schizophrenia or indicate risk for developing it? An endophenotype is a heritable trait that is associated with a specific illness but is not a direct symptom of it. The presence or absence of such a trait is commonly taken to be an Read More...

Progress on Mental Illness Insurance Parity Bill - But Roadblocks Encountered

In February NAMI suggested that the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007 (available for download here) is an the unprecedented bipartisan agreement achieved by Senators Pete Domenici, Ted Kennedy and Mike Enzi. It expands on the federal parity law passed in 1996 by prohibiting limits on inpatient days and outpatient visits that apply only to mental illnesses and not other illnesses. It prohibits higher co-payments, deductibles and other financial restrictions that apply only to mental illnesses and not other illnesses. Finally and most importantly, the legislation applies these new standards to self-insured plans that are currently exempt from 41 state Read More...

The Loss of Life in Virginia, and How it Could Have Been Prevented

Whenever a tragedy happens such as the recent shootings in Virginia, the question inevitably turns to why did it happen, and how could it have been prevented. We try to answer these questions below. While some reports (such as here, here and here) have suggested the shooter in this tragedy - Cho Seung Hui - might have suffered from psychotic depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder - its impossible to know with the limited amount of evidence available today, and even after all the evidence is reviewed it will never be known for sure. From what has been reported it does, Read More...

Mental Illness and Violence

Ken Duckworth, MD, Medical Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released the following statement on this week's tragedy at Virginia Technological Institute (VTI). We have also included information from the Treatment Advocacy Center - an advocacy group the works for greater availability of treatment options for people who are mentally ill. NAMI extends its sympathy to all the families who have lost loved ones in the terrible tragedy at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. We are an organization of individuals and families whose lives have been affected by serious mental illnesses. Despite media reports, Read More...

More Help is Needed for Pregnant Women Who Smoke

Increased stress in a baby's life, including a parent's own battles with mental illnesses such as depression, can impact the development of the baby's brain and affect the child's own mental health status. Because increased stress early in life can lead to worsening of many conditions, including brain disorders such as schizophrenia, later in life, we sometimes write about helping parents in order to help the children and avoid some preventable mental health problems, or mitigate their seriousness, later in life. We know that smoking during pregnancy is bad for the unborn child's health, and some people may not understand Read More...

Dry Cleaning Chemical Linked to Increased Schizophrenia Risk

A new research study by Scientists at Columbia University suggests that a exposure to a chemical used in clothes dry cleaning may increase the risk of schizophrenia by 200% to 300%. Tetrachloroethylene is a solvent used in clothes dry cleaning with reported brain toxic effects - and because of this the researchers looked to see if it had any impact in the incidence of schizophrenia in children who might have been exposed to the chemical during their youth (or parents exposed to the chemical during pregnancy). In the study the researchers examined the relationship between parental occupation as a dry Read More...

Cats as a Factor in Schizophrenia - Researcher Interview

Can Cats (or more specifically the parasites that they can carry) be a factor in the development of schizophrenia? According to Stanford University researchers that recently published a study by called "Parasite Hijacks Brain With Surgical Precision" (New Scientist Magazine) there is increasing evidence that the cat parasite T.Gondii can play a roll in brain function of mammals, and (the authors suggest independently) mental illness. Scientists theorize about toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that can reproduce only in cats and seems to have the power to trigger schizophrenia and other particular behaviors in humans. In the interview with neurogeneticist Sharon Moalem, Read More...

Analysis of Schizophrenia Link to T. gondii Parasite

E. Fuller Torrey, John J. Bartko, Zhao-Rong Lun, and Robert H. Yolke took on the task of analyzing data from a multitude of research sources from around the world, studying the connection between infection with a one-celled parasitic organism called Toxoplasma gondii and schizophrenia. People can get the organism by inhaling or ingesting the oocysts (dormant form) which are shed by infected cats into litter boxes, gardens and sandboxes, or through ingesting (eating) the undercooked meat of sheep, goats, or other animals that had become infected with it from exposure to cats. It had been observed that some individuals who Read More...

Treatment Options When Violent Behavior is Present in Schizophrenia

Most people who have schizophrenia are not violent. But when violence is a factor in a person's illness, effective treatment options that take the aggression into account become imperative. Psychiatric admission, along with prolonged hospital stays are often precipitated by violent behavior. Violent behavior can take a toll on patient, family, and society, and prevent the person from reintegrating back into the community and leading a full life. Current Psychiatry Online discusses therapeutic options available when a patient with major psychiatric illness, such as schizophrenia, exhibits violent behavior. Dr. Menahem Krakowski, MD, PhD, says that options should depend on whether Read More...

Book on Family Psychoeducation

Family psychoeducation has been getting increasing publicity for its effectiveness in helping patients and their families cope with schizophrenia. This type of family intervention involves a combination of education and improved communication, problem solving, and processing of emotions for both family members and affected individuals. Family psychoeducation is a process in which the whole family is taught about the patient’s psychiatric illness, and an attempt is made to lower the level of "expressed emotion" in the household. It is believed that people with schizophrenia living in families with a high level of expressed emotion (EE) are at greater risk of Read More...

Lower Dose of Injectable Risperdal Gets Approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new, lower dose -- 12.5 mg -- of Risperdal Consta (risperidone) Long-Acting Injection for the treatment of schizophrenia within specific patient populations. Patients who may need this lower dosage may include those with renal (kidney) or hepatic (liver) problems, and those who need lower doses due to side-effects. Risperdal Consta is manufactured by Alkermes, Inc. and marketed in the U.S. by Janssen, L.P. "The 12.5 mg dose of Risperdal Consta will help clinicians to customize treatment for each patient, particularly those who have hepatic or renal impairment and need lower Read More...

NAMI Announces Free Access to Educational Program on Diet, Exercise, Smoking Cessation

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is making its "Hearts and Minds" Educational program available for the first time, free of charge, through a video and workbook at http://www.nami.org/heartsandminds. "Too often, the medical profession and society focus on mental illness alone -- which may stigmatize a person. Any individual living with a mental illness needs to be treated as a whole person," said NAMI medical director Ken Duckworth, M.D., who narrates the video." The Hearts & Minds program supports self-management of chronic illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia through a comprehensive approach that focuses on whole Read More...

NARSAD Chosen by USA Today as a Charity "Closest to Nation's Heart"

The following is a special note from Constance Lieber, President of NARSAD (NARSAD is the leading nonprofit foundation which focuses on funding schizophrenia research): USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the United States, has selected NARSAD as one of 25 charities "closest to the nation's heart." This important recognition, which begins today, April 13th and continues through September, coincides with USA Today's 25th anniversary celebration. In USA Today's weekend edition, dated April 13th, the paper’s signature front-page "Snapshot" captures NARSAD’s fight against mental illness. Over two days during the week of April 13 -19, ads about NARSAD will Read More...

Leading a Good Life Despite Schizophrenia

Instead of being housed in institutions, "social rehabilitation and group treatment" facilities are on the rise in Japan, enabling more people with schizophrenia to live rich, fulfilling lives. Shining as a star example of how well such group homes can work, is the Bethel Home in Urakawa. The Japan Times Online has a story about Bethel Home, which is a facility for psychiatric patients with schizophrenia who typically suffer from auditory or visual hallucinations. It also is a business run by the patients themselves. The home's members are still treated by doctors at a nearby hospital on an outpatient basis. Read More...

Some Attentional Problems May Persist in Schizophrenia Even After Treatment

PsychiatryMatters.MD reports on a study saying that treatment for schizophrenia using an atypical antipsychotic improves concentration but not to levels seen in individuals without a psychiatric disorder. The researchers say: "The current findings support the contention that attention deficits are likely not a direct result of symptom severity and may at least partially be ameliorated by atypical antipsychotic treatment." Read the full article: Attention deficits endure in schizophrenia patients Source abstract: Stability of attention deficits in schizophrenia Further Reading: Cognitive Remediation Therapy Effective in Patients With Schizophrenia Cognitive Enhancement Drugs for Schizophrenia Cognitive Remediation Therapy Effective in Patients With Schizophrenia Read More...

TrueHope EmpowerPlus - and the Danger of Unproven Nutritional Supplements

At Schizophrenia.com we try to cover all the important developments in the complementary treatments that are becoming available for schizophrenia. We don't care where effective treatments originate for schizophrenia - but we do care that they are effective. We don't want to see our family members harmed by products or services, and we don't want to see our community members waste their money. We want the companies that sell any type of product (complementary therapies or medications) to be completely honest about the research, risks, negative side-effects of what they offer - and to not overstate their case. The following Read More...

Environmental Factors May Combine to Influence the Development of Schizophrenia

Researchers investigated how environmental factors may interact with a developmental expression of, or predisposition towards, psychosis, causing a state of persistant psychosis -- a hallmark of schizophrenia. Reporting in the Cambridge Journal of Psychological Medicine, the researchers built on earlier research suggesting that "low-grade psychotic experiences in the general population are a common but transitory developmental phenomenon". Their results indicate that environmental factors such as cannabis, trauma and urbanicity act in an additive fashion to increase the risk for persistent psychosis. The level of environmental risk also combines synergistically (combined action of two things being greater than the sum of Read More...

"The Early Course of Schizophrenia": Book Review

Dr. Ellen Tabor, M.D., medical director of Adult Inpatient Psychiatry, Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, wrote up her assessment of a new book, titled, "The Early Course of Schizophrenia". This book covers recent research in early stages of schizophrenia, covering the prenatal period through the premorbid period, finally discussing treatment of the early stages of schizophrenia. The book is apparently more on a level for medical professionals rather than the lay public, but some others may be both interested and up to the challenge. Dr. Tabor feels that the book is a worthwhile summary of the current research in Read More...

Schizophrenia Risk Genes Potentially Identified for Hispanic Populations

In a newly announced study three regions of chromosomes were identified that were estimated to hold risk genes for schizophrenia in hispanic families. In the study genetic material (DNA) was analyzed from 459 individuals of Hispanic ancestry from 99 families, containing at least two siblings with hospital diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizo affective disorder in order to determine gene regions that are likely contributing to the development of these psychotic disorders. Three regions of chromosomes 1, 5 and 18 were found to very likely contain genes that contribute to schizophrenia in persons of Mexican and Central American ancestry, investigators of Read More...

New Medication in Testing for Schizophrenia Has Good Metabolic Safety Profile

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have reported on late-stage clinical trial safety data for its investigational medication for schizophrenia, bifeprunox. The companies say their clinical data indicates that the use of bifeprunox may have less risk of the factors associated with metabolic syndrome than other drugs currently being used to treat schizophrenia. Risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome are weight gain (especially in the abdominal area), glucose (blood sugar) dysregulation, and elevated lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides). The manufacturer's press release says that weight gain and lipid changes from bifeprunox were similar to placebo. As with all medications - people Read More...

National Program Started for Preventing Schizophrenia in Young People

A Highly Promising Maine Schizophrenia Prevention Initiative Is To Be Replicated in California, Michigan and Oregon. Recognizing the tremendous anguish that severe mental illness inflicts upon young people and their families, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced a new national program that builds upon a pioneering initiative in Portland, Maine, for preventing schizophrenia and psychosis in teens and young adults. The $12.4 million Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program (EDIPPP) is awarding four-year grants to replicate Portland’s approach in Sacramento, Calif.; Ypsilanti, Mich. ; and Salem, Ore.; and to extend the groundbreaking work underway Read More...

Toxoplasma Gondii ("Cat Parasite") Schizophrenia Link Studied

Exposure of pregnant women to several infectious agents -- including influenza, sexually transmitted diseases, and Rubella -- have been associated with the later development of schizophrenia. Several studies have been reported in the past month investigating the link between one such infectious agent in a pregnant mother - a common protozoan infection of Toxoplasma gondii - and the baby's later development of schizophrenia. Toxoplasma gondii is commonly known as a 1-celled parasite carried by cats. But people can acquire it from eating undercooked meat as well as from contact with gardening soil and litterboxes used by cats. Infection by this Read More...

Essential Fats Found Deficient in Brains of Men with Schizophrenia

A small postmortem study of brain tissue suggests that males with schizophrenia may have an abnormality in the amounts of essential fatty acids (EFAs) in a portion of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Essential fatty acids are beneficial, necessary fats we obtain from only some foods, and which our own body cannot manufacture on its own. These fats are essential to our health and survival. The types of EFAs found in this study to be most deficient in the OFC were the omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The largest deficiencies were seen in patients who had not Read More...

Jefferson Award Recipient Honored For Schizophrenia Community Service

Darrell E. Herrmann, member of this website (known as Cannonier), retired Captain, Field Artillery, United States Army and analyst for major corporations and utilities, has been honored with a 2007 Jefferson Award for his volunteer work on behalf of other people, like himself, living with schizophrenia. The Jefferson Award presentation event, written about in the Columbus Dispatch, is a national and local program, created to acknowledge ordinary people who do extraordinary things. It honors "those unsung heroes whose community service efforts display a special sense of caring". Darrell Herrmann became a member of this website, schizophrenia.com, in July of 1997. Read More...

Drug-induced Psychosis up 400% in Australia

A new study out of Australia's National Drug and Alcohol Research Center has found that during the past decade there has been a 400% increase in the number of people treated for drug-induced psychosis (psychosis is a medical term for loss of touch with reality; a key symptom of schizophrenia). In 1994, there were 55.5 cases per million people, rising to 253 per million by 2004 says the report, published in the Medical Journal of Australia. The report suggests that the largest increase has been among amphetamine users. A Royal Perth Hospital study also published in the journal found more Read More...

Virginia Children with Schizophrenia Will No Longer Need to Be Placed in Foster Care to Receive Services

In many states, including Virginia, parents of children with severe neurobiological brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression, and others, have often had an anguishing decision to make in order to get their children the care they needed. For parents who could afford insurance coverage, often, the insurance would not cover the high cost of care for "mental" as opposed to "medical" illness. At the same time, the parents' incomes were too low to afford to pay for the care themselves, but too high for them to qualify for Medicaid. They have had no choice but to relinquish Read More...

Research Update on Metabolic Syndrome (Including Diabetes, Heart-Attack & Stroke Risks) and Schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia have a higher risk of metabolic syndrome (also referred to as syndrome X or the dysmetabolic syndrome) than the general population. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of related symptoms that puts the individual at increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease such as heart-attack and stroke. Metabolic syndrome generally includes some or all of the following: elevated blood pressure, abdominal obesity, diabetes or "prediabetes" (impaired glucose tolerance, impaired fasting glucose or insulin resistance), dyslipidemia (high levels of triglycerides and/or HDL - the "bad" cholesterol), and inflammatory markers. It is the leading natural cause of increased rate of Read More...