Serum neurofilament is a discriminative biomarker between frontotemporal dementia and psychiatric disorders

Early symptoms of frontotemporal dementia are often confused with symptoms occurring in psychiatric disorders. Researchers show that serum neurofilament levels can be used as a diagnostic tool to differentiate between these conditions.

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Important questions on how mental illness is currently diagnosed

This research raises questions as to whether current diagnoses accurately reflect the underlying neurobiology of mental illness. The findings, just published in the leading peer-reviewed medical journal, JAMA Psychiatry, highlight the need for more individualised approaches to defining mental illness.

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Children bullied by friends and siblings are more likely to think about suicide in their early 20s

Depression, self-harm and suicidal ideation are more prominent in adults in their early twenties if they were bullied at home and at school, a study has found. Researchers stress that intervention is needed to educate people in bullying to reduce it.

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Number of depressed over-65s unchanged but antidepressant use soars

The proportion of people aged over 65 on antidepressants has more than doubled in two decades — according to new research. Despite a rise in antidepressant use, there was little change in the number of older people diagnosed with depression. The findings are based on the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies, conducted at two time points — between 1991 and 1993, and between 2008 and 2011.

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Antidepressant medications appear to be generally safe,study suggests

Antidepressants are generally safe, according to a new study. By assessing evidence from 45 meta-analyses, which combined the results from many studies, the researchers did not find strong evidence of adverse health outcomes associated with antidepressant use.

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Teens taking oral contraceptives may be at increased risk for depressive symptoms

Investigators report that there was no association between oral contraceptive use and depressive symptom severity in the entire population they studied (ages 16 through 25). However, they found that 16-year-old girls reported higher depressive symptom severity compared with 16-year-old girls not using oral contraceptives.

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Children told lies by parents subsequently lie more as adults, face adjustment difficulty

'If you don't behave, I'll call the police,' is a lie that parents might use to get their young children to behave. Parents' lies elicit compliance in the short term, but a new psychology study suggests that they are associated with detrimental effects when the child becomes an adult.

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Handling traumatic grief reactions in children and adolescents post-9/11

In the wake of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001 (9/11), researchers defined the 'traumatically bereaved' as those who experienced the loss of a mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, other family member, friend, and/or someone else after 9/11 happened. A new study reports that this disorder warrants separate clinical attention.

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