A meta-analysis of more than 50,000 patients has shown that general practitioners (GPs) continue to have difficulty separating those with and without depression, with substantial numbers missed and misidentified. GPs looking for depression make more misidentifications (false positives of depression) than the number of depressions they correctly spot following an initial consultation but accuracy could improved by re-assessment of people suspected of (more…)

In an effort to improve worker health, researchers from Michigan State University and Portland State University have created an innovative training program that calls for supervisors to better support their employees’ work and family demands.
The scientific-based program is featured in the upcoming August edition of the Journal of Management.
The researchers also have been awarded a $4.1 million federal grant to refine and expand the program. The grant is part (more…)

A lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Environmental Health used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlight exposure across the United States and linked this information to the prevalence of cognitive impairment in depressed people.
Shia Kent, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led a team of US researchers who used cross-sectional (more…)

"Silent" strokes, which are strokes that don’t result in any noticeable symptoms but cause brain damage, are common in people over 60, and especially in those with high blood pressure, according to a study published in the July 28, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
"These strokes are not truly silent, because (more…)

In New Hampshire, Foster’s Daily Democrat reports: "As unemployment statistics increase and the economic climate deteriorates, a large group of people who would otherwise likely not need mental health services are finding themselves at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviors and substance abuse, according (to) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and (more…)