Sad Mothers Give Birth to Smaller Babies, Study Finds

Women who suffer from depression or anxiety may be more likely to have underweight babies -- even when those babies are born at full term, after a normal-length pregnancy -- a new study shows. This study adds to a body of research that gives conflicting evidence about the role of mental health in pregnancy.

The study assessed 583 women in rural Bangladesh. (Similar studies have been carried out in the U.S. and elsewhere in the developed world. But since the contribution of social factors to depression and anxiety is unknown, it has been useful to analyze the relationship of depression and pregnancy health across many different social settings.) Of all the Bangladeshi women who participated in this study, 18% showed depressive symptoms, and 26% showed symptoms of general anxiety -- all as measured by a standardized international diagnostic test, given during the third trimester of pregnancy.

Read More..

Psychological Problems in Childhood Affect Earning Power and Relationships Later

In a 50-year study of more than 17,000 British people who were followed since birth, researchers from the RAND Labor and Population program found that psychological problems during childhood were related to measurable social and financial deficits later in life.

By age 50, those who had experienced serious psychological problems as children had family incomes that were 25% smaller than those of their peers who didn't have the same issues. Kids who had serious psychological problems — such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse or other mental disorders that caused moderate or severe 'emotional maladjustment' as determined by a doctor — were also less likely to have stable personal relationships or to be married by 50.

"These findings demonstrate that childhood psychological problems can have significant negative impacts over the course of an individual's life, much more so than childhood physical health problems," said James P. Smith, one of the study's authors and a senior economist at RAND, in a statement.

Read More..

Are We Oversnacking Our Kids?

Yesterday, I thought I was being really smart. In the late afternoon, I'd happened into a chic, newish Park Slope coffee shop, Venticinque, and as I was ordering a little pick-me-up, I spotted something on the counter: chocolate-chip cookies, $1 apiece.

Now, I wasn't particularly hungry, but they might be just the thing to give to my 2-year-old daughter, Sasha, when I picked her up from daycare in an hour. Three stops on the subway may not seem like much, but that kid can get jumpy and cranky fast. A cookie, however unhealthful, could keep her occupied. Maybe.

An hour or so later, I sat her on my lap on the F train, reached into my pocket and pulled out the cookie, only slightly melted from my body heat. Sasha grew excited as I unwrapped its plastic sheath, and when she bit in and smiled, I felt vindicated.

Read More..

Functional MRI Predicts Outcome to Talk Therapy in Children With an Anxiety Disorder

A brain scan with functional MRI (fMRI) is enough to predict which patients with pediatric anxiety disorder will respond to "talk therapy," and so may not need to use psychiatric medication, say neuroscientists from Georgetown University Medical Center.

Their study, being presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, showed that children and adolescents, ages 8 to16, who show fear when looking at happy faces on a screen inside an fMRI scanner were those who had least success with an eight-week course of cognitive behavioral therapy.

Conversely, children who showed fear while looking at fearful faces benefitted from the treatment, which is also known as talk therapy, the researchers found.

Read More..

ENCOPRESIS PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN

Encopresis means urination done arbitrarily by the child despite being old that should have been studying the habits of cleanliness. Among the most important training for children is to train them to hold the urethra, and then urinate. This issue is very sensitive, but it is very important for the family, so that they can solve problems that can interfere. This problem is also very sensitive to the children, because this is the channeling of desires that must be learned by children in order to give them freedom. Most experts believe that it requires training in special ways and wise, patient and keep them away from fear and not to condemn the properties owned, if not yet able to respond at the earlier stages.

Read More..