Health News

‘Calcium Imbalance’ Linked to Bipolar Severity

Calcium homeostasis may play a role in bipolar disorder (BD) severity, with raised serum vitamin D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels linked to worse clinical outcomes and high psychological burden, new research suggests. After measuring serum PTH, vitamin D, and calcium levels in patients with type I or type II BD, investigators found that the […]

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Trauma begets trauma: Bullying associated with increased suicide attempts among 12-to-15-year-olds: International study finds bullying victimization is associated with suicide attempts across 48 countries

A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that bullying victimization may increase the risk of suicide attempts among young adolescents by approximately three-times worldwide. “Globally, approximately 67,000 adolescents die of suicide each year and identifying modifiable risk factors for adolescent suicide is […]

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Better care needed for people displaying first symptoms of bipolar disorder

Better care and more research into treatments for people experiencing a first manic episode are urgently needed, according to researchers at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. The study, published today in The Lancet Psychiatry by a team of international experts, describes patchy and inconsistent care, widespread failure to detect bipolar disorder early enough, and […]

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It doesn’t take much for soldiers to feel cared for: Researchers conduct randomized controlled trial of caring texts

A soldier named Jerome Motto received caring letters from home in World War II. They helped boost his spirits and later led to one of the nation’s first successful suicide interventions. Today, with military personnel being more mobile, researchers tested out the effectiveness of caring texts sent to active-duty military. The study of 658 randomized […]

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Rethinking lethality in youth suicide attempts: Firearms are a major factor in first suicide attempts in youth ages 10 to 24

First suicide attempts are more lethal than previously realized, reports a study of children and adolescents published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP). Seventy-one percent of youth dying by suicide did so on their first attempt, also known as the “index” attempt; the authors also found that firearms […]