Researchers at Purdue have discovered that when adolescent rats are given alcoholic drinks that have high caffeine levels, the result is akin to taking cocaine, and the consequences in alterations to the brain may continue into adulthood. The authors write:  ”it is possible that repeated exposure to caffeine-mixed alcohol during adolescence could potentially alter or...Read More

A new study reported on in the journal Psychological Science reports that high school students who were given a simple reading and writing exercise at the beginning of the school year designed to communicate the idea that social traits are not fixed but can change over time, were better able to meet stressful situations than...Read More

A new report reveals that ADHD drugs like Ritalin, Adderall, and Concerta, may cause significant heart difficulties in some children.  The study, which appeared in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, followed 714,000 children in Denmark, born from 1990 to 1999, for an average of 9.5 years. Of those, 8,300 were diagnosed with ADHD after...Read More

There’s a news feature in the New York Times today (“Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions”)  that focuses on the problem of addiction to ADHD medications.  While the article deals mainly with college students and young adults who deceive mental health professionals into thinking they have ADHD so that they can receive these highly addictive...Read More

Yesterday in the New York Times an op ed piece appeared entitled ”Successful and Schizophrenic’‘ that affirmed the importance of neurodiversity and the value of strengths in people with mental health labels.  Written by Elyn Saks, who has lived with schizophrenia all her life yet been highly successful in several fields (professor of law, psychoanalyst, MacArthur fellow), the piece...Read More