Minneapolis St. Paul Mental Health Blog

Mind and Body health | Tai chi mind-body treatments improved fibromyalgia more than aerobic exercise.

Compared with aerobic exercise, the more frequently recommended non-drug treatment for fibromyalgia, tai chi mind-body treatment is similarly or more effective in therapeutically improving fibromyalgia symptoms.....

Opioids or Non?  For moderate to severe chronic back pain or osteoarthritis pain of the hip/knee, opioid initiation may not be necessary.

Patients with moderate to severe chronic back pain or hip and knee-related osteoarthritis pain do not require opioids in place of non-opioid treatments, according to a study published in JAMA.

Initiating heavy drinking during adolescence alters the normal trajectory of brain development,...

Mental Health Matters | Improvements in attention gained through intensive meditation training were partially maintained 7 years later, even among older practitioners, according to a study published online in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement.

“The present study is the first to offer evidence that intensive and continued meditation practice is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention and response inhibition,” researchers wrote, “with the potential to alter longitudinal trajectories of cognitive change across the lifespan.”

The study followed 40 people who participated in a 3-month meditation retreat in Colorado, where group meditation sessions were held twice daily and participants meditated individually for 6 hours a day. Immediately after the retreat, participants demonstrated gains in attention, psychological well-being, and their ability to cope with stress.

Those attentional gains were partly evident at a 7-year follow-up, researchers reported in the new study. All 40 participants still reported practicing meditation, with those who were most diligent at maintaining meditation avoiding typical patterns of age-related decline in attention.

“In conclusion, the present study suggests that intensive and continued meditation is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention, supporting the notion that the cognitive benefits of dedicated mental training may persist over the long-term when promoted by a regimen of continued practice,” researchers wrote.

Women and Mental Health | Use of hormonal contraception may increase the risk of suicide in women, especially in adolescents,

..suggests a prospective cohort study published online in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Almost 47 million Americans have brain pathology that places them on a trajectory to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that number is growing, researchers report.

Mental Health Update | Stopping exercise can result in increased depressive symptoms,

....according to new mental health research from the University of Adelaide.