MONDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Newer antipsychotic medications are no better at relieving symptoms of schizophrenia in children and adolescents than older antipsychotic medications are, a new study finds.

The assumption has been that the newer drugs are safer and more effective; however, earlier trials found they are no more effective than the first-generation drugs, and they have different side effects than the older drugs, said Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the study.

THURSDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they're gaining insight into how the brain rewires itself as it learns new things, potentially helping them move toward better treatments for mental illness and brain injuries.

Researchers report that a protein appears to tell the brain that it's time to start rewiring, because new information is coming in.

While the study only looked at mice, the protein "could become a great clinical tool" in humans, said study co-author Takao Hensch, a professor of neurology at Children's Hospital Boston.

Once thought of as a disease primarily affecting teenagers and young women, eating disorders are increasingly being seen in women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
As women are feeling increased pressure to maintain a youthful façade, and seeing women like Madonna and Sharon Stone turn or pass 50 without a wrinkle, they feel the same pressures as women half their age.

Add to this the stress of divorce, menopause, middle-aged weight gain and empty nest syndrome; eating disorders can become a way for women to feel like they are in control.

Committing ourselves or a loved one into a mental health facility is frightening. We remember movies where mental health patients run amok, rock uncontrollably or froth at the mouth. Pills are forced down seemingly unwilling patients and half of them don't seem to know why they are there. Doctors and nurses who see this every day can seem unsympathetic. And stories like the recent death of a Jamaican mental health patient who was left to die on the floor of a hospital strike fear in all of us.

After seeing the post on the bodily injury through amputation: http://empowher.com/share/self-amputatio...
it reminded me of a group of students in my class (when I was in high school) that cut themselves on purpose! It almost sounded like a "cool fad" to "cut".

Have you heard of this? Why would someone do that to themselves, beyond obviously trying to get attention? We weren't friends or anything, so I didn't do anything...should I have done something?