biological psychiatry
Potential of anti-stress peptide to block alcohol dependence
New research by scientists at the Scripps Research Institute has underlined the power of an endogenous anti-stress peptide in the brain to prevent and even reverse some of the cellular effects of acute alcohol and alcohol dependence in …
Memory training explored as strategy for addiction treatment
People with addictions to stimulants tend to choose instant gratification or a smaller but sooner reward over a future benefit, even if the future reward is greater. Reduced value of a future reward, called “delay discounting” by neuroscienti…
Targeting nicotine receptors to treat cognitive impairments in schizophrenia
Smoking is a common problem for patients with schizophrenia. The increased tendency of patients diagnosed with this disorder is to not only smoke, but to do so more heavily than the general public. This raises the possibility that nicotine may be a…
Neuronal migration errors: Right cells, wrong place
Philadelphia, PA, 4 January 2011 – Normally, cortical nerve cells or neurons reside in the brain’s gray matter with only a few scattered neurons in the white matter, but some people with schizophrenia have a higher number of neurons in the white mat…
MDMA: Empathogen or love potion?
15 December 2010, MDMA or ‘ecstasy’ increases feelings of empathy and social connection. These ’empathogenic’ effects suggest that MDMA might be useful to enhance the psychotherapy of people who struggle to feel connected to others, as may occur in …
Smoking may thin the brain
Philadelphia, PA, 2 December 2010 – Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities.
The cerebral cortex is a specific area of the brain responsible for m…
Where did you get those eyes and that brain?
Philadelphia, PA, 15 November 2010 – A family history of Alzheimer’s disease significantly increases the risk for developing this disorder, but a new study in Biological Psychiatry suggests that which of your parents has the disease is very importan…
Why are men more susceptible to alcoholism?
Philadelphia, PA, 18 October 2010 – Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused substances, and men are up to twice as likely to develop alcoholism as women. Until now, the underlying biology contributing to this difference in vulnerability has remai…
