People with major depression may have higher suicide risk

People suffering from major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to attempt suicide, and women with both disorders are more likely to have attempted suicide than men with both disorders, according to a new report in the March 2003 American Journal of Psychiatry, the monthly scientific journal of the American Psychiatric Association.

Compulsive shopping study to research mysterious illness

For some, the holiday season brings an annual rite that may feel like “compulsive shopping,” but for others, compulsive shopping is a year-round illness that seriously interferes with daily life. People with a compulsive shopping disorder often are unable to think about anything other than shopping and can’t control the impulse to purchase even useless or unwanted items. Stanford University Medical Center is continuing a multi-year clinical trial on a medication that may curb this irresistible urge.