EEG Shown Effective at Predicting Onset of Autism

Diagnosing autism early in kid’s life can help to mitigate its future development. Now researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital are reporting in journal Scientific Reports that they were able to use EEG (electroencephalography) to predict the onset of autism or rule out its development with impressive accuracy. A group of children was subjected to EEG monitoring every […]

Deep Brain Stimulation Shown Effective for Patients with Refractory Tourette Syndrome

While there are drugs and other therapies available for people with Tourette syndrome, many patients don’t respond to these options and continue producing random movements and sending shout outs, often of an unwelcome nature. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have been studying thalamic deep brain stimulation for the last few years to potentially offer it […]

Virtual Reality Game Links Depression to Hippocampus

Researchers at the University College London are using 3D virtual reality video games to advance our understanding of neuroanatomy and its association with clinical depression. Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub. Spatial […]

MRI Maps of Brain’s Visual Cortex Connectivity Point to Mental Illness

Researchers at Duke University may have identified a way of predicting future (!) onset of mental illness. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study how various parts of the brain communicate with each other. What the investigators noticed is that those individuals with a poorly functioning visual cortex, that doesn’t seem to talk well […]

Whipping Up Enthusiasm (with whips)

The crew over at Improbable Research has brought our attention to an old article about the therapeutic uses of whips to treat and/or cure depression and suicide. Maybe I watched too many USA vs Russia movies growing up, but just the thought of being whipped by a Russian would cure me right up. Russian scientists from the […]

Deep Learning Algorithm Diagnoses Schizophrenia from fMRI Scans

A scientific collaboration between researchers at IBM and the University of Alberta in Canada has come up with a software tool that analyzes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of patient brains and with 74% accuracy diagnoses schizophrenia. Moreover, the software’s algorithms were also able to reasonably estimate how bad the symptoms of the disease were in individual […]

Electrically Stimulating a Specific Brain Region using Ultrafine Wires Enhances Memory

Neuroscientists at UCLA have found that electrically stimulating a specific area of the brain using ultrafine wires enhances memory in epilepsy patients. If the technique can enhance memory in other patients, it might help with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Our memory naturally declines with age, and in conditions such as Alzheimer’s, people can suffer […]

Electric Stimulation Drastically Improves Memory of Older Folks

The performance of our working memory starts to go down right around the time we finish residency. The older we get, the more difficulty we have forming new memories and holding on to them for a long time. Because it’s still a mystery how the memory system of our brains works, a decline in its […]

Major Depression Treated with Transcranial Alternating Current Brain Stimulation

There are implantable devices out there that are very effective at treating depression in a lot of patients. These look like pacemakers and they have electrical leads stretching out, usually, to the vagus nerve, and there are transcranial direct stimulation devices with electrodes placed directly onto the brain. Of course implants have a whole host […]

Tourette Syndrome Treated with Functional MRI

Researchers at Yale University have for the first time showed that it is possible to control the symptoms of Tourette Syndrome using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers recruited twenty one 11 to 19 year-olds and used real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NF), a technology that lets patients monitor their own brain activity, to control the […]

Future Of Mental Health

Drew Robinson, American professional baseball infielder and outfielder in the San Francisco Giants organization, shares his story and newfound purpose after surviving a suicide attempt. In this episode, we discuss the topic of suicide, which may be…

JINS SCREEN Glasses Block Blue Light to Improve Sleep, Adjust Circadian Rhythms

Blue light has relatively recently been confirmed as a culprit that can distort people’s circadian rhythms and turn sleeping into a nightly challenge. With the ongoing proliferation of portable electronic devices that feature bright, high resolution screens, more and more people are absorbing large quantities of blue light through their eyes during evening hours when […]

Camera Pen Used to Assess Dementia in Patients Taking Drawing Tests

Simple tests that use a pen and paper to answer questions and create drawings are a common way of spotting signs of dementia, such as that caused by Alzheimer’s, stroke, or other diseases. Though quite effective, these tests tend to be quite late in actually spotting disease symptoms. Now a team of researchers from a […]

Anxiety in the Blood

Researchers at Hebrew University are developing a simple blood test to screen for anxiety. This could open the door to a new era in psychiatric diagnostics, and should challenge the perception that such disorders are “all in your head” (they seem to be in the blood, as well). IsraCast’s Iddo Genuth has more: Over the years studies have […]

Future Of Mental Health

Kenneth Cole, American fashion designer and former chairman of amfAR, founded the Mental Health Coalition which aims to bring together the nation’s leading mental health organizations, brands, and individuals to end the debilitating stigma…

Robot for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences employs a coil positioning robot for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at their Brain Stimulation Center. The SmartMove is a robotic TMS coil positioning system, developed by Advanced Neuro Technology (ANT) that closely follows slight head movements of the patient to precisely target the same spot in the […]

Computer Characters Tortured for Science

Professor Mel Slater of the Catalan Polytechnic University has recreated the classic Milgram Experiment using a computer simulated woman, with some interesting results. In the original experiment, conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, volunteers were told by an authority figure to deliver electric shocks to another person as punishment for incorrect answers to a test. The […]

Carrot Carbon Monoxide Breath Sensor System for Smoking Cessation Cleared for OTC by FDA

Carrot, a Redwood City, California firm, won FDA clearance for its Carbon Monoxide (CO) Breath Sensor System. It will be available as an over-the-counter product that’s designed to help smokers kick the habit as part of smoking cessation programs. The CO sensor features Bluetooth wireless connectivity, allowing it to interface with a smartphone app that […]

Future Of Mental Health

Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, a psychiatrist and author of Infidelity: Why Men and Women Cheat, discusses sex addiction. We’ll learn what’s a healthy amount of porn, when you’ve crossed the line from healthy sex to unhealthy behaviors, and more.

Future Of Mental Health

Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, an addiction expert and author of Glow Kids, shares how screen exposure is taking a toll on our mental health. You’ll hear from Dr. Kardaras on the long-term implications of screen time and the studies that show that excessive…

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